Cauldron named global Technology Pioneer
Australian biomanufacturer, Cauldron, has been named a World Economic Forum (WEF) 2025 Technology Pioneer, the only Australian company in the 100 start-ups selected from 28 countries, and one of only three working on the future of food. Cauldron co-founder and CEO, Michele Stansfield, says it sends a strong signal of support for the work being done by Cauldron and the broader role tech-enabled biomanufacturing can play in solving complex global challenges.
Every year, WEF announces a new group of companies joining its Technology Pioneers community. This year signifies the 25th anniversary of the program, with WEF saying Cauldron was part of a cohort that has broader geographical representation, greater diversity beyond Silicon Valley, and more ambitious frontier technologies, than ever before.
Stansfield told Food & Drink Business Cauldron was honoured to be recognised.
“Our mission is to enable the next generation of bio-based products to reach commercial scale – faster, more reliably, and with fewer barriers. This recognition reinforces the global relevance and urgency of that mission. We’re proud to be part of a network of companies pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with emerging technologies,” Stansfield said.
Biomanufacturing complements conventional industrial production methods, holding untapped potential to improve food security, meet national decarbonisation targets, develop new domestic supply chains, and create jobs through localised production.
“Humanity has spent thousands of years getting fermentation to work. With Cauldron’s revolutionary fermaculture platform, we are supercharging that process and unlocking the next evolution of how we produce food, feed, and fibre globally,” Stansfield said.
Cauldron’s unique continuous fermentation process/hyper-fermentation platform radically lowers commercial risk and, compared to conventional methods, can produce ingredients five times more efficiently at five times less in cost.
Unlike traditional fermentation, which is used to make products such as beer and yoghurt, precision fermentation tunes the microorganisms to produce specific enzymes, fats or proteins and allows us to do this at large scale.
Stansfield said 2025 had already marked important milestones for Cauldron.
“We recently completed the initial expansion at our demonstration facility in Orange, New South Wales – an important step in scaling our capacity and supporting more companies on their path to commercial scale production,” she said.
The expansion was supported by $4.3 million it received from the federal government’s $392 million Industry Growth Program in August 2024, which followed a $9.5 million Series A round, led by Horizons Ventures, in March. In 2023, it completed an oversubscribed seed funding round, raising $10.5 million.
Stansfield said food systems are primed for a bioindustrial revolution. In an article for WEF, Stansfield and Cauldron’s head of business development, Eva Borge, said, biomanufacturing was emerging as a “cornerstone” of the global economy as focus grew on building more resilient and diversified supply chains.
But, Stansfield told Food & Drink Business Australia cannot afford to be left behind.
“Other nations are moving fast. The World Economic Forum recently highlighted over 50 countries with national bioeconomy strategies already in motion.
“Australia has all the right ingredients to become a leading player in global biomanufacturing. We have a deeply collaborative innovation ecosystem, world-class research institutions, trusted regulators, and access to abundant, high-quality feedstock that’s critical to fermentation-based production.
“It’s a compelling foundation, but we now need to build on it with urgency and coordination,” she said.
She said there was “promising momentum”, with researchers from QUT and the ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology recently releasing a strong call to action in their report on Growing Australia’s Bioeconomy, outlining both Australia’s natural advantages and the scale of the opportunity ahead.
“What’s needed now is a national strategy that brings together industry and government to chart a clear path forward. With the right vision and investment, we’re confident that Australia can help lead the next era of biomanufacturing,” she said.
WEF head of Innovator Communities, Verena Kuhn, said the geography of innovation was evolving in the program. While the US was still the top contributor, Europe’s share jumped from 20 per cent in 2024 to 28 per cent this year. China and India were also emerging as “major tech innovation hubs”.
“There has never been a more exciting time to dive headfirst into tech innovation. But no one gets far alone – you need a community to move your mission forward.
“As we mark 25 years of the Technology Pioneers programme, this global community continues to connect start-ups to the networks and ecosystems they need to scale,” Kuhn said.
This year’s Technology Pioneers stand out for the concentration of companies developing breakthrough technologies to address pressing global challenges. Over the next two years they will contribute to WEF initiatives and join and alumni that includes Google, PayPal, Dropbox, and SoundCloud.
More information on past winners and the community can be found here.
