$105 million in funding for cultivated meat company

Cultivated meat company Aleph Farms will use $105 million in funding to scale up its manufacturing ahead of its initial market launch in 2022.

Co-founded in 2017 by Didier Toubia, Aleph Farms grows beef steaks, from non-genetically engineered cells isolated from a living cow, without harming the animal.

The Series B funding round was led by the Growth Fund of L Catterton and DisruptAD in the Middle East. It also saw participation from Skyviews Life Science, as well as a consortium of leading global food and meat companies including Thai Union, BRF and CJ CheilJedang. Additionally, existing investors, including VisVires New Protein, Strauss Group, Cargill, Peregrine Ventures and CPT Capital participated in the Series B funding round.

The company will now execute its plans for large-scale global commercialisation of cultivated beef steaks and portfolio expansion. Near-term milestones include scaling up manufacturing, growing operations internationally and expanding its product lines and technology platform ahead of Aleph Farms’ initial market launch in 2022. The company is currently working with regulatory agencies on its plans for market entry.

As a strategic partner to DisruptAD, Aleph Farms will evaluate the establishment of a manufacturing facility in Abu Dhabi to supply its cultivated meat products across the UAE and the broader GCC region.

Didier Toubia, Co-Founder and CEO of Aleph Farms, said: “We see our investors as partners for building this new category of meat and it was critical to us that they share our strong commitment to improving the sustainability of our global food systems.”

Aleph Farms ribeye steak. Image credit: Aleph Farms and Technion.