June 2023: The Month in Review

Upside Foods' cell-cultured chicken burger

With a historic regulatory approval and many notable investments, this June marked a strong end to the second quarter for the cellular agriculture field. While previous months this quarter showed how the field will face a challenging year ahead, this June showcased a major milestone.

From the first cultivated meat regulatory approvals in the US to new investments, we look at what happened this month in cellular agriculture.

Investments

Omeat

New cultivated meat startup Omeat came out of stealth mode with $40 million in funding. Based in Los Angeles, California, Omeat was founded by Dr. Ali Khademhosseini and aims to produce cell-based beef using a different production process.

According to the announcement, Omeat raised its $3.5 million seed funding round in 2021 and its $36.5 million Series A funding in 2022. The funding round featured many investors, including S2G Ventures, Google Ventures, and Tyson Ventures.

Interestingly, compared to other companies aiming to eliminate animals and their components from their production processes, Omeat shared that the company aims to keep cows as part of their process to produce cell-based meat.

Instead of developing an animal-free cell culture media through recombinant proteins and growth factors, Omeat extracts cell culture media ingredients like growth factors from the plasma of living cows on its farm in a procedure similar to human plasma donations.

Omeat claims this process significantly reduces the input cost of developing its cell culture media formulation. The company also claims it can achieve price parity and profitable production with conventional beef if produced at the scale of 10,000-liter bioreactors.

Moving forward, Omeat aims to continue building its pilot plant in Los Angeles and be operational by the end of the year, where the startup aims to use 10,000L bioreactors. The company’s first product will be a cell-cultivated ground beef product consisting of cell-based muscle cells and plant-based fat.

Regarding regulation, Omeat shared that the company already submitted a dossier to the US FDA for a letter of no questions over the safety of its production process. The startup is also in discussions with the US Department of Agriculture.

Uncommon Bio

Uncommon announced that the startup raised $30 million in Series A funding to develop cell-based meat in the UK. Formerly known as Higher Steaks, Uncommon rebranded to highlight the startup’s focus on using cellular agriculture to produce cell-based pork meat, specifically pork belly and bacon.

The largest funding round to date for any cellular agriculture startup in the UK, Uncommon’s round was led by Balderton Capital and Lowercarbon Capital. Other investors in the round included Red Alpine, Max and Sam Altman, and Planthesis.

Uncommon Bio's cell-cultured pork bacon

According to the announcement, the startup has raised a total of $37 million to date. Uncommon also shared that its recent funding round included a £1.2 million grant from the UK government through Innovate UK.

Interestingly, Uncommon shared that the company uses a patent-pending RNA technology platform to produce its cell-based pork meat via induced pluripotent stem cells. The company claims its RNA platform accelerates the cell differentiation process and lowers its cell culture media costs.

Uncommon shared that its first products will be hybrid pork belly and bacon, consisting of plant-based components and cell-cultured fat and muscle cells. In July 2020, Uncommon was the first cell-based meat company to showcase both a cell-cultured bacon and pork belly product.

Moving forward, Uncommon plans to use the funding round to scale up its production platform and explore regulatory processes worldwide. Specifically, Uncommon aims to reach a 200L scale by the end of the year and is exploring Singapore, the UK, and Europe as potential markets of interest.

Additionally, Uncommon is closely monitoring the US market as part of its strategic planning.

Bluu Seafood

At the end of June, Bluu Seafood announced that the German startup raised €16 million (USD $17.4 million) in Series A funding. Based in both Hamburg and Berlin, Bluu Seafood is the first European startup focusing on developing cell-cultured seafood.

According to the announcement, Bluu Seafood’s funding round was led by Sparkzone, the venture arm of Portuguese multinational Sonae, and LBBW VC. Other investors in the funding round include Manta Ray Ventures, Delivery Hero, and German multinational Dr. Oetker.

Bluu Seafood's cell-cultured fish fingers

The funding round brings Bluu Seafood’s total funding to date to €23 million. The startup previously announced raising €7 million in funding in March 2021.

Bluu Seafood shared that its first product will be a hybrid product containing its cell-cultured fish meat and plant-based ingredients. The company showcased its cell-cultured fish fingers and fish balls products in August 2022.

