Swiss women-led cultivated meat start-up Sallea has closed a $2.6 million funding round to help manufacturers of cultivated foods accelerate the production of premium whole cuts like steaks and fillets.
The Sallea team has created edible scaffolds that it says ‘promise to unlock the potential of cellular agriculture’.
The pre-seed funding round was led by Founderful with participation from Kost Capital, and marks Sallea's first equity investment, building on its $1.8 million in non-dilutive funding previously secured through research and start-up grants.
Founded in November last year, and built on research developed at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, Sallea’s technology enables the creation of precisely structured, edible and porous 3D grids – scaffolds – that serve as the foundation for cultivating textured whole cuts of meat and fish.
These scaffolds are added to bioreactors containing cells. These cells will then attach to Sallea’s scaffolds and grow in three dimensions into whole cuts thereby improving the nutritional profile and texture of the end product.
As a result of this technology, manufacturers of cultivated meat will now be able to tailor the size, shape and nutritional profile of their scaffolds to the end product.
With the funding, Sallea plans to accelerate product development and initiate pilot projects with cultivated meat companies across the world. The company aims to be the leading scaffold provider, accelerating the transition to more sustainable production of animal proteins.
Simona Fehlmann, CEO and co-founder of Sallea, said: “Cultivated foods have been limited to sausages and minced meat. Our technology has the potential to kick-start cellular agriculture by accelerating time to market and lowering the production costs for cultivated whole cuts such as steaks and fillets."
"This funding round allows us to advance our mission of setting the industry standard for edible scaffolds in cellular agriculture. We can now upgrade our production capacity, enter partnerships for product co-development, and double down on our development efforts.”
Robin Matthew, CEO of Elsa-Group (Migros Industrie), a leading group in the Swiss dairy and allt-protein industry, commented: “While the potential of cellular agriculture is clear, scaling it effectively demands not only capital and expertise but also innovative solutions like Sallea’s, which enable the production of high-quality products that can accelerate the path to price parity and fully satisfy consumer expectations."
James Ryall, ex-CSO at cultured meat company Vow, added: "With cultivated meat now regulated globally, the industry is poised for its next evolutionary leap. Sallea is at the forefront of this advancement, developing next-generation scaffolds that address two critical challenges: cost reduction and enhanced structural complexity.
Ryall continued: "Sallea's edible scaffolds not only open the door to premium cultivated meat products with superior texture but also significantly lowers production costs – offering consumers a wider range of high-quality, sustainable protein options".
Bodil Sidén, general partner at Kost Capital, concluded: “At Kost, we are passionate about providing better food for more people, and we're proud to be backing Sallea. With strong leadership from Simona, Anna, and Nicole, combined with groundbreaking technology aimed at setting a new standard in sustainable meat production, Sallea is gearing up for success.”
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