BiOM Farms (BIOM Innovations Pvt. Ltd.) is a biotechnology company specializing in developing sustainable and ethical animal-free cell culture media solutions to accelerate the growth of the cultivated meat industry. By focusing on cost-effective and innovative approaches, the company aims to overcome one of the biggest challenges in cultured meat production—media cost—thereby enabling a scalable and sustainable future for food. The founder of BiOM Farms is Yadidya Mandalapu, a biochemist and stem cell biologist with expertise in regenerative medicine and molecular biology. He leads the company with a mission centered on sustainability, compassion for animal welfare, and a commitment to delivering nutritious and delicious alternatives to conventional meat, making them a driving force in the transformation of food technology.
Founded in 2024, BiOM Farms develops animal-free cell culture media solutions as sustainable alternatives to Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS) and other animal–derived supplements. FBS has traditionally been a critical component in cell culture; however, it poses several challenges, including ethical concerns, high cost, batch-to-batch variability, and the risk of contamination. BiOM Farms addresses these issues by providing a safe, consistent, and cost-effective solution.
BiOM Farms is physically incubated at ASPIRE BioNEST, at the University of Hyderabad, provides extensive support to BiOM Farms. It includes access to molecular biology, microbiology, and cell culture facilities, and regulatory support through the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBSC) and Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC). ASPIRE BioNEST also provides mentorship and incubation support, connecting BiOM Farms with industry experts, academic collaborators, and potential business partners. BiOM Farms has access to government grants and funding schemes, facilitated by the incubation ecosystem. The company also has the opportunity for networking and visibility through university–driven events, partnerships, and outreach initiatives that help BiOM Farms connect with investors, policymakers, and other startups.
Leading the revolution in sustainable, ethical meat production, BiOM Farms developed spontaneously immortalized chicken fibroblast cell lines as a stable platform for cultivated meat research. These cells are being characterized for safety and adapted for suspension culture to enable large–scale production. The company-initiated serum-free media development and is currently optimising formulations for industry–relevant cell lines used in the cultivated meat sector. The company gained progress in recombinant growth factor production and established international collaborations to accelerate R&D, expand technical expertise, and move faster towards commercialization.
BiOM Farms follows a B2B model, which includes animal–free media solutions for cultivated meat and biotech companies, recombinant growth factors for the cell–based meat and regenerative medicine markets, and technology licensing and partnerships with industry players.
BiOM Farms, while pioneering advancements in cell-based meat technology, faced several critical challenges, such as scaling from lab–scale to pilot–scale production, high production costs of recombinant proteins, and a lack of specialized bioprocess infrastructure for commercial validation.
As a company transforming the future of food with groundbreaking cell-based technology, BiOM Farms has put forth several suggestions, including providing access to pilot-scale fermentation and purification facilities, support for regulatory compliance and IP filing, and increasing industry linkage programs for faster commercialization.
About the Founder
The founder of BiOM FARMS is Yadidya Mandalapu. He is an alumnus of the University of Hyderabad, where he completed a Master’s in Biochemistry (2018–2020) and carried out his dissertation under the guidance of Prof. Krishnaveni Mishra. He is thankful to Dr. Anil Kumar Pasupulati, whose steady support has been invaluable, and to Prof. S Rajgopal, Director of ASPIRE, along with Dr. Anil Kondreddy, CEO of ASPIRE, for the support and ecosystem provided at ASPIRE BioNEST. Choosing to leave a PhD program at IIT Kanpur to pursue entrepreneurship, Mr. Mandalapu is now driven by a vision to redefine the future of food through cost-effective, animal-free cell culture media that can enable a sustainable cultivated meat industry.
By Aswathy P B, MA Communication (Media Practice)