Simona Fehlmann, an ETH Pioneer Fellow Alumnae and co-founder of the Swiss start-up sallea AG, specializes in crafting scaffolds: highly porous and edible 3D grid structures that are used for cultivating textured meat and seafood products. In this interview with Supertrends, Simona discusses the work of sallea. She talks about the process of cellular agriculture, sallea's scaffolds, their applications in the food industry and beyond, and the promising future she envisions for sustainable food alternatives.

Supertrends: Welcome everyone to Supertrends interviews. Today my guest is Simona Fehlmann. Simona has a master's degree in material sciences, she is an ETH Pioneer Fellow Alumane and the co-founder of sallea AG, a promising Swiss startup. Hello, Simona.

Simona Fehlmann: Hello. Nice to be here.

Supertrends: Maybe we could start with you explaining to us first what sallea actually does.

SF: We produce scaffolds: highly porous, edible 3D grid structures, an ingredient needed for the cultivation of highly textured meat and seafood products, such as a steak or fish fillet, which are cultivated from cells. This is part of cellular agriculture. Maybe for those who don't know, this is when you take cells from an animal, but instead of growing a whole cow, you take the cells and you grow them in a steel tank—similar to the ones used in a beer brewing process. And in order to grow highly textured products such as a steak, you need our scaffolds.

Supertrends: What material do you use to make your scaffold?

SF: We developed a scaffolding platform, and we can produce scaffolds from a very wide range of materials. We can do it based on plant proteins, and polysaccharides such as cellulose and alginate—but we are basically free to do it from almost any material. It's important to mention that the ones that I have just named are all edible. Of course, we could also do it from non-edible materials for other applications. However, the focus is strongly on the edible ones.

Supertrends: And if you had to name the three most important features of your scaffolds, what would they be?

SF: On one hand, it is the controlled porosity. With our process, we managed to create precisely defined pore structures, meaning that we can specify how big they are, but also how they look. The pores are all connected to each other, which is important for the cells to grow in three dimensions and also for the nutrients to reach the center of the scaffold. Additionally, as mentioned before, the flexibility of making specific material formulations optimized towards the biological and culinary aspects of the end product. Hence, the customization of the taste, texture, and nutritional profile of the scaffold. On top of that, we are free in geometry, allowing us to adjust our scaffold to the final application's needs.

Supertrends: So, if you were to consider scaffold-generating companies that we have on the market, would these features that you just mentioned be the ones that set you apart from the others? Or is there something else that you would like to add, if you had to position sallea among scaffold-producing companies?

SF: Yes. Furthermore, our scaffolds are very thick, beyond 1 centermeter, whereas the products from our competitors are very thin.

Supertrends: Could you briefly explain how you achieved this flexibility and controlled porosity?

SF: We developed a scaffolding platform based on an indirect additive manufacturing approach to produce our scaffolds. We 3D print a template/mold, and then infiltrate the desired scaffold formulation or the material formulation into this template/mold. In the last step, we remove the template with water, which generates the highly controlled pore structure of the final scaffold.

Supertrends: You’ve already mentioned a bit about why we, and who, would need your products. Could you elaborate more on this? What would be the markets that could benefit from your technology and products?

SF: We are targeting the alternative protein market in the food industry. As specified earlier, we are active in the cellular agriculture ecosystem to enable companies to cultivate high-value, textured products with thick cross-sections, such as steak or fish fillets. Additionally, our technology could also be used to texture plant-based alternative products, which is a market we are currently investigating. In general, our scaffolds can also be used for other cell growth applications, such as in pharma or medtech, but this is not our focus at the moment.

Supertrends: Could you also explain why it is so important that cells grow in 3D? From the consumer's perspective?

SF: Yes. The 3D aspect is very important. People, of course, consume a lot of processed products such as minced meat. However, if we look at the market, the highest margins can be made with textured products. People are willing to pay more and also enjoy a steak or a fish-related structured product. Scaffolds are what is needed to achieve this. Mammalian cells generally do not grow by themselves into 3D. It's a complex system and therefore important that they have a structure/surface to hold onto in order to grow into muscle fibers, for example, and develop into a larger piece of tissue.

