Onego Bio secures EUR 4.5M additional funding to accelerate research and development

Onego Bio is a Finnish biotechnology company producing animal-free egg white with precision fermentation. With the new funding granted by Business Finland, the company can accelerate the research and development of Bioalbumentm production even further. The company's solution rises to the major global challenges of food production and sustainable development.

HELSINKI, Sept. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- 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. This safe, sustainable and cost-effective precision fermentation method produces ovalbumin, the most abundant egg white protein, and the team believes this chosen technology is superior because of its efficiency and productivity.

Onego raised EUR 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 EUR 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 and positive social and environmental effects.

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", says Maija Itkonen, CEO and co-founder of Onego Bio.

Cellular agriculture uses microorganisms and bioreactors instead of traditional animal farming and can provide the same beloved food ingredients that are used every day but decoupled from the animal agriculture systems. Because of its unique functional properties, egg white is difficult to replace with alternative ingredients and it's often the last frontier 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 Bioalbumentm as a food ingredient for food industry and later enter the consumer market with its own branded products for baking and cooking.

Laura Toppinen
Head of Brand & Communications
Onego Bio Ltd
[email protected]

Onego Bio Ltd is a game-changing biotech company producing animal-free egg proteins with precision fermentation. When implemented in full scale, this new production method provides significant benefits to the environment, food security, as well as animal welfare. The team believes the chosen technology is superior because of its efficiency and productivity. Based on the anticipatory LCA published in Nature Food, the technology shows potential to significantly reduce most agriculture-associated impacts, such as global warming and land use.

Egg is one of the world's most used animal proteins and difficult to replace with alternative ingredients. Onego Bio will make it possible to manufacture the same delicious foods entirely animal-free. Company aims to launch its first product Bioalbumentm as a food ingredient for food industry and later enter the consumer market with its own branded products for baking and cooking. Bioalbumen provides the nutritional and functional upsides of egg white, without the environmental, ethical and safety-related concerns. 

Founded in 2022 by Maija Itkonen (CEO), Christopher Landowski (CTO) and Jussi Joensuu (COO), Onego Bio is a VTT spin-off that salutes the remarkable work done by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland for the next level cell ag products and applications. Onego Bio's mission is to rethink eggs and give people access to sustainable, delicious and healthy animal-free food. Learn more at www.onego.bio and follow our journey in LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.

SOURCE Onego Bio