Israeli foodtech startup Meat-Tech 3D, which develops cultured meat 3D bioprinting technologies, announced a $7 million funding round. The investment was led by institutional investors Psagot Provident and Pension Funds, in addition to More Investment House, as well as private investors.
Funding for a reason
Gat Megiddo, VP of Investments at Psagot, stated: "The Investment in Meat-Tech aligns with our investment strategy focusing on high impact companies. Companies that we believe have great economic potential, as well as a potentially huge contribution to the environment. Meat-Tech has made impressive progress with its development pipeline, in addition to the strategic acquisition that the company is working to complete. The acquisition promotes a foothold in the global protein alternatives market which is showing great momentum."
Meat-Tech, which was founded in 2018 by CEO Sharon Fima and COO Omri Schanin, has developed technology that aims to replace the cattle-dependent landscape by offering a slaughter-free option, with real cultured meat developed from animal cells. The company can then take the cultivated cells and 3D bioprint a variety of our favorite meat products, including burgers, steaks, and even carpaccio. In addition to helping alleviate our dependency on live-stock, which causes serious climate related problems and more, the cultivated meat industry targets to also provide a nutritional revolution in its meat products.
Essentially, the Israeli company is aiming to reinvent the way we look at meat cultivation and consumption. Just last month Meat-Tech announced that it was acquiring a Belgian cultivated fats startup to further boost its potential to supply alternative meat products that look, taste, feel, and even smell like the real thing, but with a cleaner conscience. And it looks like this round injected the capital needed to complete the aforementioned deal.
Meat-Tech's CEO Sharon Fima said: "We thank our investors for their confidence in the company's activities and vision. The investment round enables us to progress the recently announced Peace Of Meat acquisition, strengthening an important part of our R&D and opening up new markets such as that for hybrid products."