Cultivated meat startup Believer Meats—which is in the rarified position of having both a large-scale production facility and regulatory approval to sell its wares in the US—is being sued by the firm that built its US plant over an alleged $34 million in unpaid bills.
AgFunderNews understands that the company has also laid off employees at its North Carolina plant and its executive suite, although it’s unclear how or if the two events are connected.
According to a lawsuit* filed by Gray Construction, which says it completed design and construction work on Believer’s cultivated meat facility in North Carolina in August, Believer did not pay its bills on time, breaching a design build agreement signed in 2023.
In October 2025, the pair entered into a forbearance and release agreement under which Believer agreed to pay Gray $22 million by December 5, with the remaining $12 million to follow in two installments in 2026.
According to Gray, Believer failed to come up with the cash by the Dec 5 deadline, and as such, had “materially breached the forbearance agreement… which constitutes a termination event.”
It further alleged that Believer failed to “execute any further documents reasonably requested to effectuate expedited foreclosure and sale” of the property in Wilson County.
According to the forbearance agreement, “Gray contends that Believer is in breach of the design and build agreement and in default under the loan documents. Believer disputes Gray’s contentions and contends that Gray has failed to perform under the design build agreement.”
Based on the structure of the forbearance agreement, Gray’s suit appears designed to clear the path toward foreclosure on the North Carolina facility or a court-supervised sale of the asset. Believer could in turn file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to halt foreclosure and attempt to reorganize, unless a buyer or investor steps in immediately.
Believer Meats did not respond to a request for comment, while an attorney for Gray told us that the firm “does not comment on ongoing legal matters and remains focused on serving its customers.”
According to a court filing this morning (Dec 8), the case has been selected for mediation.
Why it matters
Believer Meats (formerly Future Meat Technologies) has operations in Israel and the US, and is the fifth cultivated meat startup to secure an FDA “no questions” letter confirming the safety of its products.
It has also secured a grant of inspection and label sign-off from USDA. This gives it the green light to launch products in the US from the North Carolina plant, which bioprocess partner GEA said in late 2024 has the “capacity to produce at least 12,000 metric tons (26m lbs) of cultivated chicken annually.”
As the only cultivated-meat company with a large-scale plant, many in the sector have looked to Believer as the bellwether that might prove the tech can work at scale, reigniting investor interest, one industry source told AgFunderNews. “It’s such a shame as they have the trifecta: FDA approval, USDA approval, and a full-size plant, so it’s terrible news for them and the entire cultivated meat sector.”
CEO Gustavo Burger has not given any media interviews this year, but said in a recent LinkedIn post that completion of construction on the North Carolina plant was “a bold leap forward” for the sector.
One of the top-funded players in the industry after raising a $347 million Series B round in 2021, Believer Meats’ backers include ADM Ventures, the Menora Mivtachim pension and insurance fund, S2G Investments, Tyson Ventures, Rich Products Ventures, Manta Ray Ventures, Emerald Technology Ventures, Cibus Capital, and Bits x Bites.
In 2023, it signed a memo of understanding with ADM outlining the parties’ plans to “work together to explore a wide variety of opportunities” but has not commented publicly on the partnership since. ADM did not respond to a request for comment.
Non-GMO tech
Believer Meats’ technology, originally developed by founder Prof. Yaakov Nahmias, enables it to achieve higher-density cell cultures and more efficient use of media than rivals in the space, claims the firm, which published a peer-reviewed paper last year citing media costs of $0.63/liter “that supports the long-term, high density culture of chicken cells.”
According to the paper, a techno-economic analysis for a theoretical production facility of 50,000-L scale showed that the cost of cultivated chicken “can drop to within the range of organic chicken at $6.20/lb by using perfusion technology.”
According to published literature, Believer Meats is using spontaneously immortalized, Non-GMO chicken fibroblast cells which are then trans-differentiated into adipocyte‑like (fat) cells that can be combined with plant proteins to make chicken products.
Where next for the sector?
While funding for many agrifoodtech segments has fallen sharply since early 2022 as generalists have fled the sector, private capital going into cultivated meat has almost dried up. AgFunder data show that funding peaked at $989 million in 2021, dipped to $807 million in 2022, $177 million in 2023, $55 million in 2024 (excluding an undisclosed sum raised by Hoxton Farms), and $65 million in 2025.
Against this backdrop, firms have been slashing headcount, consolidating, and in some cases, calling it quits (click here and here).
That said, there have been some positive announcements over the past year, with Sydney-based Vow securing regulatory approvals in Australia and New Zealand and proving its tech at 20,000-liter scale. Meanwhile, US-based Clever Carnivore claimed it could produce cell culture media for just 7 cents a liter at pilot scale, and that a demo-scale plant costing $4.5 million could be “profitable in its first year of full production.”
*The case is: Gray Construction, Inc. D/B/A James N. Gray Company, Inc., V Future Meat Technologies, Inc. D/B/A Believer Meats, United States District Court for the Eastern District Of North Carolina Western Division. Case no. 5:25-cv-792
Further reading:
Meatable acquires Uncommon Bio’s cultivated meat platform as latter pivots to therapeutics
Clever Carnivore’s pragmatic path to cultivated meat profitability, starting with $0.07/liter media
