Meatable raises $35M to speed up commercial launch

Photo: Meatable

Meatable has raised $35 million in new funding to bring its total funding so far to $95 million. Led by Agronomics, the successful close saw Invest-NL, a Dutch impact fund, join as a new investor, contributing $17 million. The round also drew renewed support from existing investors, including BlueYard, Bridford, MilkyWay, DSM Venturing and Taavet Hinrikus (chairman and founder of Wise).

The funding will be used to further scale the company’s processes and accelerate commercial launch. The scale up and process optimization reduce the production costs to become cost competitive with traditional meat and reach production to commercial volumes.

Starting in Singapore, the company’s products, including sausages and pork dumplings, will be available in selected restaurants and retailers from 2024. The company is also establishing a presence in the US.

Krijn de Nood, co-founder and CEO of Meatable, said: “We’re thrilled to welcome Invest-NL as a new investor and to have the renewed support from our existing investors. This is a huge sign of confidence in the incredible quality, taste, and proven scalability of our product, especially in the current investment climate. When 14% 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. 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.” 

Cultivated meat at scale

A study by independent research company CE Delft found that cultivated meat can reduce the footprint of conventional beef by up to 92% for greenhouse gas emissions and 95% for land use. This is why investors poured nearly $900 million into the sector in 2022 alone and the Netherlands announced the world’s largest ever-public investment into cellular agriculture last year.

To make its cultivated pork, Meatable takes one sample of cells from an animal without harming it and replicates the natural growth process of the cells using opti-ox technology combined with pluripotent stem cells. This technology makes it possible for Meatable to produce real muscle and fat cells in only eight days, 30 times faster than the time it takes to rear a pig for pork on the farm. Owing to this efficiency, Meatable has all processes in place to be able to scale cultivated meat production affordably and provide a genuine solution to this global, pressing problem.

Daan Luining, co-founder and CTO of Meatable, said: “Farming has been revolutionized in the past 100 years to keep up with feeding a growing global population. Cultivated meat is the next revolution. Meatable holds the promise to have unbeatable efficiency in comparison to both traditional meat production and the cultivated meat industry average, without compromising on quality. To achieve our vision of providing the world with harm-free meat, we have to be price competitive, and this means efficiency is key. This new funding will help us to further scale up, bring down production time even more and start producing cultivated meat for the world.” 

Going global

Meatable is launching its first commercial products in Singapore from 2024 and is partnering with the relevant authorities to secure regulatory approval. The company held its first external tasting events in Singapore earlier in 2023, following approval from the Singapore Food Agency (SFA). In addition, it has started production of its products on the ground together with Esco Aster, the first and only commercially licensed cultivated meat manufacturer in Singapore, and has begun co-development of its product range with plant-based butcher Love Handle.  

Recent regulatory developments have boosted confidence in the industry, with the USA approving two cultivated meat companies to start selling their products. As well, The Netherlands recently became the first European country to officially give the green light for companies to organize tastings.

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Jim Cornall is editor of Future Food Today and publisher at Ayr Coastal Media. He is an award-winning writer, editor, photographer, broadcaster, designer and author. Contact Jim here.