Singapore’s state-backed food platform Nurasa has partnered with UK startup New Wave Biotech to deploy AI-led bioprocess optimisation, targeting one of alternative protein’s most persistent problems: the cost and risk of scaling production.
The collaboration comes as alternative proteins lose policy prominence in Singapore’s latest food security strategy, after years of high expectations failed to translate into competitive pricing or broad consumer uptake.
The partnership follows an April white paper by Nurasa and New Wave Biotech that examined how Silicon Valley’s lean startup model could be applied to food and biotech.
The paper warned that theory does not travel easily into capital-heavy sectors.
“The lean startup principles offer a powerful framework, but applying them to food and biotech requires adaptation,” the document said. “The key is moving smart and de-risking efficiently.”
The two organisations have formalised that thinking into a commercial collaboration nine months later, aimed at helping companies move from R&D to market-ready manufacturing.
Bioprocess optimisation remains one of the most expensive chokepoints in food biotech. There are more than a trillion possible process combinations, individual experiments can cost between $10,000 and $100,000, and scale-up timelines often stretch from three years to a decade. Boston Consulting Group has warned that “more than 90% of synbio technologies fail because they can’t be scaled.”
Nurasa will now use New Wave Biotech’s Bioprocess Foresight platform, which runs AI-led simulations to produce techno-economic and life-cycle analyses, giving developers visibility into cost, yield, and environmental trade-offs. New Wave says its software can run calculations in hours rather than months, reduce physical experiments by up to 90%, and halve unit costs.
“By partnering with Nurasa, we can support both startups and established companies in progressing from lab to commercially viable manufacturing with far greater clarity and lower risk,” said Zoe Yu Tung Law, co-founder and CEO of New Wave Biotech.
Singapore remains the first country to approve cultivated meat and gas-derived proteins, with four companies cleared for sale. However, alternative proteins have been removed from the government’s new food strategy. Environment minister Grace Fu cited “higher production costs and weaker-than-expected consumer acceptance globally.”
“This partnership strengthens our ability to bring globally relevant food and ingredient solutions to market with greater confidence and reduced risk using Singapore as a regional launchpad,” he said.