Food Navigator: Food Ingredient Startups to Watch

Prebiotic FIber Arabinoxylan

Check out our media mention in Food Navigator

Comet Bio – which is based in Canada and has a US headquarters in Chicago – is developing functional fibers and sweeteners from upcycled feedstocks from corn stover and brewer’s spent grains to wheat straw, soybean hulls and other crop leftovers. (Pic: GettyImages-dusipuffi)
Its ‘Arrabina’ arabinoxylan – a fiber found in the cell walls of several plants that CEO Rich Troyer refers to as ‘the Cadillac of fibers’ – has a range of benefits from prebiotic effects to blood glucose control and immune health support. But no one has found a cost-effective way to isolate and produce it on an industrial scale… until now, he says.
The firm’s Sweeterra 95DE syrup, meanwhile, is “ideal for fermentations of all kinds, including precision fermentation and cultured protein,” says Troyer, who has just closed a $22m Series C round.
“Cultured meat could be a very significant market for 95DE for example as that technology scales up.”