365. Liberation Labs’ Mark Warner on precision fermentation for food + beverage, the Vivici partnership + biomanufacturing’s future

Global Market Insights predicts the precision fermentation market for food and beverage will grow from just about two billion in 2024 to 70 billion globally by 2034. That’s a staggering combined annual growth rate of nearly 40%. Liberation Labs is pioneering a new approach to precision fermentation at scale that borrows a page from the pharmaceutical industries playbook. Co-founder and CEO, Mark Warner, joins us to get into:  

• What exactly is precision fermentation? 
• The challenge facing companies, particularly early-stage innovators, that Liberation Labs saw an opportunity to solve for with contract precision fermentation 
• The company’s recent announcement of its first customer for the Indiana facility, Vivici, what they will do for them and what’s exciting about the partnership 
• How Mark saw an opportunity in the pharmaceutical space that could be replicated in fermentation for agbioscience innovation 
• Mark’s journey to fundraise for Liberation Labs 
• Reflecting on the decision to put their facility in Indiana for access to talent, corn and transportation 
• The biggest opportunities for growth – not just for Liberation Labs – but for precision fermentation as an industry 
• Biomanufacturing’s importance to economic growth, but in urban and rural America 
• What’s ahead for Liberation Labs