A collaboration involving the Dutch company DSM and other organizations in the Netherlands has launched Planet B.io, an incubator aimed at scaling up technology developed by industrial biotech startups such as the lab-grown meat developer Meatable.
Planet B.io is based at the Biotech Campus Delft, the Netherlands, and contains a total of 3,000 m² of office and lab space for small biotech companies. To help startups scale up, there is a shared pilot production facility where companies can test their technology with the help of industrial mentors.
The incubator aims to accelerate the development of technology that reduces waste and modern society’s reliance on fossil fuels. “The transition to a sustainable economy requires action,” Cindy Gerhardt, the director of Planet B.io, stated. “As Planet B.io, we can make a concrete contribution to this.”
The incubator is already home to four companies. These include Meatable, a company developing lab-grown meat, and Veramaris, which produces fish oils from algae for use in fish farms. The other companies are Avansya, which uses yeast to produce the sweetener stevia, and Delft Advanced Biorenewables, which aims to make fermentation more efficient for biotech companies. The incubator is expected to house dozens of new companies in the coming years.
While there are many biotech incubators around Europe that do support industrial biotech companies, these are often largely populated by medical biotechs. Planet B.io is one of few focusing exclusively on industrial biotech, which can have different requirements such as large-scale bioreactors and fermentation tanks.
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