Skip to content

Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg

Subscriber Only
Markets

Fund Backed by Bezos, Gates and Ma Invests in Meat Alternatives

By
Updated on
  • Ginkgo Bioworks Inc. launches alternative foods company
  • Motif Ingredients to engineer proteins derived from meat, eggs

Creating designer protein that can make your veggie burger taste like the real thing is as easy as brewing beer. Or at least that’s what a new subsidiary of Boston-based bio-manufacturing startup, Ginkgo Bioworks Inc., says.

Ginkgo’s Motif Ingredients, which aims to replicate animal protein for meatless alternatives, is getting $90 million from investors including Breakthrough Energy Ventures, whose board includes tech billionaires Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Jack Ma. Commodity powerhouse Louis Dreyfus Co. and Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd, New Zealand’s dairy-exporting giant, are also backing the company.