A revolutionary approach to sustainable manufacturing is taking shape right here in Richmond, Indiana—and Jason Fleming, Head of Human Resources at Liberation Labs, joins host Michael Allen on The Hub to share an exciting update. The Hub is proudly sponsored by Manpower Richmond. Visit www.mprichmond.com to learn more about how Manpower is connecting great people with great jobs.
In this episode, Jason discusses the major progress on Liberation Labs’ $125 million precision fermentation facility, which is already 60% complete and on track to begin operations by early 2026. This cutting-edge facility uses microorganisms as “living plants” to produce high-quality, sustainable ingredients for industries ranging from alternative proteins and food to pharmaceuticals and biopesticides.
As a contract manufacturer, Liberation Labs will create custom ingredients tailored to client needs—driving innovation and sustainability across multiple sectors. Backed by a recent $50.5 million convertible note, their financial foundation is solid, bringing total deployable capital to approximately $125 million.
Jason also highlights strategic partnerships taking shape, including a collaboration with Ivy Tech Community College to create specialized training programs. These initiatives will help recruit and develop local talent for roles in fermentation and biomanufacturing, offering a new career path in a rapidly growing field.
In an exciting development, Liberation Labs is also partnering with the Department of Defense to help shape the future of domestic biomanufacturing infrastructure. The Richmond facility will create 45–50 skilled jobs, including technicians, engineers, quality control, and maintenance staff—with hiring ramping up in late 2025. The company is committed to offering competitive pay and fostering a collaborative culture built on smart, humble teamwork.
Looking ahead, Liberation Labs has acquired additional land in Richmond to support future expansion, placing the community at the heart of their global mission.
To explore upcoming career opportunities and learn more, visit www.liberationlabs.com.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Hub Podcast recorded right here in
Richmond, indiana.
I'm your host, michael Allen,and on the Hub, our mission is
to share stories of peoplemaking a difference in our
region.
In addition to hosting thepodcast, I work with a wonderful
team of staffing professionalsat Manpower.
Manpower is helping companiesall over East Central Indiana
find staffing so they cancontinue to grow and thrive.
(00:24):
Find out how we can help yourcompany at mprichmondcom.
So today on the our episode ofthe hub, we have jason fleming,
head of human resources forliberation labs.
Uh, liberation labs is a newcompany, uh, building a facility
in richmond.
And jason fleming, welcome backto the hub.
(00:44):
Thank you for having me.
We, uh, we were talking aboutwe did this at the end of 23,
when things were just gettingstarted and pretty excited about
talking about this again.
So you know, we're going tojust kind of follow up on the
progress at the Richmondoperations facility and what's
been happening since we spokethe end of 23.
(01:06):
Kind, of before we go into that, I would like to review with
our followers a little bit aboutyou how and when you began your
relationship with LiberationLabs, so kind of how that all
came about.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Sure yeah.
I was contacted by one of theco-founders of the company, etan
Bentheim, shortly after theidea was conceptualized and they
asked me initially to help outwith some of the basic HR work
on a part-time basis in the veryearly days, I think, before we
(01:40):
technically had any employees,and have been a part of it ever
since and have really enjoyedthe ride so far.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Great, great.
So you know, liberation Labsare going to be a precision
fermentation manufacturingfacility and I think I know what
that is.
I think I also know, like, whatAI is, but I think I might know
what precision fermentation is.
But if you could just sharewith us the nature of the
(02:07):
product, how it's going to beused in other products, stuff
that we may be familiar with,you know, joe Public would like
oh wow, that goes in this burgerI'm eating, or something I
don't know, or this product thatI'm buying.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Sure, if you could share a little bit about that,
yes, I mean, our model is thatwe're going to be operating as a
CMO, a contract manufacturer,so we will produce ingredients
to spec for a variety ofdifferent customers and then we
use precision fermentation,which is essentially using
microorganisms as a living plant, a living sort of you know
(02:48):
production entity, in order toproduce high quality,
sustainable ingredients.
So the ingredients we make willvary from customer to customer,
but likely what you'll see isfood grade ingredients, like
alternative proteins.
We could make compounds forpharma companies, biopesticides.
So we'll be, I think, agnosticin terms of the sectors that we
(03:13):
supply, but we'll be focused onusing fermentation to produce
high-quality ingredients fortheir products.
They'll, in turn, sell directto consumer.
They'll, in turn, sell directto consumer.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
So when you came in partnership with Liberation Labs
, you didn't know about any ofthis stuff right I pretended to.
But I mean, it's probably beenan interesting educational
process to learn about precisionfermentation, because you're
(03:44):
getting people like me askingyou questions all the time about
it, I'm sure.
And so you've had to you knowkind of learn it and become be
able to speak to it at least.
I mean Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Yeah, I mean it's very unique and a very niche way
to produce ingredients.
But yeah, I've learned a lotjust by being in meetings and
hearing our technical team andour co-founders speak to the
technology and to the businessplan, and then you get very
curious and then you sort ofgeek out on it and do a lot of
(04:18):
your own research.
