Being a vegetarian looks like its about to get a whole lot tastier. Israeli foodtech startup, Aleph Farms, which develops animal-cruelty free cultured meat products, has secured a massive $105 million Series B round. The investment was led by L Catterton, the largest global consumer-focused private equity firm, and DisruptAD. The two were joined by Skyviews Life Science, as well as a consortium of leading global food and meat companies including Thai Union, BRF, and CJ CheilJedang. Additionally, existing investors, including VisVires New Protein, Strauss Group, Cargill, Peregrine Ventures, and CPT Capital.
Juicy cruelty-free steaks
Aleph Farms has developed a system for growing beef steaks from non-genetically engineered cells isolated from a living cow, without harming animals and with a significantly reduced impact to the environment. Unlike similar products, the company’s tech doesn’t rely on genetic engineering, but rather is based on a natural process of muscle tissue regrowth in bovine. The Israeli startup has found a way to isolate the cells responsible for this process, culturing them outside of the typical host, therefore creating optimal conditions to grow beef including fat, muscle, and other features that create a juicy steak.
Considered a rare investment in the foodtech sector, Aleph’s mega-round is further highlighted due to the fact that the company’s previous funding was back in 2019 and tallied only $11.65 million, compared to the current nine-digit round. Aleph Farms states that the capital will be used to execute its plans for large-scale global commercialization of cultivated beef steaks and portfolio expansion. Additionally, a more near-term view shows the company plans on scaling-up manufacturing, growing operations internationally, and expanding its product lines and technology platform ahead of its initial market launch in 2022.
"This additional capital from top-tier partners with unparalleled experience and expertise brings us significantly closer to our vision of providing secure and unconditional access to high-quality nutrition to anyone, anytime, anywhere. We see our investors as partners for building this new category of meat and it was critical to us that they share our strong commitment to improving the sustainability of our global food systems," said Didier Toubia, Co-Founder and CEO of Aleph Farms.
Aleph Farms was founded in 2017 by Didier Toubia and Professor Shulamit Levenberg. The company has raised $118 million to date. The company is definitely doing some interesting things with cultivated meat to bring more cruelty-free and sustainable options to the world, and outside of it. During October of last year, Aleph Farms launched new food driven initiative to produce cultured meat and protein solutions for Earth's future travelers to Mars. Yep, you heard it right.
