By Stuart Stone

Cultivated meat innovator Meatable has raised US$35m to scale up its operations and accelerate the commercial launch of its pork products from next year.

The latest round of funding led by biotech venture capital firm Agronomics saw Dutch impact fund Invest-NL contribute US$17m, as the new funding injection took Meatable’s total investment to US$95m. The round also drew renewed support from existing investors, including BlueYard, Bridford, MilkyWay, DSM Venturing, and chairman and founder of international money transfer service Wise, Taavet Hinrikus.

The company said the new funding would be used to both scale up the company’s production capacity and streamline processes to reduce production costs as it works towards its goal of becoming cost competitive with conventional meat.

To make its cultivated pork, Meatable takes a sample of cells from an animal and replicates the natural growth process of the cells using patented technology combined with pluripotent stem cells. Following a breakthrough in May, it claims the technology makes it possible to produce real muscle and fat cells in just eight days.

The new investment is also set to accelerate Meatable’s commercial launch. Starting in Singapore, the company’s products, including sausages and pork dumplings, are set to be available in selected restaurants and retailers from 2024. A mass market retail launch had previously been slated for 2025.

In addition, the company hopes to beef up its presence in the United States after two rival cultivated meat companies secured the green light from authorities to start selling their products. The Netherlands also recently became the first European country to officially give the green light for companies to organise tastings of lab grown meat.

Co-founder and CEO of Meatable, Krijn de Nood described further investment from both new and existing partners as a “huge sign of confidence” in its products and approach.

“When 14 per cent of the world’s global emissions comes from the traditional meat industry, it’s clear that there needs to be an alternative that reduces the harm our diets are currently causing the planet,” he said.

“We believe cultivated meat is the answer and we are confident we have the tools and the processes in place to make this a reality. We look forward to working closely with our investors as we enter our next growth phase and cement our position as global leaders.” 

Senior investment manager at Invest-NL, Bastiaan Gielink added that the firm was “genuinely excited” by the pioneering work being undertaken by Meatable.

“Cultured meat has the potential to deliver unrivalled impact in terms of animal welfare, CO2 equivalent emission reduction, water use, land use and antibiotics abatement,” he said. “Our pursuit for appropriate protein alternatives that further a sustainable and circular society remains ceaseless.

“The breakthroughs achieved by Meatable have convinced us that they possess the know-how and team to make this potential a reality.”

News of Meatable’s latest funding round follows a study by independent research company CE Delft, which found that cultivated meat can reduce the carbon footprint of conventional beef by up to 92 per cent while cutting land use impact by 95 per cent.

Moreover, investors poured nearly US$900m into the sector in 2022 alone, according to figures from the Good Food Institute, while the Netherlands announced a US$65m of public investment in cellular agriculture projects last year.

Closer to home, a UK-based bio-tech start up specialising in cell-based tissue engineering unveiled what it claimed to be the first steak fillet to be made of 100 per cent cultivated meat in February, while cultivated meat start-up Uncommon secured US$30m of backing to further develop its technology and secure regulatory approval for its cell-grown pork products in June.