May 2023: The Month in Review

Following a strong start to the second quarter in April, this May continued the field’s momentum into the start of summer. In particular, this month saw notable advancements by several companies in scaling their production platforms and developing their supply chains.

At the same time, this month continued to highlight the challenges the field will face this year. From new partnerships and facilities to a cell-cultured seafood company pivoting its focus, we look at what happened this month in cellular agriculture.

Investments

Fermify

Austrian startup Fermify raised $5 million in seed funding to develop its automated platform for producing cell-cultured casein dairy proteins via precision fermentation. Founded by Eva Sommer and Christoph Herwig, Fermify’s funding round was led by Climentum Capital and featured investments from Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund and Fund F.

Fermify team

Fermify plans to use the funding round to accelerate its bioprocess optimization and digitalization as well as expand its team. The company claims its technology platform can reduce the cost of producing cell-cultured casein proteins by 50%.

Fermify previously announced raising its pre-seed funding round in May 2022. Co-founder Eva Sommer previously co-founded the cell-based fat startup Peace of Meat in Belgium.

Good Dog Food

Cellular agriculture can go beyond food products to create a range of products, such as pet food. The startup Good Dog Food announced raising £3.6 million ($4.5 million) in seed funding to use cellular agriculture to produce pet foods for dogs. Investors in the funding round include Agronomics, with a £1 million investment, and Siddhi Capital.

While Good Dog Food has not disclosed a timeline for launching its pet food products, the UK-based startup aims to be among the first startups to bring cell-based meat to market. Led by CEO Owen Ensor, Good Dog Food launched in March 2022 as a joint venture between Agronomics and Roslin Technologies.

Joes Future Food

Chinese cell-based meat startup Joes Future Food announced raising a Series A extension round of “tens of millions” of yuan. According to the company, the funding round was led exclusively by Qiming Venture Partners.

Joes Future Foods' cell-based pork prototype

Joes Future Foods plans to use the funding round to establish a pilot plant facility to produce its cell-based pork meat at a thousand-liter scale capacity. The company currently uses 100-liter bioreactors in its pilot phase.

In June 2022, the company showcased its cell-based pork belly and pigskin noodle prototypes in Nanjing, where the startup is based. In September 2021, the startup raised $11 million in Series A funding.

Gelatex Receives Grant Funding to Develop Scaffolding

One area that the cellular agriculture field needs to address is scaffolding production for structured products in order to scale and come to market. In May, Gelatex announced that the Estonian startup received a € 760,000 grant from the Estonian Business and Innovation Agency to develop edible microcarriers and microcarrier production technologies.

Co-Founder Mart Erik Martens with Gelatex's scaffolding solution

Gelatex claims its nanofibrous scaffolds and microcarriers are highly porous, edible, and improve cell migration and adhesion properties. The startup shared that its solutions have been tested with various cell lines, including pork, poultry, and beef.

Mosa Meat Launches Scale-Up Facility

Dutch company Mosa Meat announced the launch of its new cell-based meat scale-up facility in Maastricht, Netherlands.

According to the announcement, Mosa Meat shared that its new scale-up facility is approximately 30,000 square feet and is the fourth facility that completes its 79,000 Mosa C.A.M.P.U.S. (Center for Advanced Meat Production, Upscaling, and Sustainability).

Once operational, Mosa Meat claims the scale-up facility can make tens of thousands of cell-based meat burgers annually from 1,000-liter bioreactors.

Mosa Meat Facility Launch Event

The company stated that the new scale-up facility was also designed to grow production to hundreds of thousands of burgers annually as demand increases with regulatory approval and regional market entries. To date, Singapore is the only country with regulatory approval to sell cell-based meat.

As more companies look to scale production, developing larger-scale commercial facilities will be critical in validating the economic and technical feasibility of producing cell-cultured meat at scale. Mosa Meat previously launched its pilot facility in June 2020.

To support its scaling efforts, Mosa Meat expanded its partnership with Dutch animal nutrition and aquaculture feed company Nutreco in March 2023 to develop food-grade basal media components for its cell culture media formulation.

While Mosa Meat did not share a timeline for launching its first products, it is in touch with regulators in multiple countries. In addition, the company plans to submit a regulatory dossier under the European Union's Novel Food Regulation framework soon.