So, yeah, it's definitely youget a fast track for sure.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
So I think back in June of 2023 was the, they all
got out there with the shovelsand broke ground and whatever.
So we're heading.
I mean, this is March, so threemonths would be about two year
mark.
I mean, that's kind of aceremony they get the shovels
(04:45):
out there.
I mean they're not pulling inbulldozers that day, I doubt,
but maybe they did, I don't know.
But um, kind of what's beentranspiring in the last 20, 21
months since you, you all brokeground, kind of where do things
stand today?
Speaker 2 (05:03):
yeah, on On the construction side, we are making
slow and steady progress.
Uh, we're probably about 60%complete the facility now.
I think when I, when werecorded the last time, that day
was the first day we pouredconcrete in 2023.
And so we've had to have, uh,some of the equipment is is
(05:23):
custom made overseas.
Uh, but we're, you know, 60%complete today, expected to be
complete construction by late2025.
And then facility startupeither late 2025 or early next
year.
So that's been going well.
From a business side, there'sbeen, you know, a lot of behind
the scenes work, a lot ofprogress being made that people
(05:45):
don't necessarily see.
We've entered into a reallyexciting long term relationship
with Ivy Tech Community Collegeand we were in the final stages
of negotiating that actuallywhen we recorded last, so I
couldn't speak about it, butwe're going to be developing a
custom or we've actually starteddeveloping a custom training
(06:06):
program so that we can hirelocal talent who have great
experience in manufacturing andmaintenance and give them an
accelerated course infermentation and
biomanufacturing to help themtake on roles in our facility in
Richmond.
So we're very excited aboutthat.
We'll probably have two weeksof classroom work as soon as
(06:30):
people get hired so they can gothrough the crash course and
then move to on-the-job training.
We've just recently closed abig financing round, a $50.5
million convertible note, whichbrings our total deployable
capital up to about $125 million, which puts us in a great place
(06:51):
to be able to fund theremaining construction of the
project and to get started upand have done a lot of
interesting work with, you knowexploratory discussions with
future clients, and we'veactually entered into an
agreement with the Department ofDefense as well.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Discussions with future clients, and we've
actually entered into anagreement with the department of
defense as well.
Yeah, the financing that's gotto be, that's got to be tough,
because you know you're into aproduct that's like a niche,
niche type of product andthere's not a lot of facilities
like this.
I don't believe in the in theus or not a ton.
And uh.
So I mean you're, you're buyingproperty, you're trying to
(07:27):
build a facility and you're notselling anything yet.
So I mean to try to get allthat financing.
I'm sure is a task, and itsounds like you've got it all
worked out now.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yeah, we just I mean just recently have sort of had a
big milestone, but yeah, it was.
It's challenging to raise thatmuch capital, for sure, and the
market, the availability ofcapital that changed
dramatically in the last twoyears and so we had some
headwinds, but we're very happythat we got it done.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
That is so good to hear you talked about.
There's two things.
You mentioned the Department ofDefense contract, so you'll be
making some product for them ordoing something with them.
I don't know how much you cansay about top secret stuff we
can share.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
So it was a cool initiative.
So they've engaged a feworganizations where we've
entered into an agreement toproduce business and technical
plans that are focused onpotential future domestic
biomanufacturing facilities.
So at this point it's building,you know, developing plans and
(08:40):
sort of outlining potentialfuture projects.
So it was shared publicly soI'm allowed to talk about it.
Down the road.
There's the potential option aswell, or potential
opportunities for a build grantor a build award or a build
grant or a build award, whichwould actually result in capital
being deployed to startbuilding infrastructure in the
(09:00):
US for biomanufacturingfacilities.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
In some of the notes that we had shared prior to
today, you mentioned ITCCpartnership.
What is that?
Ivy Tech?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Ivy Tech.
All right, I had written thatdown and I didn't quite make the
connection for some reason.
So yeah, I mean, have youworked with Chad or has there
been other people that you'veworked with?
Speaker 2 (09:27):
at Ivy Tech, Chad Kim primarily, and then some of
their faculty as well.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
That's such a great asset to our community.
Great, and that group overthere.
They're just, they do somegreat stuff.
So we broke ground, june 23.
We've got um financing somepartnerships.
You talked about theconstruction site.
We're thinking the end of thisyear, beginning of next year, um
(09:58):
, so what about some of thestartup planning?
Where do you stand with that?
Speaker 2 (10:03):
yeah, we're making a lot of plans now, you know,
preparing for the staffing forthe facility um, selecting key
vendors and, you know, once wehave a firm timeline on the sort
of exact constructioncompletion date, they will work
backwards from there to startactually making the hires.
(10:25):
But we've started recruitingsparsely some roles already, but
heavy recruiting focus will belater on in 2025.
So we have a pretty detailedsite resource plan that we've
built and I think, are fairlyconfident in that plan so that
we can move quickly when we arepretty firm on the timeline.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
So when we had this discussion the first time, we
may have discussed some of thejobs, but the types of jobs that
you're going to have.
