While the food tech investment sector outperformed itself last year, Miroku, a New Zealand-based food technology company, has been busy pioneering molecular agriculture technology. That proactive strategy put the company roughly “three to four years ahead of emerging competitors,” CEO Amos Palfreyman told TechCrunch.
“Miruku has not only aimed to address the challenges presented by a changing climate affecting traditional dairy production, but has also broadened our focus to address critical issues of food security and nutrition,” Palfreyman said via email interview.
TechCrunch profiled the company in 2022 when it raised $2.4 million in seed funding to develop molecular culture technology to program plant cells to become mini-factories to produce proteins and other molecules, such as fats and sugars, that are made traditionally from animals.
Miruku is not alone in using molecular culture technologies to create dairy products. Mozza Foods and Nobel Foods also do, but Palfreyman says his company focuses on business-to-business and modifies both proteins and fats in the same plant. He also chose to use sedge as a main crop because of its climate resilience.
Miruku management, from left, Thomas Buchanan, Ira Bing, Amos Palfreyman and Abby Thompson. Image Credits: Miroku
Since the seed round, the company has made advances in its proprietary dairy seed system. Initially, Miruku focused on programming plants to produce milk proteins that could be extracted from the seeds. This approach has since been extended to exploit the interactions between recombinant dairy casein and native plant proteins, with or without improved fatty acid profiles.
“This breakthrough allows us to use a larger portion of the seed, turning it into a range of versatile ingredients tailored for the food and beverage industry,” Palfreyman said. “We have now reached several key proof-of-concept milestones that demonstrate the viability and potential of the dairy seed system.”
During this time, the company also tripled the size of its team and formed relationships with several food manufacturing partners for some co-development opportunities. In addition, Miruku expanded its footprint in Israel as well as Australia, which was chosen as the home base for the initial market entry.
Today, the company announced $5 million in what Palfreyman called a pre-Series A round. It was led by Motion Capital and included first-round investor Movac and new investor NZVC. He did not disclose the valuation, but said it was “upper round”.
The new capital enables Miruku to expand its crop development efforts. This includes a partnership with CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation), the Australian government agency responsible for scientific research. Therefore, the company will use the modified safflower varieties in field trials in Australia, Palfreyman said.
“Above all, our priority is to advance our technology and move toward market readiness,” said Palfreyman. “This includes expanding our footprint in Australia and looking at establishing a presence in the United States.”
