Agrifood Tech | May 8, 2018

Tyson Ventures backs Israeli lab-grown meat startup Future Meat

Jessica Pothering
ImpactAlpha Editor

Jessica Pothering

ImpactAlpha, May 8 – Lab-grown meat company Future Meat is in a race to bring lab-grown meat to market cost-effectively. The corporate venture arm of Tyson Foods led Future Meat’s $2.2 million round.

Global demand for meat is growing and the total market size is estimated at more than a trillion dollars, according to Future Meat CEO Rom Kshuk. “Making a healthy, non-GMO product that can meet this demand is an essential part of our mission,” he said in a statement. The company said it hopes to cut the cost of its alternative meat to $5 to $10 per kilo by 2020 from its current $10,000 per kilo.

  • Where’s the beef… Tyson’s venture capital arm has also invested in Memphis Meats, another lab-grown meat company.
  • Additional investment from… Israeli food conglomerate Neto Group, Chinese food tech accelerator Agrinnovation, and venture capital funds BitsXBites, Yissum and HB Ventures contributed to the round.

Other alternative meat companies that have secured corporate venture backing, including Israeli petrie poultry producer SuperMeat, and vegetarian “meat” companies Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods.