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Turning dairy waste into a revenue stream for farmers: Mara Bio chief scientific officer Dr Maya Tangestani.
Take some edible fungi, add some dairy waste otherwise destined for landfill, ferment it using a secret process, then you’ve got what Mara Bio calls “Flexitein” – a “protein and dietary fibre rich” ingredient that can be used in the likes of oat milk ice cream, protein-enriched pasta, and protein
bars and shakes.
The two-year-old Hawke’s Bay startup has just $1 million in a seed round led by the Climate Venture Capital Fund and supported by Sir Stephen Tindall’s K1W1.
The pre-commercial, three-person company, based at the part Government-funded FoodEast Haumako innovation hub in Hastings, will use the funds to move from “benchtop production” to a pilot plant to refine their processes and ready for mass production. Funds will also go to hiring more staff, intellectual property protection and securing regulatory approvals.

Chief executive Mark Balchin (formerly chief manufacturing officer for medicinal cannabis startup Cannasouth – which went south, or at least into voluntary liquidation, in March) says Mara Bio’s fermentation process involves fungal mycelium (the root system of fungus) is mixed with dairy acid whey, a waste product of casein and protein extraction.
