Israeli cultivated meat co Future Meat raises $347m

Israeli company Future Meat Technologies (FMT) has announced the completion of a $347 million Series B financing round. This is the largest amount ever invested worldwide in a cultured meat company. Sources in the foodtech industry estimate that the money was raised at a company valuation of more than $900 million, after money.

Rehovot-based Future Meat was founded in 2018 by Prof. Yaakov Nahmias of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who serves as the company’s president. The company is one of the most advanced in the world in developing cultured meat and is in the midst of regulatory procedures for approval of its products in several countries. This latest financing round will speed up its plans to build a commercial production facility in the US to make its cell-grown meat products. Future Meat hopes to start marketing its products in 2022, subject to receiving regulatory approval.

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The financing round was led by ADM Ventures, a leading company in the global food industry, with the participation of Israeli pension fund Menorah-Mivtachim, Tyson Foods – the world’s second largest meat manufacturer, Bits X Bites, SG2 Ventures, and others.

In addition to the financing round, the company has announced that it is significantly reducing the prices of its products, so that they will be affordable for all consumers. Having reduced the price of a kilo of chicken from $96 to $36 in June, it is now cutting the price further to $17 per kilo or $1.70 per portion.

This price is considerably cheaper than that of its rivals. US company Eat Just, which currently sells its products in Singapore, produces a portion of chicken for $17.

Future Meat opened the world’s first cultured meat production line in Israel earlier this year. The company is currently checking out several locations in the US for building its factory. Future Meat’s production facility in Rehovot can manufacture up to 5,000 portions per day when fully operational and moving from its pilot plant to a factory in the US will allow the company to increase production capacity to thousands of tons annually. In addition, by setting up its plant in the US it will be close to the huge American market and provide a platform for becoming a major international and fast-growing brand.

Future Meat Technologies has created lines of animal cells that continually grow without any genetic modifications, removing the need to slaughter chickens, cows, lambs or pigs and making its products non-GMO. The company says that its proprietary technology reaches yields that are 10-times higher than industrial standard due to its media rejuvenation process that actively removes waste products allowing animal cells to naturally flourish. This results in a significantly lower capital investment and production costs, making Future Meat’s technology scalable by design.

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on December 19, 2021.

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