Motif FoodWorks assets to be sold in online auction: a sign of the times for alt-protein industry

By Agroempresario.com 

Next week, an online auction will kick off for the assets of Motif FoodWorks, a Boston-based foodtech startup that aimed to revolutionize the plant-based protein sector. The auction, organized by New Mill Capital, will feature high-value equipment from the company’s “multi-million-dollar plant-based protein laboratory and production equipment sale,” including cutting-edge meat alternative lab and process equipment, from fermenters to mass spectrometers.

Motif FoodWorks, renowned for its meat-like heme proteins produced via precision fermentation, had announced its closure in early September without providing further public details on its decision. The company, which was spun off from Ginkgo Bioworks in 2019, raised a $226 million Series B round in 2021, during a time when alternative proteins were booming. However, as the retail market for these products started to decline, Motif struggled to keep up with changing investor sentiments and a more challenging economic environment.

A key turning point for the company was its legal battle with Impossible Foods over the use of heme proteins in alt-meat products. Sources close to Motif explain that the lawsuit significantly hindered the company's commercial progress, as potential partners feared the legal repercussions. Despite Motif's efforts to work around the lawsuit, the legal costs and the broader slowdown in the alternative meat market ultimately led to its downfall.

With the commercial prospects of the company extinguished, Motif halted investments and turned inward. As one insider noted, the lawsuit effectively put the final nail in the company’s coffin, leaving only the lawyers as the real winners.