REHOVOT, ISRAEL — Future Meat Technologies has raised $347 million in Series B financing co-led by ADM Ventures. Future Meat produces cultivated chicken, lamb, beef and pork.
“We are incredibly excited by the massive support of our global network of strategic and financial investors,” said Professor Yaakov Nahmias, founder and president of Future Meat. “This financing consolidates Future Meat’s position as the leading player in the cultivated meat industry, just three years after our launch. Our singular technology reduced production costs faster than anyone thought possible, paving the way for a massive expansion of operations. Our team will break ground on the first-of-its-kind, large-scale production facility in the United States in 2022.”
Future Meat uses proprietary technology to produce cultured meat directly from animal cells without the need to harvest animals. The technology is based on the rapid natural proliferation of connective tissue cells growing in stainless steel fermenters that continuously remove waste products to maintain a constant physiological environment. This connective tissue method is more cost-efficient than using stem cells, Mr. Nahmias said.
“We have consistently demonstrated that our single-cell technology and serum-free media formulations can reach cost parity faster than the market anticipates,” he said. “We also demonstrated that our proprietary media rejuvenation technology enables cell densities greater than 100 billion cells per liter, translating to production densities 10-times higher than the industrial standard.”
In addition to the Series B funding, Future Meat said it is now producing cultivated chicken breast for $7.70 per lb, down from nearly $18 per lb six months ago, surpassing its initial projections for cost reduction.
Additional investors in the latest round included Menora Mivtachim, S2G Ventures, Tyson Ventures, Manta Ray Ventures, Emerald Technology Ventures, ADM Capital (Cibus Fund) and Bits x Bites.