Mosa Meat plans to launch its products first in Singapore after partnering with Singaporean cell-based meat contract manufacturer Esco Aster in October 2022 to produce its cultured beef meat there.

Shiok Meats Pivots from Seafood to Beef Amidst Layoffs

At the start of May, Singaporean cell-cultured seafood startup Shiok Meats announced a pivot to focus on developing cell-based red meat, specifically beef, from its seafood crustacean products.

In a recent posting, Shiok Meats CEO and co-founder Sandhya Sriram highlighted the company’s challenges of developing and scaling its technology platform, specifically its crustacean cell lines, from R&D small scale to larger scales.

Considering the limited stem cell biology research on crustaceans, the startup had to conduct primary research to comprehend how to scale its platform to commercial levels. Shiok Meats previously launched its Mini-Plant in Singapore in November 2021.

Shiok Meats' cell-cultured crustacean products

From showcasing the first cell-cultured shrimp and lobster meat prototypes in March 2019 and November 2020, respectively, to losing approximately 50% of its staff to two rounds of layoffs and resignations, Shiok Meat’s journey highlights the challenges of building a company in the cellular agriculture field.

As one of the first companies to openly share its scaling challenges, Shiok Meats provides a valuable look into the technical obstacles facing startups in the field. These insights can provide practical knowledge for other industry players and potentially foster future supply chain collaborations.

Moving forward, Sriram shared that Shiok Meats underwent a restructuring to focus on scaling up the bovine cell lines developed by Gaia Foods, Singapore’s first cell-based red meat startup that Shiok Meats acquired in August 2021, to produce cell-based beef.

Having previously raised $30 million in total funding, Shiok Meats shared its plan to apply for regulatory approval for its beef product first, followed by its seafood. As the company undergoes restructuring, Shiok Meats did not share a timeline for regulatory approval.

As the company shifts its focus, it will be important to ensure that previous employees are supported during this transition period by the company.

Meatable Announces Technology Breakthrough for Cultivated Pork

Dutch cell-based meat company Meatable announced a breakthrough in its technology platform for producing cell-based pork meat.

According to the announcement, Meatable claims to have developed the fastest production platform for a cell-based meat company to produce its pork meat.

Harnessing its opti-ox technology platform, Meatable shared that the company created its cell-based pork sausage in only eight days. In comparison, raising a pig for pork meat typically takes six to eight months.

Meatable's cell-cultured pork sausage

As the company plans to continue to advance its cell-based meat production platform, Meatable aims to scale to use 50,000L bioreactors. Meatable also reduced the cost of its cell culture media formulations through its partnership with chemicals company DSM, which was first announced in September 2021.

In addition to the announcement, Meatable held the first-ever taste test of its cell-based pork sausage in Singapore earlier in May. While the percent composition of the pork sausage is undisclosed, Meatable plans to organize more tastings in Singapore and globally.

Moving forward, Meatable aims to launch its cell-based pork in Singapore by 2024 before expanding to the US. In October 2022, Meatable announced a partnership with Singaporean cell-based meat contract manufacturer Esco Aster to produce its cultured pork meat in the country.

In November 2022, Meatable partnered with plant-based meat company Love Handle to develop hybrid meat products that are “indistinguishable” from conventional meat and build the Future of Meat Innovation Center in Singapore.

The Every Company Partners with Alpha Foods for Plant-Based Meats

At the start of May, cellular agriculture egg protein company The Every Company announced a joint development agreement with plant-based meat company Alpha Foods.

According to the announcement, the two companies will work together to develop a new product line of hybrid meat products combining Every EggWhite, a cell-cultured egg white protein product, with Alpha Foods’ plant-based meat products.

The Every Company claims that Every EggWhite delivers the functional aspects of egg white that companies like Alpha Foods would be interested in, such as binding and gelation qualities that better match conventional meat.

The partnership marks the first collaboration between a precision fermentation egg player and a plant-based meat company, highlighting the potential of cell-cultured egg protein in enhancing the taste and texture of plant-based meat alternatives.

While there is no release date or details yet about the joint development product, the announcement continues a solid start to the year for The Every Company. In February 2023, the company announced that the actress Anne Hathaway had invested in the cellular agriculture egg company.

