Mosa Meat has raised additional funds just as European cell-cultivated protein peers Meatable and Believer Meats announced their retirement.
Maastricht, Netherlands-based Mosa Meat, set up in 2016, said the €15m ($17.7m) builds on the €40m last year and takes its financing in the past two years to €58m.
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“This fresh financing solidifies Mosa Meat’s outlook for the coming years, supporting the company’s next phase of regulatory market approvals and first significant revenue generation,” it said in a statement.
Mosa Meat, which claims to have developed the world’s first cultivated beef burger concept in 2013, added it is awaiting regulatory approvals from the UK, the EU, Switzerland, and Singapore.
The business has also been selected for the UK’s Sandbox programme. That two-year initiative was launched by the Food Standards Agency in the spring.
Funded by the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology’s Engineering Biology Sandbox Fund, it seeks to ensure cell-cultivated meat products are safe for human consumption.
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By GlobalDataGlobal approvals have so far only been advanced in Singapore, Israel and the US, although some US states have either banned or are moving to ban sales of such alternative proteins produced in a lab.
“While the macroeconomic landscape remains challenging, and disinformation regarding cellular agriculture persists, we remain laser-focused on the facts and the future,” Mosa Meat said in its fund-raising statement.
Those challenges were evident this week, when Meatable’s key backer revealed the Dutch business has ceased trading, citing the failure to raise new funds.
Long-term investor, London-listed Agronomics, said the Meatable board and its shareholders had “resolved to dissolve the legal entity and its related group companies and to terminate all operating activities”.
And Israel-based peer Believer Meats took a similar course of action earlier in December.
Mosa Meat’s latest funding was secured from existing and local impact investors Invest-NL and Liof, along with Germany’s PHW Group and Jitse Groen, the founder and CEO of the Just Eat takeaway platform.
Previous investors include Lowercarbon Capital, M Ventures, Bell Food, Nutreco, Mitsubishi, Collateral Good Ventures and the actor Leonardo DiCaprio.
Mosa Meat claims to have reached a price comparable to restaurant menus for regular meat products.
CEO Maarten Bosch said: “When we introduced the first cultivated burger, it was a €250,000 proof of concept. Today, through fundamental scientific breakthroughs and scaling efficiencies, we are producing burgers at a price point ready for restaurant menus.
“With the backing of our world-class investors, we have successfully turned a science project into a tasty and affordable product without compromising on our original vision.”
That vision was marked with the founding of the business in 2016 by scientist Mark Post and food technician Peter Verstrate.
Victor Meijer, an investment principal at InvestNL, suggested the Dutch investor is in for the long-haul.
“As in any emerging sector, investing in cultivated meat is challenging and requires stamina,” he said in the statement.
“Mosa Meat has built a strong foundation and is taking clear steps toward commercialisation. The company’s strong team, solid progress and continued support from existing shareholders give us confidence to continue our support in this next phase.”
