With funding for cultivated meat almost drying up in 2024 and key players warning the sector could collapse without a huge influx of public money, where does it go from here?
Existing single-cell suspension stir tank bioreactors “can’t be used to effectively produce non-GM, cultivated muscle and fat,” claims Mission Barns.
The legal dispute between the animal-free dairy pioneer and co-manufacturer Olon is turning increasingly ugly, with Olon arguing that Perfect Day is presenting “a false narrative” of their deteriorating relationship.
“Cultivated meat can address the issues that consumers care about and have already shown they will pay extra for, so if we can do it efficiently, why wouldn’t they buy it?” asks Jeff ‘Trip’ Tripician.
According to auctioneer Silicon Valley Disposition, equipment up for sale includes “high-end and late-model (mostly 2022) R&D instruments” including bioreactors.
“But one thing I will say,” says Dr. David Kaplan, “I don’t think stir tank reactors that have been used in pharma are going to work here. They’re just too expensive.”
UPSIDE Foods has engaged in a fresh round of layoffs in a bid to extend its runway as it expands its facility in Emeryville, California.
Israeli startup Ever After Foods has just secured a $10m capital injection to scale patented tech it claims can slash capex and opex costs in the nascent—but already beleaguered—cultivated meat industry.
“Given challenges in the fundraising market, we’ve appointed an advisory firm to run a sale process,” said cofounder and CEO Joshua March.
Prolific Machines has developed a novel way to control cells used in biomanufacturing by deploying light instead of pricey growth factors and other signaling molecules.
Enduro Genetics has agreements with ‘leading industry players in biomanufacturing that have fully recognized that if this works, this is a game changer,’ says CEO and ex-Novozymes exec Christian Munch.
ABEC accuses Eat Just and its cultivated meat subsidiary GOOD Meat of engaging in “the worst aspects of litigation practice in the profession.”
“Meat alternatives don’t taste good enough, and it’s the key reason consumers don’t repeat purchase,” claims cultivated fat co Hoxton Farms.
The latest in the ugly legal dispute between bioreactor supplier ABEC and foodtech co Eat Just and its GOOD Meat cultivated meat subsidiary…
Omeat is operating with a skeleton crew to conserve cash following a turbulent few months during which the founder stepped down as CEO after being accused of creating a hostile working environment.
“A key part of the proposition to fine dining chefs was that they can serve something that no one else has and no one else can have, because we invented it,” says Vow’s CEO.
‘Investors are starting to understand that plant cell culture is one of the emerging categories within cellular agriculture,’ says CEO Frank Jaksch.
Meatable has slashed production times for cultivated pork by dramatically speeding up the process by which its stem cells differentiate into fat and muscle.
If the marketing of whey from fermentation is too narrowly focused on the ‘animal-free’ aspect, it potentially limits the market, says Netherlands-based startup Vivici.
By producing it in fermentation tanks using microbial strains optimized by Triplebar Bio, FrieslandCampina Ingredients hopes to to unlock new markets for lactoferrin.
