Scientists have long been captivated by a group of microscopic organisms in Yellowstone National Park. The microbes thrive at extreme temperatures and can efficiently multiply with limited resources.

The feat has inspired a company called Sustainable Bioproducts, which is replicating the process in a laboratory and eventually, it hopes, at a large scale.

On Monday, the Chicago-based start-up said it raised $33 million to accelerate the research. Venture firm 1955 Capital led the round, which also included Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a climate-focussed technology fund backed by a roster of billionaires including Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates. Michael Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, is also an investor in the fund.

Essential diet

Sustainable Bioproducts said it feeds common components of food such as starches or glycerin to the already high-protein microbes, which then quickly multiply. The resulting protein, like meat or soy, contains the nine amino acids considered essential to the human diet.

But the end-product will not necessarily resemble meat. “It could be some things that are more meat-like,” said Thomas Jonas, the company’s Chief Executive Officer.

It can be savoury; it can be sweet; it can be liquid; it can be dairy-like.

The curious organisms from Yellowstone are known as extremophiles for their ability to withstand the US park’s superheated pools. Using Kozubal’s research into these microbes as a basis for their work, Sustainable Bioproducts hopes to have a product to sell within two years, Jonas said.

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