Air Protein is a modern meat-analogue company creating air-based meat and protein enriched food from a closed loop carbon transformation process. They are positioned to be the most delicious, nutritious, cost effective and sustainable meat alternative with a go to market strategy focused first on chicken, followed by seafood, beef and other products.
Dr. Lisa Dyson founded her first company, Kiverdi, in 2008 to create commercial solutions that transform carbon dioxide and other gasses into high-value, bio-based products with its NASA-inspired technology.
With 50+ patents granted or pending, Kiverdi is a leading company in addressing key supply changes utilizing carbon transformation. One of the prominent areas of application Kiverdi identified for their proprietary technology process was air-based protein. In late 2019,Dr. Dyson and the Kiverdi board decided to spin out Air Protein using proprietary technology and IP to create a sustainable and scalable alternative meat company. As part of the spin-out, Kiverdi will license its technology toAir Protein for use in Formulated Meat Substitute Products.
Dr. Dyson set out on a journey to create a next generation solution to feed the world’s growing population. Specifically, she was motivated to address the opportunity presented by offering a new category of alternative meat into the $1.4 trillion meat industry. Dr. Dyson and JamesWhite see a huge opportunity to build a modern meat company, one that positionsAir Protein as the most nutritious, scalable, cost effective and sustainable meat alternative.
*The global meat market is worth $1.8 trillion in 2020, with $7.2 billion in the US.However, the industry increasingly faces challenges related to business, ethical, and environmental concerns as natural resources deplete, rural populations decrease and the demand for better agricultural practices increases.
*Alternative protein, a $4.3 billion and rapidly growing market, has emerged asa solution to these mounting threats as it could simplify the meat supply chain and reduce carbon emission concerns by up to 90 times.
*Air Protein is a first to market novel protein alternative category and leading the next generation of revolution in the future of food with the world’s first air-based protein by creating a cost-effective, environmentally sustainable and nutritional substitute. The technology requires 1.5 million times less land and 15,000 times water compared to beef and utilizes CO2instead of emitting excessive amounts of greenhouses gases.
*Leveraging ideas developed by NASA for making protein for astronauts in space,Air Protein’s proprietary technology platform leverages 11 patent families to produce protein ingredients using CO2 and renewable power with no arable land required. Air Protein's technology platform has been validated and tested over the last 8 years and is now positioned for commercialization.
*Air Protein has assembled a world class team of leaders with a unique combination of technological and scientific expertise along with seasoned executives with decades of experience running global Fortune 500 companies.
*The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the weaknesses of the global meat supply chain. As a result, alternative protein start-ups have attracted an increasing level of investor interest. According to AgFunder AgriFoodTech, innovative food has attracted $1.1B in funding in 1H 2020, more than all of 2019.
In creating a new category of alternative meat and protein products, Air Protein has a proprietary technology platform that produces ingredients using CO2 and renewable power with no arable land required. Through the work conducted at Kiverdi, Air Protein's technology has been developed and validated over the last 10+ years. Furthermore, it has been vetted by global brands in other industries and leverages 11 patent families. Air Protein's technology platform allows for vertical scaling at a lower cost with a carbon negative footprint. The Company has already achieved significant KPIs towards being the world's first air-based meat company and already has chicken prototypes under development. Air Protein expects to complete regulatory approvals and launch 2-3 products in the market by end of 2021 with a rapid scale and expansion plan to bring other protein analogs including seafood, beef and other products to market by 2022.
In pioneering a new category of air-based food production,Air Protein has moved from the R&D phase of de-risking their technology platform to prototyping and brining to market air based chicken. Through a partnership with Kitchen Townin the Bay Area, Air Protein is working with Chef Eric Minnich, Executive Chef of Commissary San Francisco, to test Air Protein in the kitchen. You can viewChief Eric's commentary here where he discusses cooking with air protein flour and creating their chicken prototype. Additionally, we have included a video below (link here) of first reactions to Air Chicken during their recent taste test in Berkley.
Air Protein is raising a $25M Series A round at a $75M pre-money valuation led by a strategic investor with participation from other financial investors and family offices. Use of funds include acceleration ofAir Protein’s platform technology, regulatory approvals, organization build-out, commercial product development and launch and brand building. TheCompany has reserved an allocation for Plum Alley to participate in the SeriesA round because of our long-standing relationship.
While running Kiverdi over the past 12 years, Dr Dyson raised venture funding to build out a family of patents and technology platforms, including raising a Seed round from Kapor
Capital. Kiverdi was also a recipient of grants from theCalifornia Energy Commission and Paycheck Protection Program as well as a participant of Plug and Play Accelerator’s program. The Air Protein spin-out from Kiverdi will result in Kiverdi owning 20% of Air Protein. More details on the relationship between Air Protein and Kiverdi are available in the Company'sDiligence Files.
