NSW biomanufacturing startup Cauldron Ferm scores Queensland funding for sugar belt plant

The Queensland government has backed regional NSW biotech startup Cauldron Ferm to build a biomanufacturing facility in the state’s tropical north. 

The Sunshine State support under the $415 million Industry Partnership Program (IPP) follows a recent $4.3 million federal government grant.

The size of the investment, ahead of Queenslanders going to the polls on October to decide if Labor will have a fourth term after nine years in power, was not revealed. The IPP was topped up with an additional $53 million last year and is focused on decarbonisation.

Cauldron, recently named Best Regional Startup in the Startup Daily Best in Tech awards uses continuous precision fermentation to transform how everything from food to fibres, animal feed, fuels, and more are created, at significantly reduced costs to alternative product development methods.

The startup raised $9.5 million in a Series A in March. The IPP grant will help fund a facility in Mackay that will be the first and largest end-to-end contract manufacturer for precision fermented bioproducts in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Cauldron Bio-fab in Mackay will have the manufacturing capacity to supply a range of sectors with with cost-effective and resource-efficient bioproducts.

Mackay is in the heart of Queensland’s sugar cane belt  and home to Australia’s second largest sugar manufacturer. Sugar fuels Cauldron’s hyper-fermentation process.

The projected annual production of more than 1,000 tonnes from the plant will produce key inputs for the food, nutrition, materials, beauty, personal care, chemicals, and biofuels sectors. The Mackay plant is the first planned industrial facility for Cauldron, as the company expands production from their current 25,000-litre demo facility in NSW ahead of ambitions to develop a global network of industrial facilities in multiple geographies.  

Cauldron cofounder and CEO Michele Stansfield said they were honoured to have the Queensland government’s backing.

“This funding enables us to scale our innovative technology as a major milestone in our journey to redefine the scope of biomanufacturing,” she said.

“We look forward to developing the critical infrastructure to produce essential bioproducts more efficiently and sustainably to meet growing demand.”