USA – Motif Ingredients, a food science and technology company owned by biotech unicorn Ginkgo Bioworks has been selected as one of the 20 start-ups to partner with MISTA, Givaudan’s new innovative platform.

MISTA is an accelerator and incubator programme launched in 2018 to enable start-ups and established corporations to optimise ideas, products, people and investments in the food and beverage industry.

Other founding members of MISTA are Danone, Mars Inc. and Ingredion Inc.

It aims to bring all aspects of the food system together to address global challenges.

Motif, which creates animal proteins and food ingredients using fermentation technology will utilize Givaudan’s expertise and innovation in the food system to address global challenges.

It uses a process similar to how insulin, vitamins and beer are made, by harnessing state-of-the-art genetic science and fermentation technology to recreate animal proteins.

Through the platform, Givaudan is looking to help companies develop new ways of thinking through a hyper-connected platform with a more collaborative and inclusive approach.

Opened in San Francisco in early 2019, the MISTA Optimization Center (MOC), provides access to a product development facility, equipment for pasteurization and fermentation, experts providing market and leadership development strategies, as well as input from world-renowned culinary and food scientists.

“MISTA, which means ‘tasty morsel’ in Sanskrit, is all about the creation of a new business model focused on product innovation and development for the food and beverage industry, with the intention and capabilities to create the future of food,” said Scott May, Vice President of Innovation at Givaudan and Head of MISTA.

“Today’s food systems are so complex, and the challenges so large that no single company can address them alone, and that’s where the concept of MISTA really comes to life.”

According to Motif, MISTA’s mission is well aligned with Motif’s.

Earlier this year, Motif Ingredients raised US$90 million in Series A funding backed by New Zealand’s dairy giant, Fonterra, giving it a minority stake in the business.

Other investors in the Ginkgo Bioworks food ingredients spin-off, are Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Louis Dreyfus Companies (LDC), Viking Global Investors, as well as Gingko itself.

With Ginkgo, Motif claims to be accelerating the R&D process for manufacturing new ingredients at a price, taste and quality in line with what is already available at an everyday food market.