LISBON, PORTUGAL — MicroHarvest, a biotechnology company focused on sustainable protein production, announced the launch of its cutting-edge pilot plant in Lisbon on Nov. 17. According to MicroHarvest, the facility marks a significant milestone in its mission to “reshape” the production of sustainable foods.

The pilot plant will provide MicroHarvest with the ability to operate labs in-house and beyond, enabling it to accelerate toward commercialization and market availability, according to the company. The facility will produce protein samples for its customers, further allowing MicroHarvest to hone its technology and test production runs before commercial scale.

“Within just six months of opening our Lisbon office, our team has doubled in size, and we’ve achieved an impressive feat by constructing the pilot plant in record time — a truly remarkable journey,” said Katelijne Bekers, chief executive officer of MicroHarvest. “Within the next three months, we are on track to introduce our first product to the market. These milestones underscore our commitment to driving real impact by bringing commercially competitive, consistent and sustainable ingredients to market fast.”

The pilot plant is located at MicroHarvest’s Factory Lisbon site. The company took a mere six months to transform a portion of its office space into a fully equipped lab and pilot plant.

“The speed at which we accomplished this demonstrates that we have the right team and the right technology to make sustainable protein readily available at scale,” said Jonathan Roberz, chief operating officer of MicroHarvest. “This is of crucial importance as our food systems’ ecological footprint must be minimized to remain within our planetary boundaries.”

The company’s proprietary technology sustainably produces high-quality protein ingredients containing more than 60% raw protein within 24 hours. According to MicroHarvest, its approach significantly reduces resource and raw material consumption compared to traditional methods of creating sustainable proteins. It offers highly competitive, scalable and consistent protein solutions for the animal feed, pet food and human nutrition industries.

“This pilot plant serves as tangible evidence of the scalability of our process,” said Luísa Cruz, chief technology officer of MicroHarvest. “With a lower investment when compared to alternative technologies, and within a mere 200 square meters, we can achieve a daily production of 25 kgs.”

The company officially launched the plant during an event on Nov. 16, which was attended by MicroHarvest partners and investors.

The launch of its pilot plant follows MicroHarvest’s significant strategic partnership with a venture capital firm, through which the company raised its total funding to more than €10 million.

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