Clara Foods Raises Series B to Make Animal-Free Egg
--
Clara Foods announced that they raised their Series B financing. Based in San Francisco, California, Clara Foods is a startup that uses cellular agriculture to produce animal-free egg white proteins. By designing yeast to produce the same proteins found in an egg from a chicken, Clara Foods can make the same egg white. Without requiring the chicken.
Clara Foods’ Series B was led by Ingredion, a global ingredients distributor in over 120 countries. Other investors in the round included B37, Hemisphere Ventures, and SOSV. Interestingly, B37 is the strategic partner of Grupo Bimbo, the world’s largest baking company. SOSV is the venture capital firm behind the accelerator IndieBio, where many cellular agriculture startups emerged.
The company also recently shared that they raised $15 million in their Series A financing in 2016. Their Series A financing was led by the Production Board, an investment holding company.
While Clara Foods has not disclosed how much they have raised this round, AgFunder reports that sources close to the deal say Clara Foods was raising $40 million. There are still potential investors coming into the round.
If confirmed, Clara Foods’ Series B would be one of the largest amounts raised by any company looking to produce food via cellular agriculture. The largest round, Motif Ingredients’ $90 million Series A in February, is a distant leader.
Animal-Free Egg White
Founded by Arturo Elizondo and David Anchel, Clara Foods was one of the first startups to use acellular agriculture to produce an animal-free product. They joined the first class of biotech startups at IndieBio. Later classes at IndieBio featured other cell ag startups, including Memphis Meats, Geltor, and Finless Foods.
By producing egg white proteins directly from cells, Clara Foods provides a more sustainable and less resource-intensive way to produce the same egg white. One of Arturo’s passions for starting Clara Foods is to also reduce the amount of egg-laying chickens that must deal with poor welfare conditions.
