4Mins Read French food tech Umiami has raised $30 million to support its plant-based meat developments. The Series A round was led by Astanor Ventures, with the French Tech Seed Fund, managed by Bpifrance on behalf of the government, and multiple others participating. It comes after a previous seed round netted €4 million. The fresh funding is […]
5Mins Read The latest initiative around food-focused non-fungible tokens (NFTs) comes courtesy of vegan meat brand Meatless Farm, which is currently offering fans a pea farm allotment through the tokens. Elsewhere, Impossible has launched new sausage links that “snap” like the real thing, and health-conscious Harry Potter fans are petitioning for vegan Butterbeer. UK: Meatless Farm launches […]
3Mins Read San-Francisco-based Eat Just has received approval from the European Commission for its vegan mung-bean-based egg popular in the U.S. Eat Just will move into the European market later this year following the approval for its novel plant-based egg that looks, cooks, and tastes like chicken eggs. The vegan eggs are made from mung beans. “Forward-thinking […]
4Mins Read Plant-based omega-3 offers heart-healthy benefits and can reduce the likelihood of serious heart disease, a new study has found. Published in the medical journal, Advances in Nutrition, findings point to vegan omega-3 offering comparable benefits to those commonly sourced from fish. Omega-3 fatty acid, specifically alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) is not produced naturally by the body. […]
7Mins Read Despite our team missing what felt like the alt protein industry reunion of the year (major FOMO), we managed to to get Vegan Women Summit founder Jennifer Stojkovic to tell us what her favorite things were so we could share them with you. Below, she offers up her honest review of the creations of five […]
4Mins Read IntegriCulture has reported the successful cultivation of chicken and duck liver cells using an animal serum-free medium. Harnessing its proprietary CulNet system, the startup leverages bioreactors to emulate inter-organ interactions which lead to cell cultivation. Moving from research to prototyping stage, IntegriCulture has replaced all research-grade materials with food-safe alternatives. It is claimed that ‘functional […]
4Mins Read The ‘Truth in Labeling of Food Products’ Act 273 came into effect in October 2020. It made the use of any terms deemed meat-related, such as ‘burger’ and ‘sausage’ illegal on packaging for vegan products. The act remained in effect when packaging combined ‘meaty’ terms with ‘vegan’ or ‘plant-based’ for clarity. Tofurky launched a lawsuit […]
Preparing to disrupt South Korea’s protein market, TissenBioFarm has closed a 2.2 billion KRW (approx. 1.6million USD) pre-Series A funding round.
TissenBioFarm, an offshoot of Thyssen Biopharmaceuticals, says the new funding was led by impact investing company, Envisioning Partners, with FuturePlay and Stonebridge Ventures participating. Mirae Holdings, an existing investment company, also made a follow-up investment. The new funding follows its $400,000 raise in the spring.
The funding will support expansion plans for its research facility and the building of a production system that goes beyond its laboratory setting. It will also work on developing animal cell proliferation and differentiation technologies ahead of consumer launches once regulatory approvals are in place.
Courtesy TissenBioFarm
TissenBioFarm says it effectively replicates the texture, marbling, and nutrition of conventional meat. This technique is highly scalable, the company says, with the ability to mass produce whole-cut cultured meat using animal cells and functional bio-ink.
“In the global cultured meat field, it is very challenging to create meat as thick as a steak through cell culture methodology,” Wonil Han, CEO of TissenBioFarm, said in a statement. “Furthermore, replicating the meat texture and marbling in cultured meat, and mass-producing them requires cutting-edge technologies. Our technologies will provide high-quality cultured meat that is competitive in taste, nutrition, sensory, and price in the near future.”
Tissen has created three bio-inks that it says are capable of being mass-produced for about $0.33 per 100 grams. The inks have applications in both cultivated and plant-based meat.
Tisson’s largest-ever cultivated meat sample.
“Thyssen Biopharmaceuticals [and Tissen] is showing innovation in mass production technology beyond the limitations of the existing cultured meat production method represented by cells, culture medium, and support,” Kim Jae-hyeon of recent investor Mirae Holdings, said in a statement earlier this year.
“We expect to grow into a future food company that will solve the problems of animal ethics in the slaughter process and imbalance between supply and demand in the meat market by promoting the popularization of cultured meat in the meat market.”