Are you able to share a littlebit more detail of what those
different jobs are going to besure?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
yeah, so the the site will be, let's say, 45 50
people.
We'll have.
A large number of those will bedirectly involved in
manufacturing.
So, so manufacturing techs area critical part of that site
plan and, in addition,maintenance technicians, quality
(11:26):
and lab techs those are goingto be the vital roles for just
the production element.
We need to bring in key leaders, so an ops, ops manager,
technical manager, quality, andthen there'll be a number of
engineers as well that we bringon.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
The thought I think when we've had discussions in
the past is that you're going torun 24 hours Correct, and so
you will have.
I think was it about fivemanufacturing techs per shift,
Is that?
Speaker 2 (12:01):
what we we go back and forth internally on that.
It'll be likely looking at afour-on, four-off schedule for
the manufacturing techs.
You'll be either dedicated daysor nights, with a shift premium
for folks working at night, beeither dedicated days or nights
with a shift premium for forfolks working at night.
And, um, we were yeah, thatwill be sort of you know, four
to five manufacturing techs pershift.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
We'll need a maintenance tech per shift and a
shift supervisor as well sothat right there could those
positions potentially make uplike 28 of the 45 you know, you
have five one-on-one seven times, you've got to have four
different groups, Yep.
So that's, that's the majorityof those positions.
(12:44):
Then you get up to the morespecialized positions that from
their skill, skill sets, uh,yeah, I don't think you know
this yet.
But the timeline for hiring yousaid you're going to have to
whenever you can kind of have abetter feel for when things are
going to complete it, thenyou're going to work backwards.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Yeah, I mean the key with the hiring and this is
what's really interesting aboutbuilding a facility from scratch
is that you at one point arejust switching on the operations
and so you need to have peoplehired, trained and ready to go
for the day that you start toproduce ingredients, and so you
(13:23):
know you can't be too late.
You also don't want to be tooearly where you've hired people
prematurely and they're not umand there's no work.
So um, I think we we will begradually recruiting between now
, you know, kind of on anongoing basis.
The real mass local recruitingwould be second half of this
(13:45):
year, probably a bit closer tothe end of the year.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
The Ivy Tech training program.
Do you know how long thatparticular program will take?
Is it like two weeks?
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Okay, Two weeks of classroom back to school and um,
it'll be basically, once youget hired you'd be, you know,
we'll have an orientation andthen you'll go, you know, two
weeks, uh on site at, uh at Ivy,go through the training.
There'll be some lab components, some hands-on, some lecture,
and then from there you'd moveto the site and we'll start to
(14:22):
be getting your hands on theequipment to to get comfortable
as well the um.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
So what's it going to look like to work for
liberation labs?
I mean, the culture benefitsthose type of.
Can you speak to that, or isthat still kind of developing?
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Yeah, I can speak to you know, from a culture
standpoint.
We are very progressive and ourco-founders, from day one, were
very intentional about buildinga very welcoming, very
comfortable place to workbuilding a very welcoming, very
comfortable place to work.
And so, as a result, you know,we're a very flat organization,
(15:00):
very collaborative.
We have a lot of very smartpeople, very humble,
collaborative people all justworking together to try to get
to the best end result, which isgreat.
From you know the kind ofspecific compensation components
, we've made the decision to tryto pay top of market.
(15:23):
It's a tough skill set to findand we realize that we will be
training our hires to becomespecialized.
So I think we'll be very, Ithink, uh, very competitive with
with compensation and benefits,for sure, and, um, yeah, I
think overall I'm probablybiased, but I, I, it's it's best
(15:44):
job I've ever had.
I really enjoy it, and I thinkwe we want to make sure we
continue with that, um, thatpositive culture as we scale and
, uh, I think that's a big focusfor us as we scale.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Yeah, we've been.
We've had several conversationsabout you know pay and and uh,
and I know you're still workingthrough those numbers and so
there's not those aren't reallyreadily to put out there for the
public.
But you know, I think from whatwe've discussed and what I've
seen you know and working atManpower and different companies
(16:17):
and compensation I've seenthere I mean I do believe that
you know some of your goals inthat area you're going to hit.
You know in terms ofcompetitive pay and benefits and
I think you'll be highly soughtafter.
You know destination for peoplethat want to start with your
company and want to grow andcome to work there.
(16:40):
So you know, I think you'regoing to do great in that area
from what I've seen so far.
So I think that's something tobe encouraged by.
So you know, for thosefollowing us, listening,
watching, I mean it's toughbecause you don't know when you
need all these people yet butthey're going to watch this,
(17:00):
they're going to listen, they'regoing to think they want to,
they're going to want to applytomorrow.
but so what can we tell thosepeople?
What's the message that we wantto put out to them?
For people that are justexcited to want to get their
foot in right away, I meanbecause people are going to
think, hey, I need to, I reallywant to get a job there, so I
(17:22):
need to, like, be one of thefirst people to apply.
I want to get in early.
So how do we tell these peopleconstructively what they should
look for and what they should doat this point?
