According to a release sent to The Spoon, 3D food printing startup Cocuus has raised €2.5 Million in a Pre-Series A funding round to scale up its proprietary 3D printing technology platform for plant-based and cell-cultured meat analogs. The round was led by Big Idea Ventures, with participation by Cargill Ventures, Eatable Adventures, and Tech Transfer UPV.
Founded in 2017, the Spanish startup has developed a toolbox of different 3D printing technologies under its Mimethica platform to enable the printing of different types of foods. These include Softmimic, a technology targeted at hospitals and eldercare facilities that transforms purees into dishes that look like real food (think of a vegetable or meat puree shaped into a “steak”), LEVELUP, an inkjet printing technology that prints images on drinks like coffee or beer (like Ripples), and LASERGLOW, a laser printer platform that engraves imagery onto food.
But it’s the company’s bioprinting and scaffold-printing technologies which are driving interest from investors. Unlike some early 3D food printing systems targeted at creating meat analogs, the company claims it will utilize robotics for high-volume production of plant-based meats. The company utilizes mathematical modeling of meat products to develop analogs and combines automation with 3D printing technology to drive high-production output.
Cocuus is already taking in revenue through its inkjet and laserjet image-on-food printing technologies, and the new investment will allow it to invest in its bioprinting and scaffolding-based technologies. According to a pitch made by the company last year, Cocuus estimated its bioprinting tech would reach commercial deployment in 2022 and its scaffolding technology would be deployed in 2023.
While it’s unclear if those timelines have shifted, the combination of existing revenue-generating businesses combined with long-term developmental technologies targeted at high-growth markets shows why Big Idea Ventures and others saw promise in Cocuus.
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