Cultivated meat leader Meatable raises US$35 million in new funding to scale and accelerate commercial launch of its pork products

Meatable, the Dutch food-tech company, has announced it has raised US$35 million in new funding to bring the company’s total funding so far to US$95 million. Led by Agronomics, the successful close saw Invest-NL, a Dutch impact fund, join as a new investor, contributing US$17 million. The round also drew renewed support from existing investors, including BlueYard, Bridford, MilkyWay, DSM Venturing and Taavet Hinrikus (chairman and founder of Wise).

The funding will be used to further scale the company’s processes and accelerate commercial launch. The scale up and process optimization reduce the production costs to become cost competitive with traditional meat and reach production to commercial volumes. Starting in Singapore, the company’s products, including sausages and pork dumplings, will be available in selected restaurants and retailers from 2024. The company is also establishing a presence in the USA. These steps ensure Meatable can bring to life its mission to make cultivated meat available for everyone, without compromise on taste or harming animals, people or the planet.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Invest-NL as a new investor and to have the renewed support from our existing investors," said Krijn de Nood, Co-founder & CEO of Meatable. "This is a huge sign of confidence in the incredible quality, taste, and proven scalability of our product, especially in the current investment climate. When 14% of the world’s global emissions comes from the traditional meat industry, it’s clear that there needs to be an alternative that reduces the harm our diets are currently causing the planet. We believe cultivated meat is the answer and we are confident we have the tools and the processes in place to make this a reality. We look forward to working closely with our investors as we enter our next growth phase and cement our position as global leaders.” 

Consumer demand for meat continues to grow across the world, but this comes at a huge cost to the planet. Cultivated meat is part of the solution – a study by independent research company CE Delft found that cultivated meat can reduce the footprint of conventional beef by up to 92% for greenhouse gas emissions and 95% for land use. This is why investors have poured nearly US$900 million into the sector in 2022 alone and the Netherlands announced the world’s largest ever-public investment into cellular agriculture last year.

To make its cultivated pork, Meatable takes one sample of cells from an animal without harming it and replicates the natural growth process of the cells using patented opti-ox technology combined with pluripotent stem cells. This technology makes it possible for Meatable to produce real muscle and fat cells in only eight days, 30 times faster than the time it takes to rear a pig for pork on the farm. Owing to this efficiency, Meatable has all processes in place to be able to scale cultivated meat production affordably and provide a genuine solution to this global, pressing problem.

“Farming has been revolutionized in the past 100 years to keep up with feeding a growing global population," added Daan Luining, Co-founder & CTO of Meatable. "Cultivated meat is the next revolution. 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.” 

To truly make an impact, cultivated meat needs to be widely available. Meatable is launching its first commercial products in Singapore starting from 2024 and is partnering with the relevant authorities to secure regulatory approval. The company has already successfully held its first external tasting events in Singapore earlier in 2023, following approval from the Singapore Food Agency (SFA). In addition, it has started production of its products on the ground together with Esco Aster, the first and only commercially licensed cultivated meat manufacturer in Singapore, and has begun co-development of its product range with plant-based butcher Love Handle.  

Next to preparing its launch in Singapore, the company is on its way to expand to the USA and beyond. Recent regulatory developments have boosted confidence in the industry, with the USA approving two cultivated meat companies to start selling their products. As well, The Netherlands recently became the first European country to officially give the green light for companies to organize tastings.

“Meatable is one of the leading companies helping to transform the cultivated meat industry," stated Jim Mellon, Co-founder of Agronomics. "With 80 billion animals slaughtered every year for meat and 70% of the Amazon rainforest already destroyed because of animal agriculture, there is a real need to find a solution that can provide meat at the scale needed to address a growing mass market. The latest funding round will allow the company to scale up production in Singapore, and soon in the USA, as it moves towards commercialization as part of its go-to-market strategy.”

“At Invest-NL we are genuinely excited about the pioneering endeavors undertaken by Meatable," suggested Bastiaan Gielink, Senior Investment Manager at Invest-NL. "Cultured meat has the potential to deliver unrivalled impact in terms of animal welfare, CO2 equivalent emission reduction, water use, land use and antibiotics abatement. 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.”