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Yeah, and the first thing I'd say is we sincerely
appreciate the enthusiasmlocally should do at this point.
Yeah, I think first thing I'dsay is we sincerely appreciate
the enthusiasm locally.
I mean it's from prospectivecandidates to, you know, our
neighbors near our facility.
It's been really, reallypleasant to have such a warm
reception and for people to showthat excitement about joining
(17:54):
us.
And you know I think we won'tbe quiet about it.
When we start to recruit, wewill be pretty vocal.
Probably the best informationwould be that we centralize all
recruiting through Bamboo HR,which is our applicant tracking
system, and so we will belinking all vacant positions to
our website once we startrecruiting and so people can
(18:17):
just monitor the website.
And we're also pretty active onLinkedIn when we post positions
, so it will be easy to see whenwe start to recruit and again,
it's not too far away from now.
The second half of this year iswhen we'll go.
We'll be going to market for alot of the, the, the kind of
(18:39):
mass recruiting, the folks thatwe'll be hiring and putting into
the Ivy Tech program.
So we'll be we'll be very, veryclear and transparent when we
start to recruit.
In the meantime, people arewelcome to share their profiles
through the website.
But I think it's it's alwaysgood to have preliminary
discussions, but the morespecific conversations about
(19:00):
specific jobs will be the secondhalf of the year.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Yeah, I mean.
So we're just telling thepublic, hey, keep that
enthusiasm, but there's only somuch that you can do with their
information right now, becauseyou don't need it yet, right, I
mean, you don't need it and so,uh, but I think if people at
websites liberation, labscom, socheck it out, and uh, and and
(19:27):
so eventually it'll show up, andso, hey, if you want to go in
there and check every other weekor so, great, great, and
eventually it will show up.
So, jason, you've been here onthe scene early, you know in
this process, what's, how's itlook for you like moving forward
(19:48):
?
I mean, I mean, you're fromcanada, you live in canada, and
uh, we joked last time and I'lljust I'll wear out the same joke
thank you for flying in fromcanada to do the podcast.
But, uh, so are you going tocontinue to be kind of a remote
(20:09):
worker and coming in as needed,or what's, what's your job going
to look like moving forward?
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Yeah, I'll continue to be remote, but certainly as
we get closer to startup andthen once we're operational,
I'll be here very regularly,which is great.
I love being here.
It's very, very enjoyable niceplace to work and great barbecue
.
Nice, nice place to work andgreat barbecue.
(20:36):
So, no, it's, I think, as weapproach the startup timeline,
I'll be, you know, likely, youknow, every other week and then
eventually we'll hire a small HRteam to operate the day to day
operations of the facility froman HR standpoint.
But I think it's important tobe present and think, especially
when you know there's such amassive project with so many
moving parts.
I think all of us, the entireteam, including our, our two
(20:58):
co-founders, will be a regularpresence in the community, as
we're, as we're getting goingthe owners and, um, I mean, this
facility is not evenoperational yet.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
However, I've seen so many times where a facility
here was built and as soon asthey got done and started up,
they were already thinking aboutadding on or the next stages,
whatever.
Is there a vision out there forliberation that it's definitely
going to go beyond Richmond orgo beyond the scope of what's
(21:32):
being built now?
I mean, has there been thosekind of discussions?
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Yeah, even from the inception, the plan was always
to make a network of thesecontract manufacturing
organizations, and so I thinkwe'll definitely be multi-site.
We've purchased enough land formultiple sites in Richmond.
The ordering of the sites isnot yet finalized, but I think
(21:57):
that there's definitely plans tohave multiple sites globally,
but also multiple sites in theregion here.
It's just a question of what'sthe order of those capital
projects.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Right, yeah, well, that doesn't surprise me because
there's just, you see, thathappens.
I've seen a lot happen just inour community and the different
companies that are here and whatthey've done.
Any other sharing that you wantto do?
That's something that we didn'thit.
I mean, you don't have to, butI just didn't know if there's
(22:33):
anything else that maybe wethought we might discuss or that
would be good for the public toknow.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
I think just you know , we continuously as a team talk
about how welcoming thecommunity has been, from the EDC
to, you know, ivy Tech Manpower.
Obviously, even yesterday atdinner we were saying every time
we're in a meeting, our localcontacts are just continuously
(22:58):
sharing helpful suggestions andresources and it's really great
to be building such a bigproject in an area where it's
very apparent that there'sexcitement and it's a very
welcoming environment.
So I just say thank you to thebroader community for being so
open and to receive us with suchnice hospitality.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Right, I think that's a story that needs to get out
more.
There's a lot of positivethings going on in this
community and there's a lot ofpositive things going on in this
community and there's a lot ofplayers that are trying to help
companies like yours get going,get established and, uh, I think
we need to keep trying to do abetter job to share that.
And on a personal level, I cantell you that I've talked to a
(23:44):
lot of people that have hadinteractions with you and and uh
, they've always been superpositive.
Jason, they speak highly of youand and about Liberation Labs
coming here.