4Mins Read South African food tech startup Mogale Meat has unveiled the first cultivated chicken to come out of Africa. The company claims the innovation represents a new dawn for African food security, alongside biodiversity and wildlife conservation. It also comes as Africa’s population is expected to double in the next 30 years and the continent moves […]
3Mins Read Israel’s Environmental Protection Ministry disclosed at the end of last year how it intends to fight the climate crisis: with a generous budget for educating younger generations. Reportedly, NIS15 million ($4.8 million) is being portioned off to fund a comprehensive program that will arm future generations with information about what the climate crisis is and […]
3Mins Read Tim Hortons, Canada’s biggest coffee chain, has unveiled two new plant-based breakfast menu items. The Harvest Breakfast Sandwich and Harvest Breakfast Wrap are both built around a meat-free Impossible Foods sausage patty. Consumers may remember that two years ago, Tim Hortons dropped its initial plant-based meat supplier, Beyond Meat. Beyond’s sausage patties were notoriously removed from […]
3Mins Read Chicago’s Aqua Cultured Foods has revealed it has successfully doubled its biomass fermentation output of vegan seafood. The startup claims to now be able to produce twice as much product in the same timeframe, generating buzz for commercial possibilities. All varieties made by the company are applicable, including whole-muscle cut tuna, whitefish, shrimp, calamari and […]
4Mins Read Lyon-based Bon Vivant has announced its intention to bring cow-free dairy protein to the European market. The precision fermentation biotech has recently scooped €4 million to progress its R&D. Alliance for Impact, High Flyers Capital, Kima Ventures, Founders Future, and Picus Capital all participated in the funding round. Bon Vivant hopes to become a B2B […]
3Mins Read Colorado-based MycoTechnology has closed an $85 million Series E funding round. The investment was led by a representative of the Omani sovereign wealth fund, the Oman Investment Authority. Previous investors joined the round, including Tyson Foods, S2G Ventures, and Evolution VC partners. New backers joined alongside. Funding has been raised to help with the global […]
4Mins Read Betterland Foods has announced its newest animal-free dairy product. Dubbed ‘WOO’, the initial bar has been designed to mimic the successful combination of chocolate, nougat, caramel and peanuts that conventional Snickers bars are known for. The key difference is that Woo contains half the sugar, twice the protein and just 200 calories. It’s also animal […]
4Mins Read Leading vegan investor Veg Capital has announced a doubling down of its investment into Plant Alternative’s Shicken product line. Managing director and co-founder of Veg Capital, Matthew Glover, first initiated investment in 2021, after sampling the vegan Indian food. Recent backing comes in the form of leading a new raise, bringing £2 million to the […]
4Mins Read 12 Tides, a San Francisco-based startup has launched what it calls “a new wave of ocean-positive snacking”. Its puffed kelp chips have been developed to make use of regenerative resources and encourage consumers to think carefully about what they eat and how they dispose of their packaging waste. Founder Pat Schnettler used his background in […]
4Mins Read The Eating Better alliance has levelled an accusation of hypocrisy at U.K. supermarket chains. It claims that Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco are “bombarding” consumers with cheap meat offers on a weekly basis. These deals fly in the face of public pledges to educate consumers about the upsides of eating more plant-based foods, for the […]
4Mins Read BioBetter has revealed it is using tobacco plants to drive down costs associated with cultivated meat production. Citing scaled production as the remaining big obstacle for the industry, the startup has identified a way to harness tobacco plants. For the good of human and planetary health, BioBetter is using them to create growth factors essential […]
4Mins Read Indonesian plant-based meat leader Green Rebel has officially launched its range of beef, chicken and pork alternatives in Singapore. The startup has partnered with multiple restaurants in the Lion City to bring its whole-food-based alt-protein to consumers. The company prides itself on developing protein ‘made for Asians, by Asians’, a reference to a product range […]
4Mins Read The alt-seafood industry is predicted to be worth $23.2 billion by 2024. As a growth sector, it is attracting new interest from LATAM countries seeking to net a piece of the action. Brazil and Chile are leading the charge, with each taking a different tack. Brazil is looking to leverage cultivated technology to provide sustainable […]
4Mins Read Kearney has released a report that suggest plant-based meat will experience significant sector growth if it can match conventional meat prices. According to the report’s authors, widespread consumer adoption of such products hinges on three issues: taste, mindset, and price. The latter remains a stumbling block, but Kearney claims it will not be long until […]
4Mins Read Andrew Zimmerman recently threw his chef’s hat in the plant-based protein ring when he joined Next Gen Foods’ TiNDLE brand as an advisor. Elsewhere in news this week, Willicroft teamed up with InnovoPro to launch vegan fondue and new products from No Evil Foods, Unreal Deli, and Hell Pizza launched. Singapore: Celeb Chef Andrew Zimmerman […]
17Mins Read A few weeks, I sat down (via Zoom) with Chris Kerr to talk about the alternative protein industry. Chris is the founding partner and Chief Investment Officer at Unovis Capital Management and their early-stage venture capital fund New Crop Capital to. Their investment thesis revolves around identifying companies that are successfully creating products that can […]
3Mins Read Oatly has announced it is looking outside of its regular oat suppliers, in light of poor harvests. Oat supplies have become strained, requiring the dairy-free milk brand to cast its net further afield for reliable provision. Consumers will bear the cost of the supply chain turbulence, with prices of products already rising. Oatly’s CFO, Christian […]
3Mins Read BTIG analysts have released a report detailing disappointing McPlant sales figures in California and Texas. Peter Saleh and Ben Parente say that up to 20 burgers are being sold per day in high-performance areas. This represents a drastic decline from predictions of 40-60 sandwiches. A drop in demand for the McPlant has led to operational […]
4Mins Read Germany’s PHW group, one of the largest poultry producers in Europe, has confirmed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Israel-based SuperMeat. It formalises a joint goal of bringing cultivated poultry products to European consumers. Chicken, duck and turkey have been specifically cited for future manufacture. The two food producers will combine their […]
5Mins Read DigitalFoodLab has released its annual State Of The European FoodTech Ecosystem report. Key highlights include 2021 being a record year for total investment, median funding amounts, and number of deals secured. Globally, Europe now holds 20 percent of the food tech sector, up from 12 percent in 2021. Main drivers for growth include grocery delivery […]
3Mins Read Atlanta’s CP Kelco has announced a strategic partnership with ingredient startup Shiru. The two will work together to leverage the latter’s ’Flourish’ platform with Kelco’s precision fermentation capabilities. The goal is to push clean label ingredients identified by Emeryville-based Shiru’s AI technology through faster screenings and trials, with market release following soon after. Shiru’s Flourish […]
5Mins Read The much awaited U.S. plant-based food retail sales data from 2021 has just been released in the latest report by market analysis company SPINS: the industry saw a year-on-year growth of 6.2 percent in 2021, representing a market value of $7.4 billion, a new record for the sector. The Plant Based Foods Association (PBFA), the […]
