ISRAEL – Believer Meats, a company specializing in the production of cultivated meat, has entered a strategic partnership with GEA, a global supplier of large-scale production equipment for the food, beverage, and pharmaceutical industries.
The collaboration focuses on developing new technologies and processes to improve the cost-efficiency and sustainability of cultivated meat, starting with chicken and later expanding to other products.
The partnership is expected to advance key areas of cultivated meat production, including bioreactor technology, perfusion systems, and media rejuvenation.
Both companies aim to reduce the environmental impact of the production process by optimizing water usage, cutting down on energy consumption, and utilizing waste materials in a circular economy approach.
Believer and GEA plan to lower production costs, streamline the transfer of technology, and scale operations, making cultivated meat more accessible and affordable.
Believer Meats CEO Gustavo Burger said that the company is addressing the main challenges in scaling cultivated meat production.
He emphasized that teaming up with GEA, a leader in engineering and biotech equipment, would allow them to advance the technology and processes necessary to produce cultivated meat at a competitive price.
In addition to technological development, Believer and GEA plan to establish joint commercial initiatives to expand market reach and accelerate the global growth of the cultivated meat industry.
Believer Meats is also constructing what is expected to be the world’s largest cultivated meat production facility in Wilson, North Carolina.
The plant, set to open in early 2025, will include an innovation center and tasting kitchen and will have the capacity to produce 12,000 metric tons (26 million pounds) of cultivated chicken annually, without slaughtering animals.
Believer Meats, formerly known as Future Meat Technologies until 2022, has focused on producing cultivated meat from chicken cells and is also working on developing cultured lamb kebabs and beef burgers.
The company has raised US$389.95 million across four funding rounds, with its most recent Series B – II round securing US$347 million in December 2021.
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