Israeli cultivated meat company MeatAfora has announced a $5 million raise fund led by the New Gate Capital fund and the participation of a private investor. The funds will inject the company’s R&D with new capital to upscale its platform, which is capable of producing nutritional, low-cost cultivated meat.
“We have developed a process to produce cultivated meat that contains vegetable fat”
Founded by Professor Marcelle Machluf and businessman Shmuel Yanai, the food tech focuses on producing affordable cultivated meat. “We believe that our cultivated meat will provide nutritional security for many and will assist in increasing food safety worldwide,” states MeatAfora.
This is the second round of fundraising for the company, which raised $1 million in 2021 from the public food tech partnership Biomit two years ago.
Alex Shilman, partner at the New Gate Capital fund, said: “We have been following the alternative protein market for several years, in which Israel is an important pioneer. The groundbreaking work of Prof. Marcelle Machluf will bring value to the entire young industry of laboratory meat and position MeatAfora as one of the leading companies in this field. We are proud to be partners in the process and to lead a significant round precisely during this difficult period in the industry.”
Scalable edible carriers
MeatAfora has engineered a cultivated meat platform in which cells are grown on scalable edible carriers made using vegetable fat and proteins. The platform can produce high-quality meat using matching processing methodologies in a scalable, lower-cost, and sustainable process. MeatAfora’s final product will be a highly nutritious cultivated meat containing vegetable fat, according to the company.
Prof. Marcelle Machluf said: “We are happy for the company’s confidence and ability to bring innovative products that are part of changing the face of the global food industry. We have developed a process to produce cultivated meat that contains vegetable fat with stable properties, color, and flavor that contribute significantly.
“The entire process is characterized by low costs that provide an important competitive advantage to the market. We are on the last line to complete scale up, which will enable a production on an industrial scale.”
A GFI research grant provided the funding for Prof. Marcelle Machluf to undertake the initial research that laid the foundation for the company’s creation.