Air Protein’s products are built upon a proprietary technology platform leveraging 11 patent families. The process produces protein ingredients using CO2 and renewable power with no arable land required, creating the most sustainable protein. Air Protein has an exclusive strategic relationship with Kiverdi, the industrial biotechnology company who has developed the underlying technology for the past 8 years.
Air Protein’s proprietary technology allows it to create air-based meat in just 4 days in a six-step process:
Air Protein’s products are built on its core pillar of nutrition with a focus on clean labels and minimal ingredients. The cultures synthesize not only proteins, but also all the amino acids required in a healthy diet and key vitamins, including Vitamin B12 (which is lacking in a vegan diet). To complete the nutritional profile, different minerals are added in the fermentation vessels in the protein creation process. As cultures consume those minerals, they become part of the ingredient. The resulting end product is a complete protein, containing all nine of the essential amino acids necessary for the human diet, with an amino acid profile comparable to animal protein, and double the amount of amino acids compared to protein made from soybeans.
Compared to its competitors, Air Protein has significant scaling impact, which happens in step 1 -3. The competing technology is soy protein and pea protein, which is what Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods use. Soy protein takes several months and scales horizontally, while Air Protein aims to scale vertically and produces the same amount of protein using a fraction of the land. Besides achieving significant reduction in land utilization, Air Protein does not require any arable land, allowing deployment in any geographic location and any climate conditions.
Moreover, Air Protein is highly flexible in its capability to produce a variety of textures, flavours and nutritional profiles. Compared to competitors in soy protein or pea protein who are limited by what is available from that specific type of protein, Air Protein has a production process where it can make protein with different functional capacities, such as oil holding or water holding capacities, adding to Air Protein’s capability to make different end products. Air Protein therefore has the potential to make different types of protein such as seafood in the future.
Founded in 2008 by Dr. Lisa Dyson, Kiverdi created commercial solutions that transform carbon dioxide and other gases into high-value, bio-based products with its NASA-inspired technology. With 50+ patents granted or pending, Kiverdi is a leading company in addressing key supply changes utilizing carbon transformation. Air Protein is a spin-off from Kiverdi. Kiverdi will license its technology to Air Protein for use in Formulated Meat Substitute Products as part of the decision to spin-off Air Protein.
Founder and CEO of Air Protein, Dr. Lisa Dyson, the founder of Kiverdi, has allocated 100% of her time to Air Protein. Mr. John Reed, Chief Scientist & Founder, will remain a part of Kiverdi but will dedicate his time to the innovation center and regulatory efforts to make sure the smooth transfer of technology to Air Protein.
Air Protein’s relationship with Kiverdi can be summarized into:
The global meat industry is currently worth $1.8T, according to CB Insights’ Industry Analyst Consensus. In 2017, global production of meat was 339 billion tons, including 127 billion tons of chicken, 119 billion tons of pigmeat, 68 million tons of beef/buffalo and others. Growing consumer awareness of alternative proteins, the market for alternative protein is rapidly growing. Plant-based food (the largest source of alternative protein) sales rose 17% in 2018. According to a Allied Market Research report, the global alternative meat market size was valued at $4.1 billion in 2017, and is expected to reach $8.1 billion by 2026, representing a CAGR of 7.8%. Meat substitutes include a wide variety of products derived from plant-based and other organic sources, including pea, lentils, rice, tofu, tempeh, textured vegetable protein, quorn and seitan etc
The recent Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the weakness of the global meat supply chain as suppliers struggle to meet consumer demand. As a result, market growth has accelerated significantly and investors have shown growing interest in alternative protein. The alternative protein market can be broken down into:
Air Protein will launch its Air Protein chicken in select regions first followed by expansion to include more geographies and products.Chicken alternatives with meat-like muscle texture are harder to develop than ground beef alternatives. One of Beyond Meat’s earliest products was its frozen chicken strips which was soon discontinued as it failed to deliver the same plant-based meat experience to consumers. By entering the market with chicken, Air Protein is tackling a segment of the market with higher barriers to entry.
