Matrix Meats, a Columbus, Ohio-based maker of proprietary technology for scaffolding used in the creation of cultured meat, has raised a seed funding round according a press release sent to The Spoon.
The round, the amount of which was not disclosed, was led by Unovis Asset Management and, according to the press release, “further supported by CPT Capital, Siddhi Capital, Clear Current Capital and a special purpose vehicle (SPV) led by the Ikove Startup Nursery Fund.”
Ikove’s participation makes sense, as Matrix was born out of a partnership between Ikove Startup Nursery and Nanofiber Solutions. Nanofiber Solutions is the company which created the original process – called electrospinning – which Matrix Meats uses for its scaffolding tech.
Scaffolding, a critical building block in the creation of cultured meat, is used by cultured meat makers in bioreactors to provide a structure around which cells can replicate as they grow. Scaffolding can be made of synthetic or natural materials like plant-based or collagen. Matrix’s electrospinning technology is flexible and can use a variety of materials.
Here’s how Matrix CTO Jed Johnson described the company’s business back in an interview with the Spoon in the summer:
“It’s like the SaaS model, but instead of software as a service, it’s scaffold as a service,” said Johnson, “And we do that because we’re trying to design custom proprietary scaffold for each partner or each customer. Rather than take something off the shelf, like a cytodex bead, which is a standard microcarrier plastic bead that the pharmaceutical world uses, we’re developing custom scaffolds for for each of our partners. That’s because everyone in the culture meatspace is trying to carve out their sort of niche.”
According to the announcement, Matrix is currently working with 14 cultivated meat makers from seven different countries.
“We believe that our technology is an integral part of allowing the cultivated meat market to mature,” said Matrix Meats CEO Eric Jenkusky in the release. “Our innovative and programmable electro-spun nano-fiber scaffolds which replicate the extra cellular matrix of living organisms is backed by 50 awarded and pending patents. We will be expanding our efforts to assist our client/partners with accelerating their path to market.”
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