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21st.BIO obtains self-affirmed GRAS status for its precision fermented beta-lactoglobulin: 21st.BIO customers can now enter the U.S. market with their own production using 21st.BIO technology

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21st.BIO has earned a self-affirmed GRAS status for its animal-free beta-lactoglobulin ingredient, which customers can now launch in the United States market.21st.BIO is helping customers bring products to market at an unprecedented pace, from initiation of development to market approval in under two years.21st.BIO offers the leading production technology for BLG, based on precision fermentation technology that has been perfected over decades and partly licensed from Novonesis (formerly Novozymes).By studying the variation in cows’ milk protein, 21st.BIO’s world class scientists have been able to reproduce a highly nutritious recombinant BLG, which is the most potent bovine whey protein and has superior nutrition and functionalities. This is why 21st.BIO has named its protein BLG Essential+™.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark and DAVIS, Calif., Sept. 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Precision fermentation platform provider 21st.BIO has earned a self-affirmed GRAS status for its animal-free beta-lactoglobulin ingredient, BLG Essential+™, which means customers can now launch in the United States market.

This breakthrough comes less than two years after 21st.BIO initiated its development of a strain and production process for its beta-lactoglobulin protein, BLG Essential+™, demonstrating the power of the Company’s approach, unique expertise and differentiated precision fermentation platform.

Beta-lactoglobulin is a potent and highly nutritious dairy protein  

The predominant protein in bovine whey, beta-lactoglobulin (BLG) has attracted considerable food-producer interest for its high-quality nutrition and advantageous properties in food product formulation.

Its nutritional profile is impressive, boasting a larger amount of essential and branched-chain amino acids than whey. For example:

BLG contains 45% more leucine than commercially available whey protein isolates, which is particularly important for muscle synthesis.BLG is tasteless, stable across a wide pH range and can tolerate heat, making it the ideal ingredient for versatile product formulations, from clear protein drinks to alternative dairy or bakery products.

21st.BIO expects its customers’ own production of beta-lactoglobulin to be incorporated into the formulation of foods such as baked goods and alternative dairy products, as well as nutritional products for active or sports nutrition, weight management, and clinical and elderly nutrition.

Unique business model: One market approval for several dairy protein suppliers 

Companies engaged in 21st.BIO’s unique development program can now commercialize their own production of BLG Essential+™ in the U.S. market. Through 21st.BIO’s BLG program, customers gain access to the world’s most advanced production strains and precision fermentation processes – and optimizations over time. Furthermore, 21st.BIO is supporting customers in upscaling their production all the way to full-scale ingredient production. The Company’s diverse global customer base spans food-tech start-ups to large food ingredients manufacturers. BLG Essential+™ is the first food protein out of a portfolio of protein ingredients that 21st.BIO will take to the market via this model. 

21st.BIO gets solutions to market at an unprecedented pace 

With a strong track record and productive microorganisms licensed from Novonesis (formerly Novozymes), 21st.BIO is bringing solutions to market at an unprecedented pace, enabling customers to bypass years of development and market approval for direct entry into the U.S. market and empowering customers to produce any food, materials, agriculture, or biopharma-related protein or peptide of interest, and scale production to industrial levels to ensure large-scale availability and cost-effectiveness. Customers in 21st.BIO’s development programs benefit from continuous optimizations of strain and process for improved commercial attractiveness.

Comprehensive support every step of the way to get products to market 

“We bring our customers access to technology and skills they could not get anywhere else,” said 21st.BIO co-founder and CSO Per Falholt. 

And 21st.BIO co-founder and CEO Thomas G. Schmidt continues: “We’re not just a technology provider – we’re a partner to our customers’ on their product journey, ensuring their success from development to full-scale manufacturing. We make products, not projects. Our ambition is to empower our customers to focus more on application, business development, low-cost production and innovation. And this shows all the way through our business model, which is designed such that our success at 21st.BIO depends on our customers’ success in the market with a product; not just on project completion.” 

21st.BIO derisks product development and supports customers from strain development, fermentation processes, purification protocols, pilot production and upscaling guidance, to the regulatory approvals for market entry. 21st.BIO is working on additional proteins, including proteins for both foods, materials, agriculture and beyond.

NOTES TO EDITORS 

About 21st.BIO  

21st.BIO was founded with one simple mission: to make leading industrial scale precision fermentation technology accessible to as many as possible, so companies can successfully take biotech innovations to market at a competitive price. 21st.BIO’s founders saw that too often, great bio innovation and molecules fail to translate into commercial success. The innovation is ready, the market is there, but production costs remain too high for the product to go mainstream. Industry insiders call it the `valley of death’, and that’s exactly what 21st.BIO intends to bridge. 

