Might cultivated plant cells lead to the development of future generations of antioxidants and antimicrobials?
Israeli foodtech startup Novella is making waves in the industry with its innovative approach to producing high-value food and personal care ingredients via plant cell culture. This groundbreaking technology offers significant advantages over traditional cultivation methods, providing a more consistent, scalable, and sustainable solution.
Novella's strategic partnership with Metaphor Foods, the innovation arm of global ingredients and private label food giant Hela APAC, extends across numerous revenue-generating categories, including seafood, dairy, baked goods, alternative protein products, and pet food. The agreement, valued at $10 million over seven years based on meat industry projections alone, marks a significant milestone for both companies.
The commercial launch for Novella's products for Metaphor Foods' Hela Natvance range is planned for early 2026. Meanwhile, Novella's first product launch in the dietary supplement sector is slated for late 2025, with commercial-scale sales beginning in 2026, pending regulatory approvals.
Novella is focusing on core compound groups—alkaloids, terpenes, and polyphenols—in their soluble powder formats such as sachets, capsules, and other powder-based applications. The startup is not using multi-use plastic bioreactors; instead, they are using commercially available stainless-steel bioreactors.
Plant cell culture technology provides numerous benefits. In terms of consistency, it allows for controlled growth conditions such as optimized bioreactor environments that are independent of external factors like weather, soil quality, and climate, which can cause wide variability in traditional field cultivation or wild harvesting. This leads to a more reliable and reproducible production of target compounds or secondary metabolites.
Regarding scalability, plant cell culture can be scaled up in bioreactors, enabling rapid production of botanical compounds year-round without the spatial and temporal limitations inherent to traditional agriculture. However, scaling up stable and healthy plant cell lines remains a technical challenge, though workarounds and improved techniques are advancing.
New mechanisms of action are also possible with plant cell culture. It allows for the biosynthesis of novel bioactive compounds not easily accessible via traditional cultivation or extraction because it allows for metabolic engineering and precise control of biosynthetic pathways at the cellular level.
Novella is producing known bioactives, mainly alkaloids, terpenes, and polyphenols, naturally found in plants. The startup has attracted VC firms including Plug and Play and Zora Ventures, as well as private investors, recognising its potential to revolutionise the food and supplement industries.
In summary, plant cell culture technology enhances consistency by standardizing growth conditions, improves scalability through bioreactor systems, and opens opportunities to produce new or modified bioactives via metabolic engineering approaches—all providing advantages over traditional field-grown or wild-harvested botanicals. However, technical challenges related to cell line stability and scale-up remain areas of ongoing development.
[1] Plant cell culture technology: Advantages and challenges in the production of high-value botanicals
[2] Plant cell culture technology: A sustainable alternative for the production of high-value botanicals
[3] Metabolic engineering in plant cell cultures: Strategies and applications
[1] Exploring the advancements of plant cell culture technology, it presents significant advantages in producing high-value botanical compounds, offering a more consistent, scalable, and sustainable solution compared to traditional field cultivation or wild harvesting.
[2] With its potential to revolutionize the foodtech industry, plant cell culture technology offers a promising sustainable approach for the production of high-value food and personal care ingredients, as demonstrated by Israeli startup Novella.
[3] In the realm of science and innovation, metabolic engineering in plant cell cultures holds great promise, providing strategies to produce novel bioactive compounds not easily accessible via traditional cultivation or extraction.
[4] As a key player in the intersecting industries of food-and-drink, health-and-wellness, and nutrition, Novella leverages plant cell culture technology to produce known bioactives, such as alkaloids, terpenes, and polyphenols, with the potential to redefine the food and supplement sectors.
[5] The strategic partnership between Novella and Metaphor Foods signifies a significant move in the business world, as both companies collaborate to scale up production of botanical compounds, including seafood, dairy, and alternative protein products, utilizing plant cell culture technology, thus investing in a more sustainable and innovative future for the lifestyle and finance sectors.
