Oct 9

Oct 9 Exploring the Sector of IGEM Startups 2024 Cohort: Emerging Trends and Innovations in Each Sector

by Anna Mina (Marketing and Comms at iGEM Startups)

Over the past two decades, iGEM teams have continually advanced the frontiers of synthetic biology, addressing critical issues related to health, environment, and food security.

Synthetic biology has become a cornerstone of the bioeconomy and iGEM Startups is part of revolutionizing bioentrepreneurship. This year, at iGEM Startups, our flagship program, Venture Creation Labs, saw staggering growth, welcoming 82 startups—a 110% increase from last year—with over 45 continuing on to the mentorship program.

The iGEM Competition is introducing new villages, exploring novel fields where synthetic biology can make a significant impact and potentially spark new startup sectors and opportunities. We would like to identify the key fields of our iGEM Startups Cohort and how this is implicated in the current emerging trends in synthetic biology to understand the evolving bioentrepreneurship landscape.

Sustainable Food and Agriculture with Bio-Based Solutions

With the global population recently surpassing 8 billion, food shortages are becoming a worldwide concern (GRFC). Supporting such a large and growing worldwide population would be impossible without synthetic fertilizers, primarily nitrogen-based. However, overuse and improper application of fertilizers have led to devastating impacts on rivers and ecosystems near farms. Despite this, there are few regulations that have been imposed on fertilizer usage globally.

In 2022, the European Union (EU) introduced a new regulation (replacing Regulation (EC) No 2003/2003) which imposes stricter rules on the safety and quality of fertilizer. In the United States, a small section of the USDA Rural Development Fertilizer Production Expansion Program aims to promote new low-impact fertilizers.

The general trend towards more governments pushing environmentally friendly fertilizer usage is reflected in the growth of agricultural startups at iGEM. Half of these startups are focused on the issue of fertilizers, while the rest work on reducing antibiotic usage in farmstock, better wastewater treatment, and protecting vineyards against climate change. Pre 2024, the majority of startups in the agricultural sector focused on solutions for food shortages, while in 2024 there was a more equal distribution amongst sub-sectors.

iGEM Startups 2024 Cohort Sub-Sector Distribution

Out of the 6 agricultural startups, 5 of them are based in the Americas (United States, Peru, and Mexico). A notable startup is Paqta, based in Peru, which has developed genetically engineered bioindicators to optimize soil health. This innovation helps Peruvian farmers to battle declining soil quality and protect the country’s avocado production, as Peru is the third-largest avocado producer in the world (Food and Agriculture Organisations of the UN).

Read more about Paqta’s full interview here

A Mexican-based startup, Astromycota, focuses on the outer space market, mainly targeting astronauts. They utilize a recombinant fungal strain of Fusarium venenatum, which can survive space radiation and provide essential nutrients for astronauts on long missions.

With iGEM Competition introducing a “Space” category, we expect to see a rise in more space-focused startups, especially with the renewed global interest in moon colonization and space travel. Thus, supported by competitions hosted by NASA and ESA, such as the Deep Space Food Challenge by NASA and CSA, and ESA‘s support for two research teams in Germany to cultivate meat in space, further encouraging innovation in the field.

Environmental and Biomanufacturing Innovations

Following the trend of sustainability and planet conservation, there has been a significant rise in environmental startups addressing ecological issues, including the emerging field of biomining solutions. A startup from Ghana, AkobenBio, utilizes bacteria-based technology to detect lithium deposits in the ground, minimizing ecological impact and supporting Africa’s rapidly growing lithium industry which is projected to account for 10% of the global lithium production (INN).

Water scarcity is also an emerging issue. According to UNESCO, roughly half of the world’s population experiences severe water scarcity for at least part of the year. In 2024, there were particularly severe droughts worldwide, especially in Europe. Environmental experts at UNESCO predict that the frequency and intensity of droughts and floods will increase. iGEM Aix-Marseille 2023, with their project, Terralgi has continued to an entrepreneurial level by joining our VCL 2024. They aim to mitigate the impact of drought using alginate.

The fashion industry, responsible for about 10% of global carbon emissions (European Parliament) with cheap vegan leather, is often a cover to upsell non-biodegradable plastic materials. There has been an increased awareness of this issue with the rising number of startups in this field, such as mushBloom, a Mexico-based startup that is creating vegan leather through the use of mushrooms and bacteria to reduce pollution and animal cruelty. Similarly, from the APAC region, Crisylis Bioworks aims to use water hyacinths to create high-quality vegan leather. With ‘Fashion & Cosmetics’ becoming a new iGEM Competition village, more green fashion startups are expected to emerge.

Learn more about competition villages at iGEM Competition here

AI Integration in Biotechnology

The trend of leveraging AI to tackle the massive biological databases continues in 2024. This will allow researchers to focus on less repetitive and menial tasks (Capgemini Bioeconomy Report, 2024). This is considering the large improvements in large language models like GPT-4, increased utilization of AI in common household products, and open-source platforms like GitHub allowing for more collaboration.

A Toronto-based startup, Plasmid.AI, is revolutionizing the development of phage therapies by eliminating the preclinical discovery phase, aiming to combat antibiotic resistance with AI.

On the other hand, Icarus Biosolutions, utilizes AI to analyze known gene-drug interactions to generate tailored clinical recommendations.

Novel Therapies and Healthcare Diagnostics

This year, medical startups shifted their focus from diagnostics to innovative new therapies. iGEM has seen growth in startups focused on feminine health, an under-researched field. A notable example is Femflux, which developed a noninvasive biosensor that allows women to monitor hormonal fluctuations in real-time, allowing them to more safely navigate perimenopause and menopause. In sports medicine, Oregon-based startup Clearmark Biosciences developed a portable concussion kit – a vital diagnostic tool to address the 1.7-3.0 million sports-related concussions in the United States that occur annually (Insight Partners).

For the 2024 Jamboree, the iGEM Competition introduced two additional medical categories, or “Villages”: ‘Oncology’ and ‘Infectious Diseases’. In 2024, five startups focused on improving and personalizing cancer treatments, such as AraraSun, which enhances the treatment of skin cancer with a new therapeutic cream.

Regional Growth and Trends in 2024 Cohort

This year saw a significant increase in startups stemming from the EMEA region, including AkobenBio, a biomanufacturing startup from Ghana. Six startups emerged from Mexico, with the majority focusing on biomanufacturing and agriculture, while the United States also showed a similar trend, with half of the startup portfolios focusing on agriculture, driven by the recent growth in agricultural funding and projects. Most diagnostic and therapeutic startups this year originated from or had teams based in Germany, likely influenced by the 2019 German Digital Healthcare Act, which promotes healthcare provision for patients through digitalization and innovation.

To summarize, the major key takeaways are:

The Environmental and Agricultural sectors saw the largest growth, both reaching record highs, more than doubling compared to previous years.
AI continues to be utilized to aid researchers in tackling massive amounts of data (Chubb, Cowling and Reed, 2021)
There is a notable rise in startups from South America. This year, 9 startups emerged from South America, doubling the number from previous years.
The current trend shows a focus on sustainability in areas such as novel therapies, innovative manufacturing, and agricultural methods that help combat climate change and reduce pollution.

iGEM Startups’ venture foundry program initiatives and new thematic villages in the iGEM Competition, are designed to catalyze the next wave of bioeconomy innovators. Discover the startups from this year’s cohort at the Startup Showcase, where the top 15 startups will pitch at the iGEM Grand Jamboree, Oct 23-26, 2024, in Paris, Porte de Versailles