Founded in 2020, 21st.BIO is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, and has a world-class R&D team as well as laboratories in both Copenhagen, Denmark and Davis, California. On a mission to support bio industrial companies globally in upscaling from molecule innovation to large-scale production, 21st.BIO enables its customers to meet market demands, and thereby advance the green transition globally. 21st.BIO focuses on developing industrial production technology for proteins and other molecules of interest for food, materials, and agricultural industries. Established as a fully integrated end-to-end partner, 21st.BIO supports its customers from technical assessment, strain development and optimization, production processes and upscaling, tech transfer to large scale manufacturing and regulatory services.  

21st.BIO’s fermentation technology is in part licensed from Novonesis, who have developed and perfected their platform over several decades. Novonesis is a global leader in enzymes, functional proteins and microorganisms for high value products in food, household care, and agriculture.  

Press contact:
Mathilde Pinon
Marketing & Business Development Manager
m.pinon@21st.bio

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/21st-bio/r/21st-bio-obtains-self-affirmed-gras-status-for-its-precision-fermented-beta-lactoglobulin–21st-bio-,c4032851

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/22992/4032851/2980200.pdf

Press release (PDF)

https://news.cision.com/21st-bio/i/21st-bio-pilot-plant-facility,c3330348

21st BIO pilot plant facility

https://news.cision.com/21st-bio/i/21st-bio-strain-engineering,c3330346

21st BIO strain engineering

https://news.cision.com/21st-bio/i/21st-bio-fermentation,c3330347

21st BIO fermentation

https://news.cision.com/21st-bio/i/21st-bio-co-founders,c3330349

21st BIO co-founders

https://news.cision.com/21st-bio/i/per-falholt-co-founder-and-cso-21st-bio,c3330350

Per Falholt co-founder and CSO 21st BIO

https://news.cision.com/21st-bio/i/thomas-schmidt-co-founder-and-ceo-21st-bio,c3330351

Thomas Schmidt co-founder and CEO 21st BIO

https://news.cision.com/21st-bio/i/21st-bio-hq-in-copenhagen,c3330353

21st BIO HQ in Copenhagen

https://news.cision.com/21st-bio/i/21st-logo-dot-pink,c3330352

21st logo dot pink

 

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Linker Vision Announces ESG Agent to Help Cities Plan More Sustainable Urban Environments

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BERLIN, Oct. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Linker Vision announced a new ESG AI agent designed to help urban planners evaluate sustainability initiatives and make more informed decisions. By combining environmental predictions with AI reasoning, the agent assesses urban heat and shade coverage to guide tree planting and greenery management, supporting cities’ climate adaptation goals. 

Turning sustainability goals into practical decisions

Linker Vision is working with MVRDV, the Dutch architecture and urban design firm, to explore how AI can help cities assess potential interventions before making changes in the real world. MVRDV contributed scientific data, shaped the evaluation criteria the agent uses to assess planning options, and tested the ESG agent during development.

An initial application focuses on urban forests. Linker Vision is collaborating with MVRDV on a digital twin that supports predictions of urban heat island effects and shade coverage. In the pilot, the agent identifies heat hotspots, selects suitable tree species and simulates the results, projecting that shade coverage could rise from 15.7% to more than 50% within 15 years.

Building on this pilot, the approach allows a shared digital twin to support multiple planning needs, including climate adaptation and disaster resilience. Urban forest planning is available today, and going forward, the city digital twin is designed to serve as a common foundation that government agencies can build on for additional applications, such as analyzing pedestrian flows and preparing venues for major sporting events.

How it works

The workflow combines a digital twin built using 3D Gaussian Splatting with NVIDIA accelerated computing and AI technologies. NVIDIA Omniverse libraries and OpenUSD have been implemented to unify city, tree and environmental data into a single scene, while NVIDIA Nemotron reasoning models let users run planting scenarios and optimize shade through natural language. NVIDIA Metropolis Blueprint for video search and summarization (VSS) and Cosmos open world foundation model help interpret video and understand real-world conditions.

In practice, a planner asks the agent where new trees would best reduce street-level heat. The agent tests planting options and simulates shade and temperature over a 15-year timespan in minutes, and planners review the recommended plan before an urban heat hotspot project moves forward.

Designing for future generations

“Every decision about a city shapes how future generations will live,” said Paul Shieh, founder and CEO of Linker Vision. “By connecting real-world understanding with simulation and AI reasoning, we want to help cities explore what is possible and make better choices for people and the planet.”

