The investment was supported by Agronomics Ltd and Maki VC. Bioalbumen is an animal-free protein, produced during a fermentation process that creates an identical egg with protein, but without the need for animals. What came first, the chicken or the egg can be a question of the past, because now Onego Bio says that we will not need chickens.

“We have a big mission: We want to rethink eggs and give people access to a delicious healthy animal-free alternative. Egg white is a smart starting point for the next level proteins. Because of its unique functional properties like gelling, foaming, binding and emulsifying, the egg white is extremely difficult to replace with alternative ingredients. In many applications, egg is the last frontier before entirely animal-free end products can be manufactured”, said Maija Itkonen, CEO of Onego Bio.

Onego Bio’s team developed a safe, sustainable and cost-effective cellular agriculture method for producing ovalbumin, the most abundant egg white protein.

They harness the microflora Trichoderma reesei for protein production, add water, sugar and certain minerals to create egg whites. The process can be compared to that of producing beer. The next step for Onego Bio is to develop a pilot production in Finland in the coming years, according to EU Startups and to acquire the commercial approvals for the first product, which will be an animal free bioalbumen powder.

Onego Bio aims to market the product as a food ingredient for the bakery and confectionary industry, as well as a protein supplement for fitness products and later enter the consumer market with its own branded products for baking and cooking.

The global egg production has doubled in the last 20 years and will reach 138 million tonnes by 2030. But the plant free alternatives are growing, regardless if we talk about meat, dairy or eggs. The startup can contribute to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, eliminating the need for big farms with low quality of life for the chickens.