Motif Ingredients, a food ingredients company, recently launched with $90 million in Series A financing to provide next-generation alternative proteins and other ingredients to global food companies. Powered by Ginkgo Bioworks' platform for biological engineering, Motif Ingredients plans to leverage biotechnology to create novel solutions for foods that provide consumers with greater choices without compromising taste or nutrition.

Motif investors include Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Louis Dreyfus Co., Fonterra and Viking Global Investors. Jonathan McIntyre, formerly head of research and development (R&D) at Indigo Agriculture and former senior vice president of R&D at PepsiCo, will lead Motif as chief executive officer. Motif will be headquartered at Ginkgo's Boston (Mass.) Seaport facility.

According to Motif, consumer demand for alternative foods such as meat substitutes and plant-based beverages grew 17% last year, with food companies rapidly innovating to keep up with demand. However, the company said obstacles remain to create products that maintain the taste, health profile and integrity of their animal-based counterparts. Motif believes its ingredients offer a solution to this problem, bringing the nutrition and taste that consumers demand at an accessible price that mass-scale food markets require. Using biotechnology and fermentation – rather than animal agriculture – Motif will engineer dozens of proteins derived from dairy, egg and meat products without compromising the functionality, taste and nutrition of animal-based ingredients.

"Sustainability and accessible nutrition are among the biggest challenges facing the food industry today. Consumers are demanding mindful food options, but there's a reigning myth that healthy and plant-based foods must come at a higher price or cannot taste or function like the animal-based foods they aim to replicate," Motif CEO Dr. Jonathan McIntyre said. "Biotechnology and fermentation is our answer, and Motif will be key to propelling the next food revolution with affordable, sustainable and accessible ingredients that meet the standards of chefs, food developers and visionary brands."

Motif said biotechnology is indispensable for catalyzing the next generation of foods.

“Vital food ingredients, including vitamins, amino acids, enzymes and flavors, are made through fermentation with genetically engineered yeasts and bacteria in a process similar to brewing beer. Identifying and developing new fermented ingredients – particularly new proteins – that are historically derived from animals requires deep technical resources and experience,” the company noted.

With Ginkgo, Motif will accelerate 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. Food companies will be able to outsource this costly and time-intensive R&D process to Motif as a trusted and innovative supplier while dedicating more time and resources to bringing delicious products and new brands to consumers, the company said.

Judith Swales, chief operating officer of Fonterra's Global Consumer & Foodservice Business, said, "To help feed the world and meet consumers' evolving food preferences, traditional and complementary nutritional sources need to coexist. As a global dairy nutrition company, we see plant- and fermentation-produced nutrition as complementary to animal protein, and in particular cows' milk. Our partnership with Motif enables us to be part of this emerging area and help meet the nutritional needs of the world's growing population."

Kristen Eshak Weldon, head of food innovation and downstream strategy at Louis Dreyfus, said, "Innovative or disruptive solutions are key to responding to changing consumer demand and to addressing the challenge of feeding a growing world population sustainably. In this sense, we are excited to partner with Motif, convinced that its next-generation ingredients will play a vital role."

Motif is the second start-up to launch from Ginkgo's breakthrough platform for biological engineering. The first, Joyn Bio, was launched in September 2017 in a joint venture by Ginkgo and Leaps by Bayer to focus on achieving more sustainable agricultural practices, starting with nitrogen fixation.