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Hyfé has secured $9 million in an oversubscribed seed investment round led by investment company Synthesis Capital. Founded in 2021, Hyfé is a company that converts food processing wastewater into feedstocks for biomanufacturing and pristine water. The round included participation from The Engine, Refactor Capital, Supply Change Capital, Overwater Ventures, X Factor Ventures and Alumni Ventures. Hyfé has raised a total of $11 million in funding to date, which includes an oversubscribed pre-seed round led by The Engine in April 2022. The company aims to use the capital to drive strategic commercial partnerships, expand its workforce by doubling its current employee headcount and progress towards pilot-scale technology demonstration. “Biomanufacturing has the potential to solve some of the most pressing challenges facing humanity, but first, it needs to be made economically viable,” said Michelle Ruiz, co-founder and CEO of Hyfé. “We are building a solution that addresses a fundamental bottleneck for the bioeconomy just as it’s reaching an inflection point. This historic moment is as pivotal as the invention of the steam engine, the age of science and mass production, and the rise of digital technology.” The company explained that while other companies are working on converting solid food and agricultural waste into fermentation feedstocks, Hyfé takes advantage of its expertise in "wastewater treatment and fermentation-enabled waste valorisation" to develop feedstocks from food processing wastewater, an abundant and untapped source of carbon. This approach enables significant benefits across various sectors: food and beverage manufacturers can drastically reduce wastewater treatment costs and enhance water reuse; biomanufacturers gain access to more sustainable and cost-effective feedstocks; and "our planet benefits from increasingly carbon-negative manufacturing all along the supply chain," said Hyfé. Rosie Wardle, co-founder and partner at Synthesis Capital, said: “The future bioeconomy will be worth at least $4 trillion, and up to $30 trillion globally. We have a timely opportunity to propel this growth through the development of cost-efficient and sustainable feedstocks. We’re thrilled to support Hyfé, a leader in the biomanufacturing revolution, in their next phase of growth, applying their technology to power the development of more sustainable products across sectors through bioproduction. This is something the world desperately needs to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, revitalise the manufacturing sector, strengthen our supply chains, and improve our health and environment.”