Moving forward, Bluu Seafood plans to use the funding round to build its pilot plant and accelerate its pathway to market. The company aims to scale up its production platform to use up to 500-liter bioreactors in the new facility.

Like many European cell-based meat companies, Bluu Seafood plans to launch its cell-cultured seafood products in Singapore by 2024. Following Good Meat’s approval in Singapore in 2020, Bluu Seafood could become the first company to bring its seafood products to market.

The startup shared that it has initiated the regulatory approval process with the US FDA. Compared to livestock meat products, only the FDA oversees the regulation of seafood products in the US.

CellX

Chinese cell-based meat company CellX announced that the startup raised $6.5 million in a Series A extension round. According to the announcement, the extension round featured multiple strategic investors and will support the move toward pilot-scale production.

CellX's cell-based meat prototype

Having previously partnered with bioprocessing firm Tofflon in February 2023 to build its pilot plant, CellX shared that the company completed China’s first cell-based meat production facility with capacity for multiple 2,000-liter bioreactors.

The company shared that its facility is almost ready for operation and will start its first 2,000L batch soon. CellX raised $10.6 million in Series A financing in May 2022.

CellMeat

South Korean cell-based meat company CellMeat announced the expansion of its Series A funding round to $13 million. Having previously announced $8.1 million in funding in April 2022, the additional funding will allow the company to continue developing its production and technology platform as the startup looks to come to market in South Korea and Singapore.

CellMeat's cell-cultured Dokdo shrimp

CellMeat also shared its plans to open a “massive production center” in Seoul later in June. In May, CellMeat unveiled its prototype of an alternative caviar product.

CellMeat’s funding round was led by previous investors BNK Venture Investment, Ryukyung PSG Asset Management, and Strong Ventures. The funding round also featured three new investors in NH Venture Investment, Genting Ventures, and Daewoodang Healthcare.

Correction: CellMeat’s caviar prototype consisted of cell-cultured shrimp cells and seaweed and not cell-cultured Osetra egg cells, as CellAgri previously wrote.

Good Meat and Upside Foods Receive Regulatory Approval to Launch Cell-Cultivated Chicken Meat in the US

On June 21, Good Meat and Upside Foods announced that both companies received regulatory approval to sell their cell-cultivated meat products in the United States.

According to the announcements, both companies received a grant of inspection from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) for their facilities as the last step before launching their cell-cultivated meat products in the US.

Specifically, Good Meat received a grant of inspection for its demonstration plant in Alameda, California, and for its contract manufacturer partner, Joinn Biologics, in Richmond, California. Similarly, Upside Foods received a grant of inspection for its facility in Emeryville, California.

Good Meat's cell-based chicken

In addition to the inspection grant, Good Meat and Upside Foods previously received their label approval from the USDA for cell-cultivated meat. Good Meat became the first company to receive its label approval from the USDA on June 8, followed by Upside Foods on June 12.

Moving forward, while neither company has shared a launch date, both Upside Foods and Good Meat received their first orders and shared how they plan to launch their products in the US.

Upside Foods will launch its cell-cultivated chicken at Bar Crenn in San Francisco, prepared by 3-Michelin Star chef Dominque Crenn, who partnered with Upside Foods in August 2021.

Similarly, Good Meat will launch its cell-cultivated chicken at a yet-to-be-disclosed restaurant in Washington D.C. run by restauranteur chef José Andrés, who partnered with Good Meat in December 2021.

Aleph Farms announced collaboration and investment from Chef Marcus Samuelsson

Cell-based meat company Aleph Farms announced a collaboration with and an undisclosed investment from renowned chef Marcus Samuelsson. As part of the collaboration, Samuelsson will become an investor, culinary advisor, and US launch partner for Aleph Farms.

Aleph Farms' cell-cultured beef steak

In addition, Samuelsson will advise the company on culinary aspects, including product development and go-to-market strategy. This partnership follows a trend in the industry, with companies like Good Meat and Upside Foods also teaming up with renowned chefs to introduce their cell-based meat products in the US market pending regulatory clearance.

