North Carolina-based biotech startup Jellatech announces its $2M pre-seed fundraise. Investors in this round include Iron Grey, YellowDog, 7 Hound Ventures, Capital V, Sentient Investments, Bluestein Ventures, Sustainable Food Ventures and Big Idea Ventures. The funding will enable Jellatech to further develop their cell-based, animal-free collagen and gelatin with applications in various industries, such as food & beverage, skincare & cosmetics, and medical & pharmaceutical.

“We are excited and proud to have the support of our investors who believe in our company and the future we are building.” - Stephanie Michelsen, Co-founder & CEO. “We know that the demand and the need is there, and now we have the fuel to realize it”.

The collagen and gelatin market is a huge market that continues to grow. Consumers are increasingly becoming aware of the health benefits that these proteins can provide. Rather than isolating collagen from inedible leftovers from animals in the meat industry, Jellatech uses cellular agriculture to manufacture real animal-free collagen and gelatin ingredients.

Jellatech has received a lot of inquiries from potential customers and partners hungry to get their hands on the first animal-free collagen and gelatin ingredient products and are excited to announce that their first samples will be shipping out by the end of April.

“This funding and support has enabled us to accelerate the development of our products and we have been able to advance the distribution of our first collagen samples, which is a really exciting thing that our team is very proud of.” - Stephanie Michelsen, Co-founder & CEO

While the motivation to create animal-free collagen and gelatin is clear, it’s a complex and challenging protein to create outside an animal. Current alternatives, such as animal-free collagen peptides and plant-based pectin or agar can occasionally substitute conventional collagen and gelatin. These alternatives however, lack the functionality of native collagen which limits the applications. In other words, these alternatives fall short. Jellatech’s collagen is biologically identical to native collagen which makes it a true replacement for animal-derived collagen.

“Being able to manufacture native collagen without animals is unique, this is what makes our technology truly groundbreaking” - Kylie Hesp, Co-founder & Head of Science

‘If you love collagen (whether it’s for gummy bears, supplements, tissue engineering, materials or as other ingredients) and you love animals and the planet, we want to offer an option where you don’t have to choose one or the other. With this $2M fundraise we are one step closer to making that a reality”. Stephanie Michelsen, Co-founder & CEO

Photographs by Jellatech, Captured by Camilo F. Muñoz Segovia