Aleph Farms partners with Thermo Fisher Scientific and Enzymit

Cell-based meat startup Aleph Farms announced a partnership with Thermo Fisher Scientific to develop a supply chain for its cell culture media formulation. The strategic partnership aims to reduce the cost of producing cell-based meat.

At the same time, Aleph Farms announced its partnership with bioproduction company Enzymit to develop insulin substituents. As a serum protein, insulin plays a crucial role in the cell culture media formulation for cell-based meat production.

Through their partnership, Aleph Farms and Enzymit successfully co-developed novel insulin substituents that exhibited greater activity per molecule. The milestone paves the way for more efficient and cost-effective cell-based meat production and also opens the opportunity to explore developing substituents for other serum proteins.

Aleph Farms partnered with Wacker Biotech in December 2021 to develop food-grade growth medium proteins for its cell culture media formulation. In June 2022, Thermo Fisher Scientific partnered with SuperMeat to support the development of the world’s largest high-throughput screening system for cell-based meat ingredients.

New Culture Partners with Nancy Silverton to Launch Mozzarella Cheese

Cellular agriculture dairy startup New Culture announced a partnership with award-winning chef Nancy Silverton to launch its cell-cultured mozzarella cheese first at Silverton’s Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles in 2024. According to the startup, this will be the first-ever animal-free dairy mozzarella cheese available to consumers with its cell-cultured casein proteins.

New Culture Pizza

As part of the partnership, Silverton and the New Culture team worked to create two new pizza recipes for the Pizzeria Mozza menu: a traditional margherita pizza and a caponata pizza. In November 2022, New Culture received an investment from South Korean food conglomerate CJ CheilJedang.

In addition, in August 2022, New Culture announced a strategic partnership with global food and feed ingredients supplier Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). The partnership will also allow the two companies to develop a wide range of products using New Culture’s cell-cultured casein proteins and ADM’s wide range of plant-based ingredients and flavors.

3D Bio-Tissues Produces Cell-based Pork Fillet and Strip Prototypes

UK startup 3D Bio-Tissues (3DBT) shared that the BSF Enterprise subsidiary produced two more cell-based pork meat prototypes: two pork fillets and a pork strip. According to the company, the latest fillet pork steak prototypes were thicker in composition and similar in size to a traditional 2-ounce tenderloin steak.

3D Bio-Tissues cell-based pork prototypes

3DBT also showcased a cell-based pork strip, or ‘noodle,’ to demonstrate that the company can produce meat products in consumer-ready, ‘pre-sliced’ form for cooking purposes. 3DBT claims the prototypes were 100% pig animal cells without plant-based scaffolding and used its proprietary serum-free cell culture media supplement, City-mix.

CellMeat Showcases Caviar Prototype

South Korean company CellMeat announced that it recently unveiled its caviar prototype. According to the company, the caviar prototype is based on Osetra caviar and comes in various sizes and shapes.

CellMeat also claims it has a less fishy flavor and better texture than conventional caviar. CellMeat clarified that its caviar prototype consists of cell-cultured shrimp cells and seaweed and not cell-cultured Osetra egg cells.

CellMeat's cell-cultured caviar prototype

Having raised its Series A round in April 2022, CellMeat plans to continue to produce cell-cultured seafood product prototypes. In December 2021, the startup showcased its first cell-cultured Dokdo shrimp prototype before presenting it at a restaurant showcase in July 2022.

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

EU Organized Scientific Colloquium to Explore Cell-Cultured Foods

The European Commission recently organized a scientific colloquium exploring cell culture-derived foods. During the event, the head of the Novel Foods unit emphasized that the European Union (EU) is ready to embrace innovation in food production.

In the current novel food framework in the EU, the European Commission is responsible for granting market access to novel foods after the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has assessed their safety.

To date, EFSA has not received any submitted scientific dossiers by companies producing cell-based foods. As a result, one of the goals of the scientific colloquium was to provide clear scientific advice to guide scientists and stakeholders involved in the field and give a sense of legal certainty.

Because Animals rebrands to BioCraft Pet Nutrition

Cellular agriculture pet food company Because Animals announced a rebranding to BioCraft Pet Nutrition. According to the announcement, the startup rebranded to reflect its focus on commercializing cell-based meat products for pets.