Currently, Aleph Farms has not yet received regulatory approvals for its cell-cultured meat products in the US. Once the company receives regulatory approval in the US for its cell-based steaks, branded as Aleph Cuts, Samuelsson will feature them in his restaurants.

Extracellular and Multus Biotechnology Partner to Launch Low-Cost Cell Banks

Cell-based meat CDMO Extracellular announced the launch of low-cost, license-free cell banks in collaboration with Multus Biotechnology to support early-stage companies and researchers. According to Extracellular, current animal primary cells relevant to cell-based meat are expensive, poor quality, and contain limited information about the cells.

To address the challenge and support the field, Extracellular developed cell banks that would be up to 90% cheaper than other cell lines and be free from license restrictions. Multus supported the project by providing protocols and key materials to de-risk the cell bank project, including cell quality control.

The project was funded by the government agency InnovateUK and backed by the non-profits New Harvest and Good Food Institute.

New Culture Showcases Mozzarella Cheese with Chef Nancy Silverton

Cellular agriculture dairy company New Culture debuted its cell-cultured mozzarella cheese at a tasting event at the Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles, California. Hosted by chef Nancy Silverton, the event showcased the precision fermentation dairy cheese in various products, including arancini, eggplant parmesan, and different types of pizzas containing mozzarella.

In May, New Culture announced a partnership with Silverton to launch its cell-cultured cheese at Silverton’s Pizzeria Mozza in 2024.

Mewery Showcases Cell-based Burger with Microalgae

Czech cell-based meat startup Mewery showcased the first hybrid cell-based pork burger made with microalgae cells. Using its proprietary microalgae platform, the company previously claimed to have reduced the cost of producing cell-based meat by 70%.

Mewery showcased its burger prototype at a cultural event in the country and shared that 90% of attendees expressed interest in trying it but could not due to regulations. Mewery plans to launch its pork products in the US or Singapore within the next two years. Mewery previously raised its pre-seed funding in October 2022.

Mewery's cell-based pork burger

Synonym Launches Scaler: a TEA Tool for Fermentation

Biomanufacturing startup Synonym Bio announced the launch of Scaler, its new free techno-economic analysis (TEA) tool for fermentation businesses. According to the company, Scaler aims to help fermentation companies forecast their operational and procedural expenses at an industrial scale, including requirements to construct and operate a fermentation facility.

Synonym states that users can refine over 50 parameters in Scaler, including feedstock, downstream processing, and financing assumptions. Synonym previously launched Capacitator Bio to highlight global fermentation capacity and aims for Scaler to help companies plan their manufacturing strategies.

Liberation Labs Breaks Ground on Precision Fermentation Facility

At the end of June, bioprocessing company Liberation Labs announced breaking ground on its first commercial-scale precision fermentation facility in Richmond, Indiana. With plans to launch at the end of 2024, the new facility will have a fermentation capacity of 600,000 liters with a fully dedicated downstream process.

Liberation Labs Groundbreaking Ceremony

The facility plans to produce bio-based proteins and building block ingredients at a scale and cost that will support the capacity needs of precision fermentation startups and CPG companies. Interestingly, Liberation Labs shared that its projected annual economic impact on the state of Indiana will be approximately 178 jobs, nearly $13 million in labor income, $21 million in gross state product, and $67 million in output.

In April, Liberation Labs secured $30 million in equipment financing to place orders and secure equipment for its large-scale facility.

JBS Plans to Build Largest Cultured Meat for BioTech Foods in Spain

After acquiring 51% of Spanish startup BioTech Foods as part of its $100 million plan to enter the cell-based meat industry in November 2021, Brazilian meat giant JBS announced its plan to build “the world’s biggest plant” for cell-cultured meat in Spain.

According to the announcement, the new facility will produce about 1,000 metric tons (one million kgs) with the capacity to expand output to 4,000 tons. The $41 million facility will be built in San Sebastian and owned by BioTech Foods.

While it is unclear at what scale BioTech Foods can produce its cell-cultured meat products, the new facility aims to be completed in 2024. JBS also plans to spend $60 million to develop a research institute in southern Brazil to develop cell-cultured meat technologies.

