Future Fields, a biotechnology company, has created the EntoEngine™, a revolutionary approach to producing biomolecules using fruit flies instead of traditional bioreactors. With a supply-demand gap of 163X, the global operating supply of bioreactors is dwarfed by the demand, and Future Fields aims to bridge this gap within the next decade. To achieve this goal, Future Fields has raised an $11.2M funding round from notable venture capitalists and government contracts, including Bee Partners, Toyota Ventures, Builders VC, AgFunder, and Climate Capital. The funds will be used to open a world-first production facility and expand the team.
The company is serving the cultivated meat industry and expanding its product suite to include multi-billion dollar industries such as research, cell therapies, and biopharmaceuticals. In addition, using flies has given Future Fields several advantages over traditional methods, including owning its supply chain, adding more supply with minimal investment quickly, and reducing the energy needs of its factory.
“We’ve passed a tipping point where it’s scaling, not creating, biotech-based products that are the fundamental hurdle for founders, companies, and entire industries,” said Matt Anderson-Baron, co-founder and CEO of Future Fields. “Our approach is 30X faster than tanks and more or less infinitely scalable with minimal investment; this is how we’ve already commercialized our first few products. As we unlock more proteins, we can scale production capacity while continuing to service over 60 companies in cellular agriculture and beyond.”
Future Fields’ patented EntoEngine™ is capable of producing human recombinant protein products such as PDGF-bb, Activin A, IGF-1, Prolactin, and FGF2. These proteins are crucial for developing medicines, vaccines, and other biotechnology products. By using flies, Future Fields can produce these proteins at a kilogram scale with just 10,000 square feet of manufacturing space while having a smaller greenhouse gas footprint than existing bioreactor technology.
Future Fields’ Co-founders, Matt Anderson-Baron (CEO) and Jalene Anderson-Baron (COO). (Photo: Future Fields)