As part of the rebranding and focus, the company discontinued its plant-based product line under the Because Animals brand in late 2022. BioCraft stated that the company is actively establishing partnerships with leading pet food manufacturers interested in integrating cell-based meat ingredients into their product offerings.

It’s important to clarify that BioCraft was not acquired by investment platform CULT Food Science. CULT Food Science previously acquired the intellectual property to the plant-based product lines previously developed by Because Animals through its co-founder Joshua Errett.

Changing Biotech Showcases Yeast Protein Product in China

Changing Bio, China’s first precision fermentation dairy startup, recently debuted Kluvy Protein, derived from yeast protein instead of via precision fermentation. Considering that its cell-cultured dairy proteins do not yet have regulatory approval to sell in China, Changing Biotech showcased its Kluvy Protein in a range of products, such as whipping cream and parmesan powder.

Changing Biotech's Kluvy Protein, derived from yeast protein

Clever Carnivore Expands Team to Produce Cell-based Meat

New cell-based meat startup Clever Carnivore announced the expansion of its team by hiring a VP of Product Development with previous experience at Tyson Foods and cell-based fat startup Mission Barns.

The strategic hire is expected to accelerate the development of Clever Carnivore’s prototype and future product, the Clever Bratwurst. The startup plans to continue developing a scalable cell-based meat production platform, initially focusing on producing cell-based pork meat for its bratwurst product.

JACA brings together the Cellular Agriculture Ecosystem in Japan

The Japan Association for Cellular Agriculture recently gave a presentation to engage approximately 150 stakeholders in the country about the field’s opportunity. The event showcased important ways to position Japan as a key player in the cellular agriculture ecosystem, from government officials to food companies and academia.

It explored topics like the proper usage of ‘Made in Japan’ and ‘Wagyu’ in cell-cultured products to protect Japanese farmers’ rights on branded products. In February, the Prime Minister of Japan stated that the country would look to develop a cellular agriculture industry, focusing on cell-based meat and seafood. 

XPrize’s Feed the Next Billion: Only One Cell-based Meat Startup

After launching in 2020, XPrize’s Feed the Next Billion competition recently announced the finalists for the $15 million competition. Among the six finalists, Chinese startup CellX is the only cell-based meat player to be selected. When first announcing the semi-finalists in July 2021, there was an equal split between cell-based and plant-based companies. Several semi-finalists withdrew from the competition at the end of 2022, citing concerns with rule changes limiting the speed of receiving an investment.

FDA Issues Allergen Warning for Molecular Farming Companies

As more startups explore developing animal proteins in plants through molecular farming, the FDA in the US issued an open letter to startups in the sector that the resulting products may require strict allergen management. Considering that animal proteins may be allergens, the FDA asked the industry to consider the food safety risks presented by allergens and the risk of unlabelled allergens entering the food supply chain.

Compared to precision fermentation, molecular farming startups claim producing animal proteins like casein directly in crops is more cost-effective and scalable than microorganisms. In December 2022, Moolec Science began trading on the Nasdaq.

Conclusion

With new investments and partnership announcements, this May continued the cellular agriculture field’s momentum into summer.

In particular, cell-based meat companies Mosa Meat and Meatable highlighted the importance of scaling both facilities and technology platforms, respectively. At the same time, Shiok Meats’ pivot away from seafood highlights the challenges of developing and scaling production platforms in the cell-based meat field.

With numerous partnerships announced the month, The Every Company’s collaboration with Alpha Foods highlights a new opportunity for its cell-cultured egg proteins to be used as a clean-label binder ingredient for plant-based meats.

Since launching its cell-cultured pepsin protein in March 2021, The Every Company has made a range of partnerships to highlight the versatility of its cell-cultured egg protein platform. In March 2022, The Every Company debuted its Every EggWhite product in a limited launch animal-free macaron product in partnership with specialty macaron company Chantal Guillon.

Prior to that, in November 2021, The Every Company partnered with plant-based snack company Pressed to launch its Every Protein (previously called ClearEgg) product in a Pressed juice smoothie. The Every Company also partnered with Pulp Culture to use its Every Protein to create an egg protein-enhanced alcoholic juice beverage in October 2022.