Ark Biotech Publishes TEA for Economic Viability of Cultured Meat

In June, bioprocessing startup Ark Biotech published its techno-economic analysis (TEA) on the economic viability of producing cell-cultured meat. Based on already commercialized technology and approaches, Ark Biotech estimates that cell-based meat can reach the price of $29.5 per pound as a baseline. To further reduce the price, Ark Biotech identified four key areas that the field must address: reducing the cost of the cell culture media; improving cell biomass yields; optimizing the bioprocessing; and reducing capital spending through larger bioreactors. The study noted that cell culture media formulation is one of the biggest cost contributors.

All G Foods Looks to Develop Pilot Facility

Alternative protein company All G Foods shared that the company is doubling down on R&D on its precision fermentation dairy products as it looks to bring its first products to market. Having raised its Series A funding round in August 2022, All G Foods shared it has used the financing to produce a pilot facility in Sydney, Australia.

The company shared its plans to produce cell-cultured casein, lactoferrin, and whey dairy proteins to replicate the taste and nutritional benefits of dairy products. The company initially aims to launch in Singapore with plans to expand to the broader Asia-Pacific market and the Middle East.

Before launching, All G Foods is conducting a consumer survey in Singapore, Australia, China, and the US to understand which products to develop.

Upstream Foods Focusing on Cultivated Salmon Fat

As a key component of meat, fat tissue is an essential ingredient to give both cell- and plant-based meat, including seafood, the same taste and flavor as conventional meat. Upstream Foods shared that the Dutch startup is developing cell-based salmon fat to help give plant-based seafood the same flavor and mouthfeel as traditional fish.

Upstream Foods' co-founders

The startup is based at the Wageningen University and Research campus and plans to launch commercially within five years, likely in the US or Singapore. Upstream Foods intends to raise a €3 million seed funding round to help scale its production process.

SuperMeat plans to Submit for Regulatory Approval in the US

While the cellular agriculture investment landscape has slowed down, cell-based meat company SuperMeat remains confident that the field is moving in the right direction due to regulatory progress and interest. While the company believes regulatory approval will take longer in Europe, SuperMeat shared it is in the process of submitting its regulatory dossier in the US and, pending regulatory approval, aims to launch by early 2025. 

Cultimate Foods Aims to Develop Cultivated Fat for Plant-Based Meats

Considering the importance of fat in giving meat its taste and flavor, the German startup Cultimate Foods focuses on developing cell-based fat to improve the taste of plant-based meat alternatives.

Cultimate Foods team

The startup shared it is focusing on developing intramuscular fat, similar to the marbling found in meats like Wagyu beef. A highly sought-after type of fat, Cultimate Foods claims the startup has replicated the lipid profile of intramuscular fat.

In November 2022, Cultimate Foods raised EUR 700,000 in pre-seed funding.

STEM: Plant-cell Culturing the Future of Coffee

Plant cell-cultured coffee, anyone? Based in Paris, France, STEM aims to develop cell-cultured coffee made from Arabica coffee plant cells.

According to the startup, climate change has made coffee supply chains “extremely fragile,” and plant cell-cultured coffee can help address the industry's future challenges. For its first product, STEM plans to test-launch a ready-to-drink cold brew coffee beverage in Singapore in 2024, followed by Japan.

STEM shared it is currently going through Singapore's novel food regulatory process. The startup previously raised a pre-seed funding round from a leading Japanese beverage company and is currently raising its seed funding round.

Biocraft Pet Develops Chicken Cell Line for Pet Food

Beyond food, cellular agriculture can be used to create a range of products, including pet foods. Since chicken is the most common type of meat pet manufacturers use to feed dogs and cats, BioCraft Pet Nutrition announced that the company developed a new chicken cell line to produce cell-based chicken products.

Biocraft Pet Nutrition pet food

While the company developed a new chicken cell line, BioCraft clarified its focus on developing cultured mouse meat for cat food. Formerly Because Animals, the company rebranded in May to reflect its focus on commercialized cell-cultured meat products for pets. As part of rebranding, the company discontinued its plant-based product line in late 2022.

