Japanese biotechnology company Spiber is opening the fermentation technology behind its Brewed Protein fibers to outside manufacturers, creating a new business around the infrastructure it developed to bring its alternative textile materials to commercial scale.

The company launched Spiber Biofoundry on Oct. 2, offering strain engineering, process development and contract manufacturing services to businesses developing proteins and other fermentation-derived products. The service draws on Spiber’s research facilities in Tsuruoka, Japan, and its commercial production plant in Rayong, Thailand.

Customers can use Spiber’s technology to improve microbial protein yields, develop manufacturing processes or produce materials at volumes ranging from laboratory batches to commercial fermentation runs.

Spiber developed these capabilities over nearly two decades while commercializing Brewed Protein, a family of structural proteins produced through microbial fermentation using plant-derived sugars. The resulting materials can be processed into fibers for apparel and other applications.

That work required the company to develop expertise in gene sequence design, microbial strain construction, fermentation and protein purification. Spiber is now offering those services to outside businesses alongside its existing materials operations.

“Developing diverse structural proteins has enabled us to build the technology, expertise, and facilities needed to scale fermentation from the lab to commercial production,” said Maya Kawana, Spiber’s chief executive officer. “Through Spiber Biofoundry, we are making these capabilities available to other companies to shorten their time to market.”

The biofoundry offers two principal services.

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