Mycosortia

In February 2023, Mycosortia was selected as a finalist in the FTIC Foodtech Startup Challenge organized by Nurasa, the Trendlines Group, A*STAR Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation (SIFBI), Enterprise Singapore, and A*STAR – Agency for Science, Technology and Research.

The organizing committee has put up a very comprehensive training program to the finalists. It provided access to facilities in both Nurasa and A*Star SIFBI. It also conducted a series of talks covering topics such as food technology, IP protection, marketing, and fundraising. At different stages, it connected the finalists to relevant mentors or MNCs to expedite their progress. The committee also introduced participants to chefs who helped finalists design their dishes presented on the Pitch Day.

Although the Foodtech Challenge was not an accelerator program, it stretched and accelerated us tremendously given that each finalist would display their food for tasting on the Pitch Day. 

Within the past four months, Mycosortia has made significant progress.

• We have set up our food-grade test-bedding facility at JTC LaunchPad@JID and made it fully operational so that we can produce enough FibProt^TM for prototyping.
• We have accessed the extruder at A*star SIFBI and run a few rounds of high moisture extrusion (HME) experiments with SIFBI’s extrusion team using FibProt^TM.

• For the first time, we have developed our fish analogue, canned tuna, via HME using FibProt^TM with pea protein isolate. We have also made our low-fat vegan cheese and mayonnaise using FibProt^TM.
• For the first time, we showcased our above alternative protein prototypes, incorporated them in sushi, and provided them to visitors for tasting.

On the Pitch Day on Jun 27, 2023, each finalist has displayed our best prototypes for tasting. These innovative foods were beautifully designed and were very delicious. We obtained many valuable feedbacks on our food prototypes. We will further improve our prototypes and hope to bring one of them to the market within this year.

The Pitch Day marked the end of the Foodtech Challenge. Now we can confidently tell you that okara can be completely transformed into a high-value food ingredient, FibProt^TM. It is a versatile ingredient that can be incorporated into many foods, including alternative protein products. Therefore, okara can be upcycled at scale.

From now on, Mycosortia will move to its next phase. We are looking for partners to achieve the following:

1. Further improvement of our food prototypes and bring at least one of them to the market.
2. New food product development using FibProt^TM.
3. Seed fund raising to further upscale our facility to upcycle okara at scale.
4. Upcycling of spent barley grains or other protein and fiber-rich food side streams using our platform biotransformation technology.

If you are keen to work with us, feel free to contact us at contact@mycosortia.com.