Serum-free growth media

Biotech SeaWith and Icelandic molecular farming company ORF Genetics are partnering to accelerate SeaWith's production of cultivated meat.

© ORF Genetics
Company News

SeaWith Partners with ORF Genetics to Produce Han-Woo Cultivated Beef with Plant-Based Growth Factors

South Korean biotech SeaWith and Icelandic molecular farming company ORF Genetics are partnering to accelerate the production of cultivated meat with plant-based growth factors. SeaWith is preparing to scale its cultivated meat platform to introduce Han-Woo cultivated beef products (a breed of small cattle native to Korea) under the “Welldone” brand to the market by 2025.  The collaboration, outlined in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), will secure SeaWith a stable supply of ORF Genetics’s animal-free growth factors to develop sustainable meat at lower costs. The MoU also highlights plans for further joint R&D initiatives of growth factors for cultivated meat production. Growth factors made from barley ORF Genetics, which produces animal-free growth factors with proteins grown in barley using molecular farming, aims to reinforce the company’s position in the rapidly …

more

Organisations and brands:

Ivy Farm and Finnebrogue partner to bring cultivated Wagyu beef to the UK  

Image courtesy of Ivy Farm
Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

Biotech Firms Awarded €1.2M for Creating Animal-Free Cell Culture Media to Make Cultivated Meat a “Commercial Reality”

Commercializing cell-based products such as cultivated meat remains challenging due to the substantial costs and ethical implications of fetal bovine serum. To find solutions, EIT Food, the world’s largest and most dynamic food innovation community, and the Good Food Institute (GFI) Europe launched the Cultivated Meat Innovation Challenge to develop a more affordable and efficient animal-free cell culture media. The winners, UK biotech company 3D Bio-Tissues and Israeli biotech startup BioBetter have received €1.2 million from EIT Food. With the funds, the companies will continue their R&D efforts in developing lower-cost alternatives to bovine serum. Moreover, they will produce cultivated meat products using their innovations.  Dr. Adam M. Adamek, director of innovation at EIT Food, said: “The cost of cell-culture media is a significant barrier to scaling …

more

Israel's BioBetter has opened its first food-grade pilot facility to accelerate the production of growth factors

© Alex Seleznyov
Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

BioBetter Opens Pilot Facility to Pave Way for Cultivated Meat through Molecular Farming

Israeli biotech startup BioBetter has opened its first food-grade pilot facility to accelerate the production of growth factors for the cultivated meat industry.  BioBetter pioneers a unique protein manufacturing platform that uses molecular farming to produce tobacco plant-derived growth factors (GFs) and bovine insulin-expressing plants. The company claims it has reached commercial-scale cultivation and can process 100 kg of tobacco plants daily at the new plant, aiming to process five tons by 2025. With these ambitious goals, the company has doubled its team to 50 workers to advance the plant’s operations, adhering to ISO2200 and HACCP standards. BioBetter says that since the plant meets all regulatory requirements for producing food-grade growth factors, it is awaiting approval from the Ministry of Health for food manufacturing licensing. “We stimulate …

more

Organisations and brands:

3DBT cell culture media city mix

© 3D Bio-Tissues

Company News

3D Bio-Tissues Opens Office in Hong Kong to Commercialise its Flagship Cell Media in China

UK-based clinical and cell ag company 3D Bio-Tissues (3DBT) has recently expanded internationally with a new office in Hong Kong to introduce its flagship cell-boosting media supplement, City-Mix, to the Chinese cultivated meat market.  3DBT will also target the Chinese biotech industry, especially gene therapy, stem cells, regenerative medicine, Life Sciences companies, and academia. The company already started hiring R&D experts and sales and marketing specialists to develop a go-to-market strategy, build distribution networks, and establish manufacturing partners in China.  The announcement was made by the biotech investor BSF Enterprise (LSE: BSFA), which owns 3DBT. Recently, BSF raised £2.9 million to provide working capital for its subsidiary to accelerate its progress and develop systems to expedite the production and supply of its media growth and target manufacturers.  Commercial presence 3DBT, a Newcastle University …

more

Organisations and brands:

Aleph Farms partners with Enzymit to develop insulin proteins for cell growth in cultivated meat

