On Memphis Meats, $161 Million Funding, and the Future of Food
Photo by Hans Reniers
Last week, Memphis Meats, a Berkeley, CA based start-up, closed a $161 million funding round from investors - total funding is $181 million.
The firm focuses on the development of cell-based meat and plans to use the funds to develop a pilot production facility. Investors include SoftBank Group, Temasek, Norwest Venture Partners, Threshold Ventures, Cargill, Tyson Foods, Bill Gates and Richard Branson.
Uma Valeti, co-founder and CEO of Memphis Meats said, “[when we started in 2015] people thought this was all science fiction .. Everything that we've done at Memphis Meats [has] started to show that this can be done .. This is real.
"Our costs have continued to come down significantly over the last three years ... we have a clear path to bringing a cost competitive product to market as we scale our production and that's part of what our latest funding round will help us to unlock."
Richard Branson said, “I am proud to invest once again in Memphis Meats, the world's leading cell-based meat company. In the next few decades I believe that cell-based meat will become a major part of our global meat supply. I cannot wait for that day!”
Priti Youssef Choksi, Partner at Norwest Venture Partners said, “The reality is that conventional production methods for meat can't keep up with global demand, which is expected to double by 2050. Cell-based meat addresses this issue while offering enormous potential to improve the environment and have a positive impact on food safety and animal welfare. Memphis Meats is on a mission to serve up real meat without the compromise. We are thrilled to partner with this visionary team."
Elizabeth Gutschenritter, Cargill Managing Director - alternative protein unit said, “We look forward to the accelerated development and commercialization of these and other products … Keeping all options on the table will help feed people and deliver great-tasting meat for our customers.”
OUR TAKE
Drivers behind “growing” meat from cells, as an alternative to meat from the whole animal (cow, duck, chicken, fish, etc.) include the potential to provide high-quality meat using fewer resources (at a lower cost) and with a lower impact to the environment.
Similar to the “plant-based” meat market, part of the early stage attraction of cell-based offerings may be their novelty. Success will require proving offerings at reasonable prices with a taste and texture that meet consumer expectations.
The future of affordable and sustainable food offerings will be shaped by advances in agricultural science (genome, CRISPR, synthetic biology), food production technologies (automation, computer vision, indoor/vertical production, etc.) as well as adaption and improvements in traditional food production – such as reducing methane gas emissions in beef production.