The First Slaughter-Free Meat Startup Secures $12M in Funding

Aleph Farms, co-founded by The Kitchen Hub, is the first company to grow real meat cuts directly from cattle cells, and announces it has raised $12 million in funds from VCs and strategic partners

Co-founded in 2017 by Israeli food-tech incubator The Kitchen, Aleph Farms is shaping the future of meat by producing real meat cut from cow-cells, while providing the same meat experience and taste but without killing animals, without using antibiotics, and potentially causing less foodborne illness risk.

The company’s new investors comprise VisVires New Protein in Singapore, along with Cargill Protein in the USA, and M-Industry in Switzerland. Existing investors also joining this round include Israel’s Strauss Group, Technion Investment Opportunity Fund, Jesselson investments, and Peregrine Ventures. CPT Capital out of UK as well as New Crop Capital in the USA.

Aleph Farms represents a unique non-GMO technology, co-developed with Professor Shulamit Levenberg of the Israel Institute of Technology, which relies on a natural process occurring in cows to regenerate and build muscle tissues. The company discovered a way to isolate the cells responsible for that process and grow them outside of the animal to form the same muscle tissue typical to steaks. Consumers are not willing to compromise on taste, which is the driving force behind Aleph’s goal to create, juicy, delicious steaks without harm to animals or the environment.

“This is a vote of confidence in Aleph Farms’ leading 3D technology and its capabilities for growing real beef steaks”

 

The injection of capital will allow Aleph Farms to accelerate product development into a viable, commercial product. Its cultured meat will grow in large, clean bio-farm facilities similar to a dairy facility.

“This investment round has been highly successful and includes diverse food companies and VCs from multiple regions around the world,” says Matthieu Vermersch, Founder and Managing Partner of VisVires New Protein. “This is a vote of confidence in Aleph Farms’ leading 3D technology and its capabilities for growing real beef steaks. Strategic partners from the food industry are important because we need to build a sustainable ecosystem for cultured meat.”

Key concerns of the meat industry include sustainability, antibiotics resistance, and food-borne illnesses. Aleph Farms and other cell-based meat startups are providing new tools to address those challenges and to feed the world without harming any animals.

“We will be part of the long-term solution,” declares Didier Toubia, Co-Founder and CEO of Aleph Farms. “We intend to lead an open dialog with farmers and food and feed producers. In addition, we continue to work closely with the regulators to ensure our products will be completely safe, healthy and properly labelled. We welcome the collaboration with the USDA and FDA as an opportunity to promote transparency and build trust with all stakeholders.”