Supertrends: Your scaffolds are used to facilitate cell growth, so biocompatibility is important, correct? How do you address the challenge of biocompatibility?

SF: First of all, and most importantly, we want to move away from animal-derived products. Therefore, our scaffolds are solely based on plant-based materials, which presents challenges for cell adhesion. Thanks to our great team, we have achieved some great results in the past months. Additionally, the scaffold materials and formulations need to be edible to be used in foods. For this, we rely on materials and processes that are already food-grade to comply with the regulations.

Supertrends: So just to clarify, once somebody is using your scaffold to grow the cells, the scaffold remains in place. It's not like it's dissolving or something. It stays within, for example, the steak that has grown on it?

SF: Correct. The scaffold will be consumed in the end. In principle, we could also create scaffolds that dissolve/degrade over time. However, currently, from a technological and regulatory standpoint, it's a bit too complicated. You have to ensure there are no residues left, and so on. It's something for the future. In principle, we could do it, but at the moment, the scaffold remains in the final product. This is also the reason why it's important that our scaffold has the right texture, taste, and nutritional profile.

Supertrends: You are currently targeting the food industry, as you said. So, what has been the biggest challenge for you so far in targeting this market?

SF: The biggest technological challenge in the food market or in cellular agriculture is that it's a highly interdisciplinary field, encompassing food science, biotech, material science, and so on. It's important that the product, on one hand, is food-grade and meets the requirements for cells to grow in three dimensions. On the other hand, it also needs to have the right culinary properties for the end product. From the business perspective, the biggest challenge is that it is a new developing market where no standards exist yet, which we try to turn into an advantage.

Supertrends: You have mentioned medtech. Do you consider entering this market with your scaffolds?

SF: Our technology was initially developed for medtech applications, as with most of the technologies in the field of cellular agriculture, because it evolved from tissue engineering. In that context, we focused on creating porous materials that facilitate cell ingrowth, for example, for bone implants. It's a very interesting space, but in medtech, functional tissues are required, such as muscles that can contract, and achieving this is quite challenging. Therefore, we decided to enter the food industry first where tissues do not need to be functional.

Supertrends: But do you think you might go in this direction in the future?

SF: Yes, I think in the very long term; it's definitely an interesting sector. Of course, regulations are a lot tougher than in the food industry, but I think we can also learn a lot by first establishing in the food industry. Then, we can take these learnings to the medtech or the pharma markets.

Supertrends: Now, looking more from an investment standpoint, why do you think someone should invest in your technology?

SF: The reason why I want you to invest in our technology is because, at the moment, cultured meat companies are limited to growing highly processed products like minced meat. If you look at the price points in the market, these products have the lowest prices and margins. To reach price parity faster, it makes sense to focus on high-value structured products. People are willing to pay up to three times more for these products, which means there can be higher margins for the cultivators. In order to achieve the cultivation of these products, our technology—the scaffold—is needed.

Supertrends: Have you observed a recent increase in interest among people in alternative foods or cultured meat? This growing interest probably makes your technology and your company more appealing to investors, as more and more people are generally willing to try cultured meats.

SF: It's definitely something people are interested in. Usually, these cultured meat companies start with the first-generation product. For many of them, it was/is processed meat products. In the future, of course, high-textured meat is really, the Holy Grail that you would want to achieve, right? You want to have a really nice juicy steak, and this is what you need our scaffolds for.

Supertrends: We touched on current and future trends a bit already, such as the shift from traditional meats to cultured meat. Another trend that is visible in every aspect of our life is sustainability. Could sallea and your products somehow contribute to sustainability? What do you think?

SF: Yes, of course. I think it's also one of our major motivations to really push in that direction. If you look at the overall emissions that come from traditional farming, they are quite high and make up a significant part of the emissions worldwide. It's very important to bring these emissions down, especially for addressing climate change. There are studies that show CO2 emissions and land use can be decreased significantly when switching from traditional livestock farming to cultivated meat—by over 90%, which is a huge amount (CE Delft). By being enablers in the cellular agriculture industry, we support the whole ecosystem to reduce emissions, resulting in more sustainable meat alternatives or meat and seafood products.