APAC-SCA and JACA Partner to Foster Cellular Agriculture Ecosystem

The Asia-Pacific Society for Cellular Agriculture (APAC-SCA) and the Japan Association for Cellular Agriculture (JACA) announced a partnership to foster global collaboration in the region. According to the announcement, JACA will access APAC-SCA’s global cell-cultured industry network.

At the same time, APAC-SCA will have an increased role in guiding regulatory progress in Japan. Both organizations will collaborate on projects such as formulating a risk communications strategy and raising field awareness.

US National Milk Producers write letter to FDA

How should cell-cultured dairy products be labeled? The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) in the US wrote a letter to the US FDA commissioner, Dr. Robert Califf, at the end of June arguing that cell-cultured dairy products should not be labeled as ‘animal-free dairy milk.’

Labeling has been a contentious issue for cell-cultured foods, particularly meats. It will be interesting to see how companies label their cell-cultured dairy products, especially since some consumers may have dairy protein allergies.

Wild Earth Partners with Zeigler's Distribution for its Pet Food

Cell-cultured pet food company Wild Earth announced a partnership with Zeigler’s Distribution to bring its plant-based dog food and treats to the US Mid-Atlantic region, including New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. While the partnership will only carry Wild Earth’s plant-based pet products, the company previously developed a cell-based meat broth topper for dogs in October 2022. The company previously shared that the broth topper is scheduled to be available to consumers in 2023.

Moolec Science showcased Piggy Sooy with Pig Proteins

Molecular farming company Moolec Science recently showcased ‘Piggy Sooy,’ its new soybean platform to produce animal proteins, like pig proteins, in soybeans. According to the company, the Piggy Sooy soybean was visibly pink and had pig protein expression levels of up to 26.6% of total soluble protein.

The new milestone led the company to file a new patent utilizing its approach to producing animal proteins in its soybeans. As a novel breakthrough, Moolec did not comment on when its product may launch.

In December 2022, Moolec became the first molecular farming company to trade on the Nasdaq stock exchange following its merger with a special purpose acquisition company.

Cellular Agriculture Investment Landscape: Halfway through the Year

As we approach the year's halfway point, we decided to break down the numbers behind the cellular agriculture investment landscape to date for the year.

Compared to the strong first half of 2022, with many notable investments, the investment landscape slowed tremendously in the first half of 2023.

As of the end of June 2023, the cellular agriculture food field has raised approximately $169 million across 27 deals to date in the year. In comparison, during the first half of 2022, the field raised $922 million across 45 deals.

The numbers highlight that the investment landscape has slowed down for the industry. Interestingly, despite a decrease in overall investments, there is an increase in total investments in supply chain companies for the first half of the year.

With $54.4 million in 9 deals in the first half of 2023 compared to approximately $47 million in 9 investments in the first half of 2022, the rising investments in technology-enabling startups signify the need to develop and build the supply chain and supporting infrastructure around the future of food field.

Moving forward, companies will need to continue achieving significant milestones to raise capital to scale production. As the investor panel highlighted during an earlier Cellular Agriculture Webinar Event, there will be more scrutiny over a startup’s technology, milestones, and valuations.

In March, cell-based meat company New Age Eats shut down in the US after failing to raise more funding to complete its pilot facility. Similarly, Steakholder Foods announced restructuring the business in April and shut down its cell-based fat subsidiary, Peace of Meat.

Conclusion

Upside Foods' cell-cultivated chicken

From the largest investments in the year to new partnerships and showcases, this June will be remembered as the first time cell-based meat companies received regulatory approval to launch in the US.

As the country where many of the first cellular agriculture companies were founded, the US regulatory approval marks a historic moment in the field by illustrating a clear path to market for cellular agriculture meat companies.

Considering that many companies in the field have announced their interest in expanding to Singapore or the US to launch, the new US regulatory approval may incentivize other countries to set up regulatory frameworks to attract the field and bring cell-cultured meat to market.

In addition, as investors like Agronomics have previously stated, regulatory approval to commercialize in the US may be a critical step in unlocking more capital to enter the field to support the scaling of commercial production.

After receiving regulatory approval in Singapore in 2020, Good Meat previously became the first company in the world to launch and sell cell-cultured chicken meat.