CREMER Moves Into AI-Driven Fermentation Services With Differential Bio Partnership

CREMER, through its fermentation brand FermBase, formed a strategic partnership with Munich startup Differential Bio to develop AI-driven fermentation services, combining raw material sourcing with robotic lab automation and machine‑learning tools. The collaboration follows the launch of the Y‑Base Blend trace element mix and seeks to expand offerings for fermentation companies.

FermBase, the fermentation media brand of Hamburg-based trading group CREMER, has turned its collaboration with Munich startup Differential Bio into a strategic partnership. The companies plan to develop further products and services for fermentation companies by combining CREMER’s raw material sourcing and supply chains with Differential Bio’s robotic lab automation and machine-learning tools. “We are advancing the transition towards bio-based production” The partnership follows the September launch of Y-Base Blend, a standardized trace element blend for yeast fermentation that the two companies developed together. According to the companies, more than 50,000 possible trace element combinations were narrowed down to 3,300 experiments across different yeast strains before the final formulation was chosen. Differential Bio handled the automated experimentation and data analysis, and CREMER contributed raw material and supply chain knowledge. CREMER, founded in 1946 and family-owned in its third generation, trades, processes and transports agricultural and raw materials. The group launched FermBase earlier this year to supply fermentation companies with carbon and nitrogen sources, mineral salts, trace elements, custom formulations and standardized blends, from pilot scale through to industrial production. The Differential Bio deal adds process development to that offering. CREMER said it plans to provide more technology- and data-based services alongside its core business of supplying and delivering raw materials. “Throughout CREMER’s history, we have grown whenever we were willing to rethink our existing business and identify new opportunities at an early stage. With Differential Bio, we have found a partner that is taking entirely new approaches to raw material development with the help of artificial intelligence and robotics and brings outstanding expertise in this field,” said Dr. Christian Flach, CEO of CREMER. Differential Bio, a spin-off from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) environment, emerged from stealth in March 2025 with €2 million in pre-seed funding led by Ananda Impact Ventures and ReGen Ventures. Its platform runs miniaturized, automated fermentation experiments to generate training data for predictive models used to optimize bioprocesses ahead of scale-up. “With Differential Bio, we are advancing the transition towards bio-based production: our robotic laboratory automation generates targeted data for AI applications, while our software and AI solutions enable data-driven process development. Together with CREMER, we can develop faster and support the fermentation industry in making processes more efficient and scaling them more successfully,” said Christian Spier, CEO of Differential Bio. >> Click here to go to Cultivated X where you will see a familiar layout and a focus solely on content regarding cellular agriculture, including fermentation-enabled products, and with more granular categories.

Read source: Vegconomist