January 27, 2022

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Twelve investors stepped up to participate in a $7 million Series A for Japanese agtech startup IntegriCulture, in support of its species-agnostic, large-scale cell culture technology CulNet System™.

Able to inexpensively culture animal cells of all species and types without exogenous growth factors, the proprietary CulNet System is intended as a cellular agricultural platform to be used by institutions of all sizes.

Ultimately, CulNet aims to be a fully integrated, low-cost production platform for cultured meats, including all technologies and equipment required to complete the process, from cell sourcing, to creating the medium, to bioreacting.

source: IntegriCulture

Backing the efforts of IntegriCulture through this round were: Real Tech Fund, Beyond Next Ventures, AgFunder, VU Venture Partners, and new investors, Future Food Fund No.1 Investment, Shoku-no-Mirai-Fund, Resona Capital 6 Investment Partnership, Plan-Do-See Inc., Yamaguchi Capital Corporation, SuMi TRUST Innovation Fund, Iyogin Capital, and a private fund jointly established by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, and SBI Investment Co.

“We believe that the ‘CulNet System’ of the cell culture platform business is a promising technology with the potential to create new developments in various fields,” said HIdekatsu Kikuchi, president and representative director, Resona Capital. “The cultured meat business is highly competitive as a sustainable food production system, and we feel that it is of great significance in that it can lead to solutions to social and environmental problems from a global perspective.”

This funding, which brings total capital raised by IntegriCulture to-date to $16.4 million, follows less than a year after the announcement by a group of Japanese companies of the official launch of the CulNet Consortium – an open innovation platform developed by IntegriCulture.

Each member company pays $37,000 per year to join forces to accelerate the advancement of the entire cellular ag supply chain in order to mitigate the costs, safety issues, and scaling challenges associated with the burgeoning industry. These efforts will focus on the five pillars of: cell source, culture medium, hardware, product bioreactor, and processing. 

This momentum is reflective of, or perhaps is a result of, increasingly intense investor interest in cellular food production, which grew six-fold year-on-year in 2020 to reach $360 million invested in the sector that year alone. 

“There are many venture companies involved in the field of cultured meat, but IntegriCulture’s technology is very unique in the world,” said Kohei Mastumoto, representative director, Future Foods Fund. “I am convinced that the ideas, technology, energy, and passion of the company’s management team will make a significant contribution to solving the future protein crisis brought about by global population growth and environmental issues…”

Toshiya Shimobeppu, senior managing executive officer, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank noted how IntegriCulture is breaking ground through its innovative idea to “recreate the human body system” in meat culturing, adding that the startup’s technology can address a range of issues that have been impeding the industry’s growth.

“With this investment as a starting point, we would like to contribute to the decarbonization of the industry by supporting IntegriCulture’s business as a financial institution through business matching with domestic and overseas customers and providing future financing,” said Shimobeppu.

Mitsunori Takase, manager at Iyogin Capital, added that this technology would not only solve issues faced within the industry, but broader global challenges as well, saying, “The company’s proprietary CulNet System is a cell culture technology that is directly linked to solving problems such as future protein shortages and the environmental impact of livestock farming, and I was attracted to invest in the company because of its high technological capabilities and coexistence-oriented management policy of providing this technology widely as a platform.”

– Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Oilseed & Grain News. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com. 

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