I mean, you've been here a lotand met with different groups,
and so I can tell you thatyou're well-liked and you've
done a great job presenting yourcompany.
(24:05):
So really appreciate you comingback and having this discussion
with us and just wish you guysthe best of luck moving forward,
and I'm sure things are goingto be great once we get started
and people start working there.
It's really exciting to seethat, just see how it's
developed over these two yearsand then toward the end of this
(24:27):
year and next year what it'sgoing to look like that's great
sothank you for joining us.
Well, that's all for thisepisode.
Thanks again for listening andwatching, so please share and
subscribe.
Once you have a chance tolisten to this, please pass on
the news about Liberation Labsto your friends and family.
(24:47):
That's all for this episode ofthe Hub.
Thanks again for listening andwe'll see you next time for
another conversation with adifference maker from our region
.
Manpower is proud to supportthe Hub.
Find out how they can supportyour business at mprichmondcom.
Welcome to the Hub Podcast recorded right here in
Richmond, indiana.
I'm your host, michael Allen,and on the Hub, our mission is
to share stories of peoplemaking a difference in our
region.
In addition to hosting thepodcast, I work with a wonderful
team of staffing professionalsat Manpower.
Manpower is helping companiesall over East Central Indiana
find staffing so they cancontinue to grow and thrive.
(00:24):
Find out how we can help yourcompany at mprichmondcom.
So today on the our episode ofthe hub, we have jason fleming,
head of human resources forliberation labs.
Uh, liberation labs is a newcompany, uh, building a facility
in richmond.
And jason fleming, welcome backto the hub.
(00:44):
Thank you for having me.
We, uh, we were talking aboutwe did this at the end of 23,
when things were just gettingstarted and pretty excited about
talking about this again.
So you know, we're going tojust kind of follow up on the
progress at the Richmondoperations facility and what's
been happening since we spokethe end of 23.
(01:06):
Kind, of before we go into that, I would like to review with
our followers a little bit aboutyou how and when you began your
relationship with LiberationLabs, so kind of how that all
came about.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Sure yeah.
I was contacted by one of theco-founders of the company, etan
Bentheim, shortly after theidea was conceptualized and they
asked me initially to help outwith some of the basic HR work
on a part-time basis in the veryearly days, I think, before we
(01:40):
technically had any employees,and have been a part of it ever
since and have really enjoyedthe ride so far.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Great, great.
So you know, liberation Labsare going to be a precision
fermentation manufacturingfacility and I think I know what
that is.
I think I also know, like, whatAI is, but I think I might know
what precision fermentation is.
But if you could just sharewith us the nature of the
(02:07):
product, how it's going to beused in other products, stuff
that we may be familiar with,you know, joe Public would like
oh wow, that goes in this burgerI'm eating, or something I
don't know, or this product thatI'm buying.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Sure, if you could share a little bit about that,
yes, I mean, our model is thatwe're going to be operating as a
CMO, a contract manufacturer,so we will produce ingredients
to spec for a variety ofdifferent customers and then we
use precision fermentation,which is essentially using
microorganisms as a living plant, a living sort of you know
(02:48):
production entity, in order toproduce high quality,
sustainable ingredients.
So the ingredients we make willvary from customer to customer,
but likely what you'll see isfood grade ingredients, like
alternative proteins.
We could make compounds forpharma companies, biopesticides.
So we'll be, I think, agnosticin terms of the sectors that we
(03:13):
supply, but we'll be focused onusing fermentation to produce
high-quality ingredients fortheir products.
They'll, in turn, sell directto consumer.
They'll, in turn, sell directto consumer.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
So when you came in partnership with Liberation Labs
, you didn't know about any ofthis stuff right I pretended to.
But I mean, it's probably beenan interesting educational
process to learn about precisionfermentation, because you're
(03:44):
getting people like me askingyou questions all the time about
it, I'm sure.
And so you've had to you knowkind of learn it and become be
able to speak to it at least.
I mean Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Yeah, I mean it's very unique and a very niche way
to produce ingredients.
But yeah, I've learned a lotjust by being in meetings and
hearing our technical team andour co-founders speak to the
technology and to the businessplan, and then you get very
curious and then you sort ofgeek out on it and do a lot of
(04:18):
your own research.
So, yeah, it's definitely youget a fast track for sure.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
So I think back in June of 2023 was the, they all
got out there with the shovelsand broke ground and whatever.
So we're heading.
I mean, this is March, so threemonths would be about two year
mark.
I mean, that's kind of aceremony they get the shovels
(04:45):
out there.
I mean they're not pulling inbulldozers that day, I doubt,
but maybe they did, I don't know.
But um, kind of what's beentranspiring in the last 20, 21
months since you, you all brokeground, kind of where do things
stand today?
Speaker 2 (05:03):
yeah, on On the construction side, we are making
slow and steady progress.
Uh, we're probably about 60%complete the facility now.
I think when I, when werecorded the last time, that day
was the first day we pouredconcrete in 2023.
And so we've had to have, uh,some of the equipment is is
(05:23):
custom made overseas.
