Meatable Raises $10M to Advance Cell Cultured Pork

December 10, 2019

By Lynda Kiernan

Amsterdam-based Meatable has raised another $10 million in Seed funding from pre-existing investors, including BlueYard Capital, the European Commission, Albert Wenger from Union Square Ventures, and Taavet Hinrikus, founder and CEO of TransferWise. 

Usually, producers of lab-grown or cell-based meats have based their production methods on using the cell tissues from an animal – not requiring the slaughter of that animal. However, those same companies often feed these cells with fetal bovine serum, sourced from slaughtered animals, therefore negating any possible claim to being “slaughter-free”. These current methods can also take months, creating a real challenge to scaling the technology.

Utilizing a novel, Nobel Prize-winning  patent developed by scientists at Cambridge and Stanford Universities, and breakthrough stem cell technologies, Meatable has a vision to overcome the challenge of making truly slaughter-free meat from a single cell. This method, called OPTI-OX, beginning with only one cell, can produce large volumes of cells needed to make meat in a matter of days, creating a reliable supply chain.

Daan Luining, chief technology officer for Meatable, explained the company’s method to FoodNavigator-USA in September 2018. When a calf is born, the blood from the detached umbilical cord (which would normally be thrown away) is collected. This blood is the source of Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) which are isolated in the lab. These cells are effectively reprogrammed by Meatable to become pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells), also called “master cells”, that have the ability to differentiate into muscle cells or fat cells indefinitely.

It is this speed and versatility that sets Meatable apart in an ever more crowded space. And with this technology, and funding from this round, Meatable plans to have a prototype, lab-grown pork chop made from early-stage pig stem cells by the summer of 2020.

Culture Club (readers of a certain age will get this)

Global protein consumption is expected to climb at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.7 percent, reaching 943 million tons by 2054, according to Lux Research. On a global scale, greenhouse gas emissions generated by the animal agriculture industry in place to meet this demand account for 14.5 percent of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions – more than the worldwide transportation sector.

As these societal, environmental, and consumption trends align, cell cultured meat technology is on a growth trajectory, and the number of players developing clean meat, and the amounts of capital being invested in these technologies is growing.

Although most innovators are still in the R&D phase, ResearchandMarkets stated that cell cultured meats should be reaching the market by 2021, according to its recently released report, “Cultured Meat Market by Source (Poultry, Beef, Seafood, Pork, and Duck), End-Use (Nuggets, Burgers, Meatballs, Sausages, Hot Dogs), and Region (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, South America) – Global Forecast to 2032” 

And by 2025 the global cultured meat market is expected to be worth $214 million and growing at a CAGR of 15.7 percent, to bring its value to $593 million by 2032.

Riding this wave are an increasing number of rivals. Earlier this year, Israel-based cellular meat startup Aleph Farms announced it has secured funding totaling $12 million through a Series A led by VisVires New Protein, and including Cargill, among others. Singapore-based cellular seafood startup Shiok Meats also raised a $4.6 million Seed round in support of its cellular aquaculture technology. Memphis Meats has been a pioneer in the space, with Bill Gates, Tyson Foods, and Cargill as investors, and then there is Finless Foods which is developing cell-cultured bluefin tuna; and Israel’s Future Meat and Supermeat.

Capital Challenges

With the funding from this round, which brings the startup’s total funding to-date to $13 million, Meatable plans to address some of the more forward challenges to cell-culture meat production – the ability to scale, and the ability to reduce the cost of production.

“We’re excited to announce this new funding, which will enable us to expand our scaling and cost reduction teams,” said Krijn de Nood, founder of Meatable. “No one should have to give up the meat they love – there is a way to satisfy the world’s appetite for meat without harming people, animals or the planet.”

“The new funds will enable us to make significant strides toward fulfilling our mission, as they will be instrumental as for expanding our cost-reduction and scaling teams. They will enable us to accelerate the development of our beef and pork cells and, importantly, our process for forming whole cuts of meat. We expect to unveil our first prototype this summer.”

– Lynda Kiernan is Editor with GAI Media and daily contributor to the GAI News and Agtech Intel platforms. If you would like to submit a contribution for consideration, please contact Ms. Kiernan at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.

Join the Global AgInvesting Community

Share your email to be notified about upcoming events, receive leading industry news and more.