According to a report, food is responsible for approximately 26% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Of which, livestock & fisheries account for 31% of food emissions – on-farm ‘production’ emissions only. It does not include the emission caused due to land use, supply chain, and production of crops for animal feed.
This growing awareness around the detrimental environmental impact of the meat industry, coupled with the health-related risks caused due to consuming meat laced with chemicals and antibiotics, has led to people looking for healthier options.
People are now looking for healthier options and this has given rise to a number of clean meat companies that grow muscle cells and fat cells in a bioreactor, hence eliminating the needless killing of animals. Meat-Tech 3D is one such company and it just raised funding.
Cultured meat company raises €5.9M
Israel-based Meat-Tech 3D that develops industrial-scale cultivated meat production technologies based on 3D bioprinting has raised $7M (approx €5.9M) in a fresh round of funding.
The round was led by institutional investors Psagot Provident and Pension Funds, with participation from Mor investment house as well as private investors.
Speaking about the use of the raised capital, Meat-Tech’s CEO Sharon Fima says, “The investment round enables us to progress the recently announced Peace Of Meat acquisition, strengthening an important part of our R&D and opening up new markets such as that for hybrid products.”
About Meat-Tech 3D
The company was founded in 2017 and led by founder Sharon Fima. Meat-Tech 3D is a research and development company that aims to enable the production of meat directly instead of raising the entire animal.
The company is developing a proprietary bioprinter to deposit layers of cells (including stem cells and differentiated stem cells), scaffolding, and cell nutrients in a 3D form of structured cultured meat, often called “clean meat” or “cultured meat.”
Considering the American IPO
Just last month, in October, the company had confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form F-1 to the US Securities and Exchange Commission relating to the potential U.S. initial public offering of American Depositary Shares (ADSs). It’s already listed on the Tel Aviv stock exchange.
The draft represents its ordinary shares and listing of the ADSs on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The number of ADSs that may be offered, the number of underlying ordinary shares that may be issued, and the price for such instruments have not yet been determined.
“The proposed US IPO is expected to commence as market conditions permit following the SEC’s completion of its review process.”
Recent acquisitions
Earlier last month, in October, the company made an initial €1M investment in Belgium-based company Peace of Meat (POM), a developer of cultured fat products. This was to expand its strategy of developing scalable cell-based agriculture technologies. This investment was a part of the planned full acquisition of the target company.
The acquisition of the remainder of the company remains subject to the completion of a final agreement. Upon completion of the final agreement and, as POM achieves pre-agreed technological milestones over the course of two years, Meat-Tech 3D will purchase all of POM’s equity for approx $17.5M (approx €14.8M), in a combination of cash and equity.
According to the company, this acquisition is part of Meat-Tech’s growth strategy to diversify its product range along the cultured meat production value chain in order to introduce cultured products to the global market as quickly as possible.
Meat Tech wants its technology to be utilised for advanced cultivated meat and related products in order to minimise the use of natural resources, improve animal welfare, and meet the demand for meat sustainability.
Image credit: Meat-Tech 3D
01
Empowering Ukrainian Startups: Highlights from the PowerUp Ukraine 2024 Conference