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A Breakdown of Cell-Based Meat’s Big Funding Quarter

by Chris Albrecht
March 17, 2021March 17, 2021Filed under:
  • News
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This is the web version of our Future Food newsletter. Sign up for the best news and analysis of the alternative protein market.

There has been a lot of funding activity in the cultured meat space since the start of the year — and we’re only three months in!

Anyway, there’s been so much investment that I thought it would be good to take a moment to take stock of the cell-based meat companies that have gotten funding so far in 2021, and see how their approaches stack up.

BlueNalu
Funding: $60 million convertible note ($84.8 million in total)
Headquarters:
San Diego, CA
About: BlueNalu is creating cell-based fish, starting with a mahi-mahi. The company is building out a pilot production facility that will create 200 – 500 pounds of commercial grade fish per week.

CellMEAT
Funding: $4.5 million ($4.7 million in total)
Headquarters: Gwangju, South Korea
About: CellMEAT makes an original cell culturing medium that acts as an alternative to the controversial fetal bovine serum, and has R&D centers in the cities of Gwangju at the Cheonnam National University and Seoul at Ewha Womans University’s Mokdong Hospital.

CellulaREvolution
Funding: £1 million ($1.37M USD)
Headquarters: Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom
About: CellulaREvolution has developed a synthetic peptide coating that allows for serum-free cell culturing. The company uses a bioreactor that can continuously produce cells in an environment that takes up a much smaller footprint than other methods.

Future Meat
Funding: $26.75 million ($43 million in total)
Headquarters: Jerusalem, Israel
About: Future Meat is creating cell-based chicken and made headlines this year when it announced it had brought the cost of its meat down to $7.50 per quarter pound, shrinking the price gap with traditional animal chicken.

Mirai Foods
Funding: €3.7 million (~$4.41 million USD)
Headquarters: Wädenswil, Switzerland
About: Mirai’s take on cell-based meat involves no genetic modification. It is being developed specifically with European market preferences in mind.

Mosa Meat
Funding: $85 million ($96 million in total)
Headquarters: The Netherlands
About: Mosa is credited with creating the first cell-based burger back in 2013, which at the time cost $325,000. The company has since achieved an 80x reduction in that cost by removing fetal bovine serum, and is building out its pilot production facility in Maastricht, Netherlands.

New Age Meats
Funding: $2 million ($7 million in total)
Headquarters: Berkeley, CA
About: New Age Meats is developing hybrid cell- and plant-based meats including pork sausages and dumplings. The company grows meat from cells and adds plant-based ingredients for flavor, texture and nutrition.

Vow Food
Total Funding: $6 million
Headquarters: Sydney, Australia
About: Vow is going beyond re-creating cow and chicken meat by developing cell-based versions of 11 different animals include alpaca, water buffalo, and kangaroo.

In addition to the funding frenzy in cell-based meat, the tide seems to be turning when we’ll see cell-based meat come to market. Eat Just already sells its cell-based chicken in Singapore, and experts believe that price parity with traditional meat could happen in as little as five years.

Who knows, maybe in March 2026 I’ll be able to do a round of all the cell-based meat products hitting retail shelves.

Image via Deep Branch.

More Headlines

Deep Branch Raises €8M to Turn Air Into Animal Feed – The company turns CO2 into a protein ingredient that Deep Branch says is comparable in nutritional profile to fishmeal, which is a standard in the animal feed industry. It is also, the company says, cost-competitive with other types of animal feed on the market.

Noquo Foods Rebrands as Stockeld Dreamery, Readies Launch of Its Plant-Based Cheese – The Stockholm, Sweden-based startup’s first product will be a feta-like cheese made from fermented pea protein and fava beans.

Loca Food Makes Vegan Queso Cheese from Potatoes – it’s actually pretty delicious! (I prefer the spicy blend, myself)



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