Earlier this week we spoke to investors and author Jim Mellon about his superb new book Moo’s Law which looks at the potential of cultured (or lab-processed) meat.
One company that is featured in the book is Future Meat Technologies. The Israeli Foodtech innovator which is working on an analogue of chicken, which it hopes to sell for as little as $8 for a quarter pound, has just announced a significant $26.75 million funding round.
The investment came from a wide range of strategic partners and VC backers, including Tyson Foods, ADM, Müller Group and Rich’s Products Corporation, alongside leading venture capital investors such as S2G Ventures, ADM Capital, Emerald Technology Ventures, Manta Ray Ventures and Bits x Bites.
“Cultured meat technology is the Apollo program of the 21st century,” said Prof. Yaakov Nahmias, founder and CSO of Future Meat Technologies.
“It required massive efforts of biologists, chemists, engineers and food experts to reduce the cost of cultured meat by over 1,000-fold in just a few years. We are proud to be within reach of cost parity with traditional agriculture without any need to resort to genetic engineering, ensuring the supply of safe, delicious food for coming generations.”
The company’s proprietary technology, which has been exciting investors, is based on the rapid natural proliferation of connective tissue cells growing in stainless steel fermenters that continuously remove waste products to maintain a constant physiological environment.
Production is expected to begin later in 2021. The company also hopes to develop cultured lamb kebabs and beef burgers
“Cost-efficient production has been a critical focus area for the cultured meat industry. This development is a major step forward in Future Meat Technologies’ ability to provide affordable, scalable and sustainable products that can meet the growing demand for meat,” said Rom Kshuk, chief executive officer of Future Meat Technologies.
So far cultured meat is only on the menu at one place in the world – Singapore where Eat JUST’s cultivated chicken is available at the members’ club 1880.
Israel is however an innovator in cultured meat. It boasts a restaurant in Tel Aviv which offers lab-grown chicken meat. The restaurant is situated next door to the production plant of Supermeat, which provides the chicken burger, and diners are not asked to pay but simply provide feedback.
US company BlueNalu recently announced a large investment round to develop its cultured fish range.