Uh, but we're, you know, 60%complete today, expected to be
complete construction by late2025.
And then facility startupeither late 2025 or early next
year.
So that's been going well.
From a business side, there'sbeen, you know, a lot of behind
the scenes work, a lot ofprogress being made that people
(05:45):
don't necessarily see.
We've entered into a reallyexciting long term relationship
with Ivy Tech Community Collegeand we were in the final stages
of negotiating that actuallywhen we recorded last, so I
couldn't speak about it, butwe're going to be developing a
custom or we've actually starteddeveloping a custom training
(06:06):
program so that we can hirelocal talent who have great
experience in manufacturing andmaintenance and give them an
accelerated course infermentation and
biomanufacturing to help themtake on roles in our facility in
Richmond.
So we're very excited aboutthat.
We'll probably have two weeksof classroom work as soon as
(06:30):
people get hired so they can gothrough the crash course and
then move to on-the-job training.
We've just recently closed abig financing round, a $50.5
million convertible note, whichbrings our total deployable
capital up to about $125 million, which puts us in a great place
(06:51):
to be able to fund theremaining construction of the
project and to get started upand have done a lot of
interesting work with, you knowexploratory discussions with
future clients, and we'veactually entered into an
agreement with the Department ofDefense as well.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Discussions with future clients, and we've
actually entered into anagreement with the department of
defense as well.
Yeah, the financing that's gotto be, that's got to be tough,
because you know you're into aproduct that's like a niche,
niche type of product andthere's not a lot of facilities
like this.
I don't believe in the in theus or not a ton.
And uh.
So I mean you're, you're buyingproperty, you're trying to
(07:27):
build a facility and you're notselling anything yet.
So I mean to try to get allthat financing.
I'm sure is a task, and itsounds like you've got it all
worked out now.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yeah, we just I mean just recently have sort of had a
big milestone, but yeah, it was.
It's challenging to raise thatmuch capital, for sure, and the
market, the availability ofcapital that changed
dramatically in the last twoyears and so we had some
headwinds, but we're very happythat we got it done.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
That is so good to hear you talked about.
There's two things.
You mentioned the Department ofDefense contract, so you'll be
making some product for them ordoing something with them.
I don't know how much you cansay about top secret stuff we
can share.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
So it was a cool initiative.
So they've engaged a feworganizations where we've
entered into an agreement toproduce business and technical
plans that are focused onpotential future domestic
biomanufacturing facilities.
So at this point it's building,you know, developing plans and
(08:40):
sort of outlining potentialfuture projects.
So it was shared publicly soI'm allowed to talk about it.
Down the road.
There's the potential option aswell, or potential
opportunities for a build grantor a build award or a build
grant or a build award, whichwould actually result in capital
being deployed to startbuilding infrastructure in the
(09:00):
US for biomanufacturingfacilities.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
In some of the notes that we had shared prior to
today, you mentioned ITCCpartnership.
What is that?
Ivy Tech?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Ivy Tech.
All right, I had written thatdown and I didn't quite make the
connection for some reason.
So yeah, I mean, have youworked with Chad or has there
been other people that you'veworked with?
Speaker 2 (09:27):
at Ivy Tech, Chad Kim primarily, and then some of
their faculty as well.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
That's such a great asset to our community.
Great, and that group overthere.
They're just, they do somegreat stuff.
So we broke ground, june 23.
We've got um financing somepartnerships.
You talked about theconstruction site.
We're thinking the end of thisyear, beginning of next year, um
(09:58):
, so what about some of thestartup planning?
Where do you stand with that?
Speaker 2 (10:03):
yeah, we're making a lot of plans now, you know,
preparing for the staffing forthe facility um, selecting key
vendors and, you know, once wehave a firm timeline on the sort
of exact constructioncompletion date, they will work
backwards from there to startactually making the hires.
(10:25):
But we've started recruitingsparsely some roles already, but
heavy recruiting focus will belater on in 2025.
So we have a pretty detailedsite resource plan that we've
built and I think, are fairlyconfident in that plan so that
we can move quickly when we arepretty firm on the timeline.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
So when we had this discussion the first time, we
may have discussed some of thejobs, but the types of jobs that
you're going to have.
Are you able to share a littlebit more detail of what those
different jobs are going to besure?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
yeah, so the the site will be, let's say, 45 50
people.
We'll have.
A large number of those will bedirectly involved in
manufacturing.
So, so manufacturing techs area critical part of that site
plan and, in addition,maintenance technicians, quality
(11:26):
and lab techs those are goingto be the vital roles for just
the production element.
We need to bring in key leaders, so an ops, ops manager,
technical manager, quality, andthen there'll be a number of
engineers as well that we bringon.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
The thought I think when we've had discussions in
the past is that you're going torun 24 hours Correct, and so
you will have.
I think was it about fivemanufacturing techs per shift,
Is that?
Speaker 2 (12:01):
what we we go back and forth internally on that.
It'll be likely looking at afour-on, four-off schedule for
the manufacturing techs.