Image courtesy of Aleph Farms
Cultivated Meat

Aleph Farms & Enzymit Develop Insulin Proteins for Cheaper Animal-Free Serum

Cultivated meat company Aleph Farms and biotech company Enzymit announce the successful development of new processing aids for animal-free serum in the form of insulin-like proteins, to support cell growth. This breakthrough will enable cost-efficiency in cultivating meat at scale. The cultivated meat industry is rapidly growing but relies on expensive and low-scale pharmaceutical inputs that often do not meet the requirements for cell growth in bioreactors. Aleph Farms, poised to reduce growth media costs to launch its petit steak at scale, explains that insulin proteins are not widely available in quantity, quality, and cost for large-scale production. Therefore, cell ag companies looking to grow slaughter-free meat must develop non-animal-derived processing aids to advance their operations, says Aleph Farms. Developing processing aids “Developing more suitable processing …

more

Organisations and brands:

E-FISHient Protein

© E-FISHient Protein
Cultivated Seafood

E-FISHient Protein Nominated for Awards as it Cultivates “Improved” Tilapia Fish Meat

Israel’s E-FISHient Protein was founded last year as part of a collaboration between Bio Meat Foodtech and the Volcani Institute. The startup is working to produce cultivated tilapia, one of the most widely consumed types of fish worldwide with a market value of over $14Bn. The aim is for the product to not just match but improve on the quality of conventional tilapia; it will be lower in calories, richer in protein and omega-3, and better-tasting. While the work is still in its early stages, E-FISHient has already been recognised for its innovation. The company was a semifinalist in this year’s Aviram Awards, which support ventures in the MENA region. It was also one of six finalists in the FoodTech 2022 competition by Tnuva and …

more

Organisations and brands:

mosa meat logo world burger

© Mosa Meat
Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

Mosa Meat and Nutreco Sign LOI to Produce Low-Cost Cell Feed Supply Chain

Dutch food tech company Mosa Meat and Nutreco, a global leader in animal nutrition and aqua feed, have signed a Letter of Intention (LOI) announcing their commitment to develop and produce a low-cost cell feed supply chain to scale up the production of cultivated beef. “Our partnership with Nutreco represents our commitment to further develop the cellular agriculture supply chain and bring down costs,” shared Maarten Bosch, Mosa Meat’s CEO. Both companies have been working for several years on a project called ‘Feed for Meat’, which was awarded a REACT-EU grant in 2021, implemented to reduce the costs of cell feed and thus lower the costs of cultivating meat. Significant cost saving Founded in 2016, Mosa Meat is a privately held company backed by Blue Horizon, Bell …

more

Organisations and brands:

Cultivated meat made with serum-free cell growth media

© Eat Just
Cultivated Meat

“Regulatory Milestone” as GOOD Meat Receives Approval for Serum-Free Cell Growth Media

GOOD Meat, Eat Just’s cultivated meat division, has become the first producer worldwide to receive regulatory approval for the use of serum-free cell growth media in cultivated products. To date, most cultivated meat producers have used fetal bovine serum to grow their cells. However, the serum is expensive, of inconsistent quality, and comes with ethical issues. GOOD Meat believes that the use of serum-free media will make cultivated meat production more scalable, efficient, and sustainable, along with reducing costs. Regulatory approval has been granted by the Singapore Food Agency, which previously made history when it approved GOOD Meat’s cultivated chicken nuggets for sale in late 2020. A year later, cultivated chicken breasts were also approved. For the time being, GOOD Meat remains the only brand …

more

Organisations and brands:

jimi biotech's company banner

Image courtesy of Jimi Biotech
Investments & Finance

Jimi Biotech: Producer of First Cultivated Beef in China Closes Angel Round, Has Sights on Unicorn Status?

Jimi Biotech, a company that states that it unveiled the first cultivated beef in China four months after it was founded, announces the completion of an angel round of RMB20 million (around $3 million) to accelerate cultivated meat production in the country. The round was led by Plum Ventures, and Fanqie Capital, and included Green Leaf Ventures and Joyvio Capital. Former Alibaba engineer and founder of NYSE-listed company Mogujie, Chen Qi, invested in the company’s seed round. According to the company, the fresh funds will be invested in its R&D and HR departments. Leadership position Plum Ventures co-founder, Shichun Wu, commented: “In the fast-moving cultivated meat industry, Jimi has established its leadership position in cultivated meat technologies. With its strong capabilities in R&D and commercialization, …

more

Organisations and brands: