Female-founded fermentation company raises $10.5 million in seed round

Precision fermentation company Cauldron has announced $10.5 million in funding, which it says is one of the largest seed rounds by an Australian company with a female founder.

Cauldron currently runs a pilot-scale plant at Orange, and says the new capital will support increased production there and plans to operate “Asia-Pacific’s largest network of precision fermentation facilities” beginning with regional hubs in Australia.

Precision fermentation uses microorganisms to brew new products including proteins, fats, fuels and from sugar and other ingredients. According to Cauldron, their “hyper-fermentation platform” creates the optimal conditions for these microorganisms, reducing costs significantly and efficiency “five times compared to conventional methods.”

The funding round was led by Main Sequence and Horizons Ventures.

“Our technology, 35 years of expertise, combined with Australia’s unique infrastructure and abundance of natural resources, will help ensure companies in this space can get new products and ingredients to market quickly, at lower cost and risk,” said CEO and founder Michele Stansfield (pictured) in a statement on Monday.

Current customers include Loam Bio, which is using microbial technology for carbon capture and storage, and ULUU, which is developing a natural replacement for plastics.

Cauldron was awarded a grant worth “up to $528,000” from the Queensland government in January for a feasibility study into a Future Foods BioHub in Mackay for contract fermentation manufacturing.

Picture: supplied

Further reading

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