You'll be either dedicated daysor nights, with a shift premium
for folks working at night, beeither dedicated days or nights
with a shift premium for forfolks working at night.
And, um, we were yeah, thatwill be sort of you know, four
to five manufacturing techs pershift.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
We'll need a maintenance tech per shift and a
shift supervisor as well sothat right there could those
positions potentially make uplike 28 of the 45 you know, you
have five one-on-one seven times, you've got to have four
different groups, Yep.
So that's, that's the majorityof those positions.
(12:44):
Then you get up to the morespecialized positions that from
their skill, skill sets, uh,yeah, I don't think you know
this yet.
But the timeline for hiring yousaid you're going to have to
whenever you can kind of have abetter feel for when things are
going to complete it, thenyou're going to work backwards.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Yeah, I mean the key with the hiring and this is
what's really interesting aboutbuilding a facility from scratch
is that you at one point arejust switching on the operations
and so you need to have peoplehired, trained and ready to go
for the day that you start toproduce ingredients, and so you
(13:23):
know you can't be too late.
You also don't want to be tooearly where you've hired people
prematurely and they're not umand there's no work.
So um, I think we we will begradually recruiting between now
, you know, kind of on anongoing basis.
The real mass local recruitingwould be second half of this
(13:45):
year, probably a bit closer tothe end of the year.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
The Ivy Tech training program.
Do you know how long thatparticular program will take?
Is it like two weeks?
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Okay, Two weeks of classroom back to school and um,
it'll be basically, once youget hired you'd be, you know,
we'll have an orientation andthen you'll go, you know, two
weeks, uh on site at, uh at Ivy,go through the training.
There'll be some lab components, some hands-on, some lecture,
and then from there you'd moveto the site and we'll start to
(14:22):
be getting your hands on theequipment to to get comfortable
as well the um.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
So what's it going to look like to work for
liberation labs?
I mean, the culture benefitsthose type of.
Can you speak to that, or isthat still kind of developing?
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Yeah, I can speak to you know, from a culture
standpoint.
We are very progressive and ourco-founders, from day one, were
very intentional about buildinga very welcoming, very
comfortable place to workbuilding a very welcoming, very
comfortable place to work.
And so, as a result, you know,we're a very flat organization,
(15:00):
very collaborative.
We have a lot of very smartpeople, very humble,
collaborative people all justworking together to try to get
to the best end result, which isgreat.
From you know the kind ofspecific compensation components
, we've made the decision to tryto pay top of market.
(15:23):
It's a tough skill set to findand we realize that we will be
training our hires to becomespecialized.
So I think we'll be very, Ithink, uh, very competitive with
with compensation and benefits,for sure, and, um, yeah, I
think overall I'm probablybiased, but I, I, it's it's best
(15:44):
job I've ever had.
I really enjoy it, and I thinkwe we want to make sure we
continue with that, um, thatpositive culture as we scale and
, uh, I think that's a big focusfor us as we scale.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Yeah, we've been.
We've had several conversationsabout you know pay and and uh,
and I know you're still workingthrough those numbers and so
there's not those aren't reallyreadily to put out there for the
public.
But you know, I think from whatwe've discussed and what I've
seen you know and working atManpower and different companies
(16:17):
and compensation I've seenthere I mean I do believe that
you know some of your goals inthat area you're going to hit.
You know in terms ofcompetitive pay and benefits and
I think you'll be highly soughtafter.
You know destination for peoplethat want to start with your
company and want to grow andcome to work there.
(16:40):
So you know, I think you'regoing to do great in that area
from what I've seen so far.
So I think that's something tobe encouraged by.
So you know, for thosefollowing us, listening,
watching, I mean it's toughbecause you don't know when you
need all these people yet butthey're going to watch this,
(17:00):
they're going to listen, they'regoing to think they want to,
they're going to want to applytomorrow.
but so what can we tell thosepeople?
What's the message that we wantto put out to them?
For people that are justexcited to want to get their
foot in right away, I meanbecause people are going to
think, hey, I need to, I reallywant to get a job there, so I
(17:22):
need to, like, be one of thefirst people to apply.
I want to get in early.
So how do we tell these peopleconstructively what they should
look for and what they should doat this point?
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Yeah, and the first thing I'd say is we sincerely
appreciate the enthusiasmlocally should do at this point.
Yeah, I think first thing I'dsay is we sincerely appreciate
the enthusiasm locally.
I mean it's from prospectivecandidates to, you know, our
neighbors near our facility.
It's been really, reallypleasant to have such a warm
reception and for people to showthat excitement about joining
(17:54):
us.
And you know I think we won'tbe quiet about it.
When we start to recruit, wewill be pretty vocal.
Probably the best informationwould be that we centralize all
recruiting through Bamboo HR,which is our applicant tracking
system, and so we will belinking all vacant positions to
our website once we startrecruiting and so people can
(18:17):
just monitor the website.
And we're also pretty active onLinkedIn when we post positions
, so it will be easy to see whenwe start to recruit and again,
it's not too far away from now.