Supertrends: Let's continue discussing trends. I understand that you are not currently going into the medical field. But I can imagine that the scaffold could also be beneficial in the future for personalized medicine. Could you elaborate a bit on how, in principle, it could help develop personalized medicine in the future?

SF: Yes, there are also possible applications in these fields. For example, for drug testing. The way that would work is, for instance, if a patient has a tumor, you could take the cells from the tumor from this patient, e.g., from a biopsy. Then, you could grow them on our scaffold and test a new medicine on the scaffold to see if the medicine works for this specific patient or not. However, this is not something that is available today or tomorrow; there is still quite a lot of development needed.

Supertrends: Thinking about the future, how do you envision it in, let's say, five years? What are the goals you would like to achieve?

SF: In five years from now, our goal is to have set the industry standard for the cultivation of highly textured meat and seafood products. Beyond five years, we would like to have an IPO or an exit.

Supertrends: Your product or products based on your scaffolds are not yet available in the market, is that correct?

SF: There are no products on the market or on supermarket shelves with our technology/products. We are still in development, so it will take a few years before a product with our scaffold in it will be on the market. To put this in perspective, the first cultivated products are coming to markets now, mainly in high-end restaurants. It still needs some time before products reach the scale to be on supermarket shelves. The same is true for our products.

Supertrends: So if everything goes well, we will be able to eat a steak based on your scaffold in a few years from now?

SF: Yes, we estimate in roughly four to five years, for regulatory and scaling reasons in the whole bioprocess. But of course, our scaffolds will already be available before that, for our customers.

Supertrends: Regarding regulations, are there any significant policies, developments, or events you are anticipating that could expand the availability or scope of your technology?

SF: In general, novel products in the foodtech space have to go through novel foods regulation. The end product, cultivated by our customers, has to go through these regulations. The good news is that last year, the first companies received regulatory approval in the US, so there is a lot of movement in the space. Also, in Singapore, the first companies received regulatory approval in 2020, and just a few months ago, the first company received regulatory approval in Israel as well. Happily for us, in Switzerland, the first company has sought regulatory approval, and also in the UK.

Focusing on our scaffolds, our manufacturing process and materials used, we don’t have to go through the novel foods regulation, because we are using already approved materials and processes. This saves us a lot of time and money.

Supertrends: Coming toward the end of our discussion, could you maybe tell us how it actually all started with sallea?

SF: It all started with my co-founder, Nicole. She was doing her PhD here at ETH, and I was doing my master's thesis on our technology together with her. We really liked working with each other, and that's when the startup idea came about. During her PhD, she was focusing a lot on porous materials and how to control porosity to improve cell ingrowth. I really liked this topic and working with her, and that’s how we kicked it off.

Later on, last November, our third co-founder, Anna, joined us. She has a background in business and finance, which is important for us to complement our team. I went to high school together with her, and we used to meet on the train while commuting. We felt that we are both quite ambitious and have the drive that is needed. Last year, we met again on the train. I told her about sallea and that is how she ended up joining us.

Supertrends: This is a really cool story. Do you have any advice that you would give to other people who start startups and begin building their companies? What would you tell yourself if you could go back and start again, for example?

SF: I think I'd say don't overthink and just try. Then you'll figure it out. There's always a solution, because there is not just one, but there are many solutions. So, don't be afraid, just go out there and talk to people. In my opinion, the most important asset is your network and learning from others. Don’t be afraid to reach out to other founders, because everybody is willing to help each other.

Supertrends: I think this is a great takeaway message. Thank you very much, Simona, for this nice talk.

SF: Thank you.

The text is a transcript of an interview conducted on 24 April 2024. The interview was conducted as part of Supertrends “Interviews with Experts” series. Please note that the transcript may have been lightly edited for editorial reasons.