NETHERLANDS – The Dutch startup behind the world’s first cultivated hamburger, Mosa Meat has entered a strategic partnership with Nutreco and Lowercarbon Capital to accelerate the commercial launch of its labgrown meat.
The partnership with Nutreco, a global leader in animal nutrition and aquafeed, and Lowercarbon Capital, a new US-based venture capital fund investing in planet healing technologies, will support Mosa Meat’s ambitions of getting its cultured hamburgers on the market in Europe in the first half of 2022.
“As we enter a new phase, we’re excited to work with Nutreco, who have brought us their deep expertise managing manufacturing supply chains at a truly global scale, as well as Lowercarbon Capital, who draw on deep experience accelerating companies to have a global impact” says Maarten Bosch, CEO of MosaMeat.
Nutreco and Lowercarbon Capital have pleged some undisclosed investment as well as combining their different areas of expertise to accelerate the transition to a truly sustainable meat production system.
Nutreco CEO, Rob Koremans added “I am thrilled that Nutreco has partnered with Mosa Meat as this investment opens the opportunity to produce real meat on a large scale in a highly-sustainable and animal-friendly way.
“As the global population continues to grow, the increased demand for protein will place more pressure on our food production system.
“If we are serious about Feeding the Future in a sustainable way we will need toproduce protein from a variety of sources, including animal agriculture as well as alternative proteins.
Nutreco and Lowercarbon are joining M Ventures, Bell Food Group, and other mission-based investors and advisors who have helped Mosa Meat achieve crucial technical milestones in 2018 and 2019.
“We’re proud to support Mosa Meat because of their ambition to cultivate beef that’s healthier for people and the planet,” says Chris Sacca, chairman of Lowercarbon Capital.
“As the global meat-eating population grows, they’ll have the choice to eat real steak without concern for methane emissions, deforestation, antibiotics, or even having to slaughter an animal.”
The Mosa Meat team has been growing significantly to over forty people. The startup has also started development of the first pilot production plant, where the first commercial products will be grown.
In 2018, the cultured meat companyraised €7.5 million to develop an end-to-end process for cultured meat production at significantly reduced cost.
The foodtech firm has also made major scientific advancements. Mosa says that its no longer uses fetal bovine serum to grow cells and has developed its own bioreactor to automate the labour-intense tissue formation part of the production process.
The company claims that the technology has enabled the manufacture of meat with increased protein and fat content.
