Onego Bio is a biotech spin-off from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.
The company uses a commercially proven Trichoderma technology to solve environmental problems associated with eggs, one of the world’s most used animal proteins.
Onego Bio said its sustainable and cost-effective precision fermentation method produces ovalbumin, the most abundant egg white protein, and the team believes this technology is superior because of its efficiency and productivity.
Onego raised €10 million ($10 million) seed funding from Agronomics and Maki VC in February, and now Business Finland, a public organization under the Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy, has awarded a grant of additional €4.5 million ($4.5 million) for Onego Bio’s research and development work.
Business Finland’s funding makes it possible to increase the project’s resourcing and speed up its implementation, which improves its business expectations.
Tackling climate change with Onego Bio’s solution
According to Business Finland, the company’s solution rises to the major global challenges and development trends in food production. It has significant international business potential, and promotes sustainable food production, food security and the fight against climate change.
The funded project also promotes the commercialization of public research findings into a global competitive advantage and has a significant positive impact on the development of the company’s business.
“Since our founding in February 2022, our team has been working hard to launch remarkable development projects, recruiting talented new team members, as well as generating business plans and commercial scenarios. With the help of this amazing additional funding, we can focus on even more complex and ambitious R&D areas and keep our risk appetite and performance requirements high,” said Maija Itkonen, CEO and co-founder of Onego Bio.
Industry, then consumers
Cellular agriculture uses microorganisms and bioreactors instead of traditional animal farming and can provide the same everyday food ingredients, only without animal agriculture systems.
Because of its unique functional properties, egg white is difficult to replace with alternative ingredients and is often cited as one of the last frontiers before entirely animal-free products can be manufactured. Onego Bio provides the nutritional and functional upsides of egg white, without the environmental, ethical and safety-related concerns.
The company aims to launch its first product, Bioalbumen, as a food ingredient for the food industry and later enter the consumer market with its own branded products for baking and cooking.