Maia Farms

This interview details Maia Farms, an indoor farming company based in Canada. The interview is with Gavin Schneider, CEO & Co-Founder of Maia Farms.

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What is the origin story of Maia Farms?

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Maia Farms started when a farmer, an engineer, and a neuroscientist were tasked with growing a cow on Mars as a finalist in the Deep Space Food Challenge.

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The team aligned around the global challenges facing protein production and how fungi offer the best solutions for taste and nutrition.

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For the last two years, the company worked in the lab to produce a complete protein in seven days through biomass fermentation. In 2024 the company is launching their first mushroom protein ingredient, CanPro.

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In 2021 the founders built the company's first mycelium lab in a 500 sqft studio in East Vancouver and began building a fungal library and testing different mycelium production technologies.

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In 2022 the company entered the Creative Destruction Lab in Calgary Alberta, emerging as one of the only companies to complete the program that year and receive funding from the advisors.

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In 2023 the company successfully completed a Pre-Seed Fundraising with Canadian and American value aligned investors. Additionally, the company raised substantial matching grant funding to further the fermentation process.

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The name Maia stems from ancient Roman Mythology, who was the mother of Hermes and was representative of the concept of growth. 

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Further, a dual play on the word Maia, is the acronym AI. As a company being built in the age of artificial intelligence, the team is committed to deploying new technology across all aspects of the business to drive growth. 

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The company is committed to its mission to Nourish Life. Maia farms ethical protein with technology to feed brains, bodies, and planets. Maia is building a new pillar of protein to feed this world and the next.

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What are some of the biggest challenges facing Maia Farms in the future? 

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The company is scaling up a simple process of biomass fermentation to produce a mushroom protein ingredient that matches consumers' expectations of taste and texture.

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The global challenge facing protein supply is that plant based proteins are underperforming in nutrition and chew while animal protein is resource intensive and inefficient. 

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On the other side, cellular meat is facing serious technical hurdles despite massive investments in the leading companies.

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There has not been a major shift to plant based proteins because of the taste, texture, and cost. 

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That's where mycelium or mushroom protein solves the problem.

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Naturally fibrous and meat-like, our planet's best solution for a scalable protein supply has been living beneath our feet millenia. 

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Building sufficient fermentation capacity with a stable feedstock to meet the staggering demand for the product will be the main challenge the company will solve in the next couple of years. 

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While the capital required for a new build is high, the potential return is enticing at the planned commercial scales.

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As a whole, the North American alternative protein industry is challenged with maintaining appropriate pricing as global supplies of pea protein have created turbulence in the market. 

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What is unique about Maia Farms compared to competitors? 

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Maia is focussed on producing a simple protein ingredient that dramatically improves taste and texture over other plant proteins such as pea or soy protein.

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Our technology and production process, which was originally designed to grow food on a future mission to the Moon or Mars, is a beacon of hope for sustainable food production.

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Our unique and fast growing strain of fungi grows exceptionally well on a range of upcycled agricultural commodities. We create a circular food system that is better for human and environmental health.

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Most importantly, we work directly with food manufacturers to integrate the product into their existing production process. Working with mushroom protein is still new, and we make that process simple. 

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What are some other relevant metrics of the company (growing area size, production quantity, team size, etc.)?

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As of January 2024 the team size is seven people, with multiple technical and business development positions open in 2024.

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The team works out of our specialized Fungal Intelligence lab in North Vancouver and with multiple food-safe contract manufacturers across Canada. 

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The company is finalizing plans to build a future commercial production facility in Western Canada. 

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The team has commercial orders for tens of thousands of kilograms of CanPro, with deliveries already underway to initial customers.

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What are some goals in 2024 and beyond for Maia Farms?

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The 2024 trajectory is Growth. Growth in production capacity, growth in customer relationships, growth in sales and revenue, and growth as a team. 

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The company will further its development of a robust IP portfolio through its ongoing R&D pipeline. 

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In 2024 the company will be building the industrial and financial groundwork for Canada's first fungal biomass fermentation farm. 

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In Spring 2024 the winners of the Deep Space Food Challenge will be announced, where Maia has partnered with Ecoation, a greenhouse technology company. 

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If the technology submission is successful, the team will win a significant cash prize and international recognition for its three-year effort. Currently, the team is a Top 4 Finalist.

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New York Times called 2023 the year of the Mushrooms - watch for Maia to achieve big things in 2024 with a novel mushroom protein and valuable partnerships. 

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How can people connect with you or learn more about Maia Farms?

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The company can be visited at www.maiafarms.ca or on Linkedin. CBC did a great feature video that can be watched here Vancouver based company creates mushroom protein as a meat alternative.

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Stay tuned for direct consumer ordering of CanPro from the website in early 2024. In addition, Azelis Canada is our official Sales and Distribution partner for the ingredients. 

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For more information on ordering the ingredient, employment opportunities, or investment opportunities contact founders@maiafarms.ca 

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