Israeli cultured meat company Meat-Tech 3D, which bioprints slaughter-free meat products at scale, announced a €1 million investment in Belgium startup Peace of Meat (PoM), developer of cultured fats. The investment comes as part of Meat-Tech’s reported acquisition of PoM, which was first reported on back in September.

Hybrid meat products grilling on the BBQs of the future

"Expediting the development of a broader range of cultured fat options will accelerate our go-to-market plans and support our current activities while opening the door to new product opportunities," said Sharon Fima, CEO and CTO of Meat-Tech.

The acquisition will be completed upon pre-agreed technological milestones achieved by PoM. According to the company, Meat-Tech will acquire PoM for around $17.5 million comprising of cash and equity in the Israeli company. With this investment, Meat-Tech is not only living up to an agreement but expanding its strategy of developing scalable cell-based agriculture technologies.

Peace of Meat is an Antwerp, Belgium based B2B company developing cultured fat technologies. POM has developed a unique, proprietary, stem-cell-based technology to produce animal fats, such as those from cattle, chicken, or geese without harming any animals.

"Meat-Tech believes that hybrid products, such as plant-based burgers made with cultured fat, may prove to be an exciting new product category. Such fats may offer improved aromas, flavors and textures as compared to purely plant-based proteins. Completing this acquisition will add technological capabilities to support Meat-Tech's core center-of-plate product offering." added Steve H. Lavin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Meat-Tech.

Meat-Tech, which develops 3D bioprinting meat products, expects to leverage POM's cultured fat technologies to expand its cell-based offerings by accelerating cultured fat development and shortening times to market. Peace of Meat has already held tasting events demonstrating the potential of cultured fats to enhance plant-based protein products. Such products are being called hybrid products as they are made of both plant-based and cultured animal cell ingredients.

"POM shares the strategic vision of Meat-Tech 3D and is excited to join forces. We are convinced that the strong scientific and commercial synergies between both parties paired with our approach of creating hybrid products based on savory cultured fats is the perfect setting to bring cultured meat to market in an increasingly competitive space" said David Brandes, Managing Director of Peace of Meat.