Jooules

Jooules is a New Zealand-based food technology startup founded in 2022 by David McLellan. The company is focused on addressing global food sustainability challenges by producing protein ingredients from carbon dioxide and renewable energy through a gaseous fermentation process. This method utilizes specific ancient microbes that consume CO2 and hydrogen as their primary energy and carbon sources, instead of sugars from crops. This approach aims to decouple protein production from traditional agriculture, significantly reducing the environmental footprint. The company claims its process uses 600 times less water and 99% less land compared to conventional protein sources.

The founder, David McLellan, has a commercial background that includes experience at Goldman Sachs, Contact Energy, and PwC, as well as involvement in several startups in the energy and food tech sectors. Jooules emerged from discussions about sustainably feeding a growing global population, initially exploring precision fermentation before pivoting to the more efficient gaseous fermentation method. In May 2024, the company secured NZ$1 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Sprout Agritech LP to expand its technical team and accelerate product development in collaboration with the Crown research entity, SCION.

Jooules operates on a B2B business model, intending to supply its protein powder as a functional ingredient to large-scale food manufacturers. The resulting product is a nutritionally complete protein, containing all nine essential amino acids and meeting FAO standards. The initial target markets are in the food and high-value companion animal diet sectors, with a particular focus on making aquaculture more sustainable by replacing fishmeal. Before entering the market, the product requires regulatory approval as a novel food, with the company first targeting the Asia-Pacific region.

Keywords: gaseous fermentation, CO2 to protein, sustainable protein, food technology, alternative protein, carbon capture, microbial fermentation, B2B ingredients, single-cell protein, novel food, aquaculture feed, sustainable food production, agritech, climate tech, food innovation, complete protein, resilient food systems, carbon transformation, circular economy, food security