The second half of this year iswhen we'll go.
We'll be going to market for alot of the, the, the kind of
(18:39):
mass recruiting, the folks thatwe'll be hiring and putting into
the Ivy Tech program.
So we'll be we'll be very, veryclear and transparent when we
start to recruit.
In the meantime, people arewelcome to share their profiles
through the website.
But I think it's it's alwaysgood to have preliminary
discussions, but the morespecific conversations about
(19:00):
specific jobs will be the secondhalf of the year.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Yeah, I mean.
So we're just telling thepublic, hey, keep that
enthusiasm, but there's only somuch that you can do with their
information right now, becauseyou don't need it yet, right, I
mean, you don't need it and so,uh, but I think if people at
websites liberation, labscom, socheck it out, and uh, and and
(19:27):
so eventually it'll show up, andso, hey, if you want to go in
there and check every other weekor so, great, great, and
eventually it will show up.
So, jason, you've been here onthe scene early, you know in
this process, what's, how's itlook for you like moving forward
(19:48):
?
I mean, I mean, you're fromcanada, you live in canada, and
uh, we joked last time and I'lljust I'll wear out the same joke
thank you for flying in fromcanada to do the podcast.
But, uh, so are you going tocontinue to be kind of a remote
(20:09):
worker and coming in as needed,or what's, what's your job going
to look like moving forward?
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Yeah, I'll continue to be remote, but certainly as
we get closer to startup andthen once we're operational,
I'll be here very regularly,which is great.
I love being here.
It's very, very enjoyable niceplace to work and great barbecue
.
Nice, nice place to work andgreat barbecue.
(20:36):
So, no, it's, I think, as weapproach the startup timeline,
I'll be, you know, likely, youknow, every other week and then
eventually we'll hire a small HRteam to operate the day to day
operations of the facility froman HR standpoint.
But I think it's important tobe present and think, especially
when you know there's such amassive project with so many
moving parts.
I think all of us, the entireteam, including our, our two
(20:58):
co-founders, will be a regularpresence in the community, as
we're, as we're getting goingthe owners and, um, I mean, this
facility is not evenoperational yet.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
However, I've seen so many times where a facility
here was built and as soon asthey got done and started up,
they were already thinking aboutadding on or the next stages,
whatever.
Is there a vision out there forliberation that it's definitely
going to go beyond Richmond orgo beyond the scope of what's
(21:32):
being built now?
I mean, has there been thosekind of discussions?
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Yeah, even from the inception, the plan was always
to make a network of thesecontract manufacturing
organizations, and so I thinkwe'll definitely be multi-site.
We've purchased enough land formultiple sites in Richmond.
The ordering of the sites isnot yet finalized, but I think
(21:57):
that there's definitely plans tohave multiple sites globally,
but also multiple sites in theregion here.
It's just a question of what'sthe order of those capital
projects.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Right, yeah, well, that doesn't surprise me because
there's just, you see, thathappens.
I've seen a lot happen just inour community and the different
companies that are here and whatthey've done.
Any other sharing that you wantto do?
That's something that we didn'thit.
I mean, you don't have to, butI just didn't know if there's
(22:33):
anything else that maybe wethought we might discuss or that
would be good for the public toknow.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
I think just you know , we continuously as a team talk
about how welcoming thecommunity has been, from the EDC
to, you know, ivy Tech Manpower.
Obviously, even yesterday atdinner we were saying every time
we're in a meeting, our localcontacts are just continuously
(22:58):
sharing helpful suggestions andresources and it's really great
to be building such a bigproject in an area where it's
very apparent that there'sexcitement and it's a very
welcoming environment.
So I just say thank you to thebroader community for being so
open and to receive us with suchnice hospitality.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Right, I think that's a story that needs to get out
more.
There's a lot of positivethings going on in this
community and there's a lot ofpositive things going on in this
community and there's a lot ofplayers that are trying to help
companies like yours get going,get established and, uh, I think
we need to keep trying to do abetter job to share that.
And on a personal level, I cantell you that I've talked to a
(23:44):
lot of people that have hadinteractions with you and and uh
, they've always been superpositive.
Jason, they speak highly of youand and about Liberation Labs
coming here.
I mean, you've been here a lotand met with different groups,
and so I can tell you thatyou're well-liked and you've
done a great job presenting yourcompany.
(24:05):
So really appreciate you comingback and having this discussion
with us and just wish you guysthe best of luck moving forward,
and I'm sure things are goingto be great once we get started
and people start working there.
It's really exciting to seethat, just see how it's
developed over these two yearsand then toward the end of this
(24:27):
year and next year what it'sgoing to look like that's great
sothank you for joining us.
Well, that's all for thisepisode.
Thanks again for listening andwatching, so please share and
subscribe.
Once you have a chance tolisten to this, please pass on
the news about Liberation Labsto your friends and family.
(24:47):
That's all for this episode ofthe Hub.
Thanks again for listening andwe'll see you next time for
another conversation with adifference maker from our region
.
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