Phase 1: R&D / Product Development
Air Protein has completed the research needed in order to roll out its products and has achieved the key parameters needed in order to achieve attractive results economically at scale. Air Protein engaged a third party consultant to set the target for these technological parameters. Over the course of 2017 to 2019, Air Protein had met or exceeded those initial targets:
As the R&D work in achieving these metrics is already accomplished, the next step is engineering and building larger facilities in order to replicate these results on a commercial scale. Air Protein is currently developing chicken prototypes. The company is also proceeding the FDA requirements and approvals. Air Protein is planning on finalizing approvals from FDA in Q4 2021. The Company is confident that it will pass the toxicology tests of FDA. The company has front-loaded its internal testing and has been working with a group of consultants on the approval process.
Phase 2: Market Launch with Focus on Chicken:
Air Protein plans to ready consumers within nine months with a focus on educating consumers on the nutritional benefits of the ingredients. Launching with chicken as its first platform, Air Protein isolates’ versatility allows for a robust product expansion plan that includes beef, pork and seafood. Air Protein will focus on establishing the air-based protein category in the next two years with a focus on establishing scale, obtaining regulatory approvals and prototyping. It plans to launch in select regions in Q1 2022 with a focus on retail stores, foodservice restaurants and eCommerce.
Air Protein’s go to market strategy is designed around a multi-channel product launch across both retail (fast food restaurants) and commercial spaces (wholesale supply chain). Air Protein’s projections are based on a combination of channels, retail outlets and the expansion of the portfolio over time. In year one, the projections are 500 retail locations and [another 200+ in those same markets].
Phase 3: National Expansion and Operational Scale to Achieve Optimal Economics
Air Protein will own and operate its first two protein production facilities and contract manufacturing partners for any additional demand. Air Protein will launch its Innovation Center with 30kL capacity in Q1’22 and Commercial Scale with 150kL capacity in Q1’23. Air Protein projects total COGS/Lb to be $3.38 with Innovation Center production capacity and $2.26 with Commercial Facility. Wholesale selling price is projected to be $5.4/Lb at product launch and go down to $5.0/Lb with Commercial Facility.
As technical metrics are achieved, Air Protein’s COGS will decrease and economics of scale will be comparable to the lowest cost achieved by pea protein, resulting in a meat product comparable to Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods in terms of costs. One scaling step forward will result in cost points comparable to soy protein, the cheapest protein source, resulting in meat products with cheaper pricing than Beyond Meat’s.
Air Protein’s team has a strong technical background with over 100+ of combined experience in food and biotechnology. The team created the world’s first air-based meat in 2009.
Dr. Lisa Dyson, CEO & Founder has a PhD in Physics from MIT, where she conducted research in String Theory, was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of London, where she received a MS in Physics with an emphasis in Quantum Fields and Fundamental Forces, and has degrees in Mathematics and Physics from Brandeis University. Dr. Dyson has a diverse background in management, business consulting, technology development and scientific research. Dr. Dyson has conducted research in Bioengineering and Physics, including energy research, at Stanford University, the University of California, Berkeley, Princeton University, the University of California, San Francisco, MIT and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories. been awarded a number of honors in connection with her technical work. As a management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group, Dr. Dyson worked with executives of multinational corporations to develop and execute high-impact strategies to expand into new markets.
James White, Executive Chair, is the former Chairman, President and CEO of Jamba Juice, a leading global healthy lifestyle brand. Prior to his tenure of Jamba Juice, James held executive and management positions at Fortune 500 companies including Safeway Stores, the Gillette Company, Nestie-Purina and Coca Cola, over a career spanning 30+ years. In addition to Bradshaw International, he currently serves on the boards of The Simply Good Foods Company, Schnucks Supermarkets, and Panera Bread. Mr. White has a Bachelor of Science degree from University of Missouri-Columbia and an MBA from Fontbonne University.
John Reed, Chief Scientist & Founder, earned a PhD and an MS degree in Material Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as well as degrees in Biology and Material Science from US Berkeley. He is a co-founder of Kiverdi and the co-investor of Air Protein’s core technology. Dr. Reed is an expert in chemical and biological energy storage and conversion technologies and has over 15 years of experience in the research and development of clean energy technologies. He has conducted research in leading institutes including the MIT, Lawrence Livemore National Laboratories and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratoties. He has authored more than a dozen articles published in international peer-reviewed journals, has been a speaker at scientific conferences including Air ProteinS and DARPA, and is an inventor on several patent Air Proteinplications, including patent applications on microbial carbon capture.
Notable investors: [Let’s reference notable investors in Kiverdi and also update with leads once we have them.]
Air-based protein is the most sustainable food ever created and will have a game-changing environment impact. Current food production accounts for over 20% of greenhouse gases, more than all of transportation combined, and uses over 37% of the planet’s land mass. Air Protein creates the most sustainable protein using 1.5 million x less land and 15,000x less water compared to beef
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