The Netherlands-based food-tech company Meatable has announced that it has raised $35 million in new funding, bringing the company’s total so far to $95 million.

The round – led by UK venture capital firm Agronomics – 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 and DSM Venturing.

Bastiaan Gielink, senior investment manager at Invest-NL, said: “At Invest-NL we are genuinely excited about the pioneering endeavors undertaken by Meatable. 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.”

Meatable says it will use the funding to further scale its processes and accelerate commercial launch. The scale-up and process optimisation is set to reduce production costs to become cost competitive with traditional meat and reach production to commercial volumes.

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...We look forward to working closely with our investors as we enter our next growth phase and cement our position as global leaders.” 

The company’s products, which include sausages and pork dumplings, will be available in select restaurants and retailers in Singapore from 2024 as it partners with the country’s authorities to secure regulatory approval. The company held its first external tasting events in Singapore earlier this year following approval from the Singapore Food Agency (SFA). In addition, it has begun production of its products on the ground with Esco Aster, the first and only commercially licensed cell-based meat manufacturer in Singapore.

Meatable says it is also establishing a presence in the US “and beyond”. Jim Mellon, co-founder of Agronomics, commented: “The latest funding round will allow the company to scale up production in Singapore, and soon in the US, as it moves towards commercialisation as part of its Go-to-Market strategy”.

To make its cell-based pork, Meatable uses one sample of animal cells – taken without harming the animal – and replicates the natural growth process of the cells using its patented opti-ox technology combined with pluripotent stem cells. This technology makes it possible for the company to produce real muscle and fat cells in eight days, which it says is 30 times faster than the time it takes to rear a pig for pork on the farm.

Daan Luining, co-founder and CTO of Meatable, added: “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.”

#Meatable #TheNetherlands