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/linker-vision-announces-esg-agent-to-help-cities-plan-more-sustainable-urban-environments-302911111.html

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Global Startup EXPO and Nippon Startup Awards 2026: METI Showcases Japan’s Deep-tech Results

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– GSE2026 Connects Global Venture Capitalists with Japanese Startups; Nippon Startup Awards 2026 Honors Startups Turning Innovation into Industry –

TOKYO, Oct. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — From September to October 2026, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (hereinafter “METI”) held the Global Startup EXPO 2026 (hereinafter “GSE2026”) and the Nippon Startup Awards 2026, highlighting the strength and growth of Japan’s startup ecosystem. GSE2026 brought together top-tier investors, visionary startups, corporations, and key ecosystem participants from Japan and around the globe. Separately, the Nippon Startup Awards 2026 recognized remarkable innovations demonstrating Japan’s growing capacity to transform breakthrough deep-tech into real-world industrial solutions.

Expo and Awards Logos:
https://cdn.kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M109206/202610137787/_prw_PI1fl_JPI1sgRq.png 

Global Startup EXPO 2026 Recap

In Session: https://cdn.kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M109206/202610137787/_prw_PI2fl_AyG90Gzn.png 

Held in Osaka from October 5 to 7, GSE2026 welcomed more than 10,000 visitors and featured over 50 conference sessions. The event served as a premier global hub, generating vital business matchmaking sessions and creating unparalleled opportunities for global investors and Japanese startups to explore strategic investments and collaborations. A major highlight of the event was the participation of prominent industry figures, including Ben Horowitz, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), and Andy Rubin, co-founder of Android. Their presence underscored the increasing global interest in Japan’s dynamic tech ecosystem. Building upon this remarkable success, METI is pleased to announce that the Global Startup EXPO is planned to be held again next year.

Nippon Startup Awards 2026 Overview

Group Photo: https://cdn.kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M109206/202610137787/_prw_PI3fl_MNvb1svB.jpg 

In a separate initiative, the 2026 Nippon Startup Awards celebrated exceptional entrepreneurial achievements, recognizing 10 outstanding companies for their innovation and impact. This press release proudly highlights two exceptional winners whose pioneering technologies are actively addressing major industrial and societal challenges both in Japan and internationally.

– Mujin (Prime Minister’s Award): Mujin was recognized for becoming the first company to globally commercialize complex motion-planning technology, an ambitious feat considered practically impossible for 50 years. By successfully developing its proprietary MujinMI technology, the company enables the automation of complex logistics and manufacturing operations. This advancement offers a highly effective solution to pressing global labor shortages.

– Regional Fish (Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award): Regional Fish was recognized for its pioneering use of genome-editing technology in aquaculture. Through its innovative approach, the company has shortened aquatic breeding cycles from approximately 30 years to just two or three years. This advancement contributes significantly to sustainable solutions for global food challenges and the revitalization of regional fisheries.

Further Information

To explore comprehensive insights from the recent global summit, please access the following link:
https://global-startup-expo.com/en/?utm_source=prwire&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=20260914&utm_content=en_url_

For the full list of recognized companies, please visit: https://www.meti.go.jp/english/press/2026/09/20260925002.html 

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-startup-expo-and-nippon-startup-awards-2026-meti-showcases-japans-deep-tech-results-302912264.html

SOURCE Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)

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PingPong continues international growth, expands into Iberia through strategic partnership with Getnet

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LONDON and MADRID, Oct. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — PingPong , the intelligent payments infrastructure for global growth, today announces a strategic partnership with Getnet, the leading AI-payments company, part of Santander Group, to expand access to its financial infrastructure across Iberia.

The collaboration brings together two established payments businesses to deliver a stronger payment capability in the region and a simple, streamlined solution for global businesses looking to expand operations in Iberia.

Aaron Xu, General Manager, Europe and Americas at PingPong , said: “Iberia is one of Europe’s most valuable commerce markets, and the 750,000+ businesses in our network want to operate there on payment infrastructure they already trust. Our move into Iberia is the latest step in an ongoing global expansion, driven by rising customer demand and sustained investment in our international growth.”

Fabrice Mendez, Global Head of Partnerships at Getnet , said: “This partnership represents another important milestone in Getnet’s strategy to expand our open-market business across Europe while strengthening the connections between Iberia and one of the world’s fastest-growing commerce ecosystems. By combining PingPong’s strong presence across Asia with Getnet’s leadership in Europe and Latin America, we are creating new opportunities for international merchants to grow with a seamless and trusted payment experience.”

About PingPong

Founded in 2015, PingPong is a global cross-border B2B payments platform supporting over 750,000 businesses across more than 200 countries. The company annually processes over $300bn and holds 80+ financial licences worldwide. PingPong operates from 44 offices across 18 countries.

For more information, visit www.pingpongx.com.

About Santander Getnet

In 2025, Getnet processed over €238 billion across 10.5 billion transactions, serving 1.2 million clients. The company ranks as the largest acquirer in Latin America by purchase volume, and among the top 10 globally. Getnet operates across Brazil (as an e-commerce leader), Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Spain, and Portugal.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/pingpong-continues-international-growth-expands-into-iberia-through-strategic-partnership-with-getnet-302911506.html

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