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Indian startup StrainX Bioworks has raised $13 million to expand its precision fermentation platform for nutritional and flavor ingredients as it moves toward commercial production.
The funding round was led by Prime Venture Partners and Leo Capital, with participation from Good Startup, Sparrow Capital, Sun Icon Ventures, Dholakia Ventures, and WindT Angels from IIT Delhi.
StrainX operates a facility in Bhopal with 10,000-liter fermentation capacity and said it has achieved repeatable results at that scale. The company plans to scale to 100,000 liters in phases by late 2027. The facility is designed to support downstream processes including centrifugation, microfiltration, ultrafiltration, ion exchange chromatography, nanofiltration, and spray drying.
Co-founded in 2023 by Akshay Mittal and Alok Malaviya, PhD, the company develops its own fermentation technology, handles scale-up, and manages manufacturing in-house. Mittal said the model gives StrainX control over innovation and cost, and allows it to work closely with customers on ingredient application.
“Our facility in Bhopal has been designed modularly so that we can scale toward 100,000 liters in a structured and efficient way toward the middle to the end of next year,” Mittal said.
The company has not disclosed its first two ingredients but said one has achieved self-GRAS status in the U.S. and a dossier has been submitted to the FDA. StrainX is running trials with 20 to 25 companies in India and the U.S. and expects to begin commercial sales of the first molecule in the coming months. A second molecule is targeted for 12 to 18 months later.
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Co-founder and CTO Alok Malaviya said India is developing into a hub for synthetic biology and precision fermentation. The company currently employs more than 100 scientists, engineers, and operators, including 35 scientists and 15 PhDs.
StrainX said it aims to partner with food and beverage companies and ingredient suppliers on product adoption and commercial integration.
