Meatable
TypePrivately held company
IndustryFood technology
Founded2018[1]
FoundersKrijn de Nood, Daan Luining, Mark Kotter
Headquarters
Delft
,
Netherlands
Websitemeatable.com

Meatable is a Dutch biotechnology company aimed at cultured meat, particularly pork.

History

Origins

Meatable was co-founded by Krijn de Nood, Daan Luining, and Mark Kotter in 2018.[1] Luining previously worked with Mark Post at Maastricht University to develop the world's first cultured meat hamburger in 2013, and then in 2016 at New Harvest in New York, where he met Kotter, the main inventor of opti-ox technology.[2] Then Luining met De Nood at a management consultancy, and the three decided to found Meatable.[2] As a start-up company, it began operating on the campus of Delft University of Technology.[3] The company reported in September 2018 that it had succeeded in growing meat using pluripotent stem cells from animal umbilical cords. Although such cells are reportedly difficult to work with, Meatable claimed to be able to direct them to behave to become muscle or fat cells as needed. The major advantage is that this technique bypasses fetal bovine serum, meaning that no animal has to be killed to produce meat.[4] it was one of the first start-ups to pass the hurdle of eliminating fetal bovine serum.[5] On 26 September 2018, Luining represented Meatable at a round table discussion on cultured meat in the Dutch House of Representatives.[6] In early October 2018, Meatable attracted 3.5 million euros in funding from investors.[7] At the time, the price of producing only a small bite of cultured meat was still thousands of euros.[7]

There is a handful [of startups]. It's quite interesting to see, there are three hubs: one in Silicon Valley, one in the Netherlands and one in Israel. I think that's because these three places have firstly, a great agricultural university – we've got Wageningen; secondly, a great medical university – for us that's Leiden; and finally we've got Delft on the engineering side. Those three combined gives you a firm basis to [develop cultured meat], and that [combination] exists in Israel, the Netherlands and America.

– Krijn de Nood, Meatable (2020)[8]

Proof of concept

Meatable showcased itself at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on 7 January 2020.[3] The start-up stated it sought to present its proof of concept before the end of the year, and then enter the market in 2022.[9] By then, Meatable was working with scientists from Cambridge and Stanford to produce a hamburger within three weeks from a single stem cell via a process the company had patented.[3] In February, it said it planned to have constructed a pilot plant by early 2022.[10] In July 2020, the city of Delft announced it was going to invest 1.5 million euros in developing the Biotech Campus; Meatable was one of the four innovative companies operating there at the time benefiting from the investment.[11] At the end of 2020, Meatable presented its proof of concept: a cultivated pork sausage.[2]

Raising funds

In March 2021, Meatable obtained funding from various investors worth 40 million euros (47 million US dollars), on top of the 10 million euros it already had at its disposal.[1] Investors included Dutch food, health and materials multinational DSM, and Rick Klausner, former CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.[1] Their total capital was then about 53 million euros (60 million US dollars).[2] By April 2021, the staff of Meatable had grown to over 40 people with 15 different nationalities, representing many different fields and coming from many universities.[2] They estimated the EFSA's regulatory approval for their product in 2023, and were aiming for large-scale availability in shops in 2025.[2] Their future production facility was to produce 5,000 kilograms of cultured meat a day by that time.[2]

On 13 September 2021, Meatable announced that it had entered into an agreement with DSM in order to 'make cultured meat affordable and accessible on a large scale.' The two companies citing the challenge of reducing the costs of the growth medium (50 to 90% of total production costs) and the quest for the best taste and texture as reasons for their cooperation going forward.[12]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Nederlands bedrijf haalt 40 miljoen op voor de productie van kweekvlees". de Volkskrant (in Dutch). 23 March 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Till Behne (24 April 2021). "Delftse slimmeriken Daan en Krijn komen in 2025 met kweekvlees: 'We willen voorop lopen'". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 Peter Van De Stadt (8 January 2020). "Delftse bedrijven op techbeurs in Las Vegas". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  4. ↑ Brodwin, Erin (28 September 2018). "A new lab-grown meat startup may have overcome a key barrier to making meat without slaughter". Business Insider. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
  5. ↑ "A new lab-grown meat startup may have overcome a key barrier to making meat without slaughter". UK Business Insider. 28 September 2018. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  6. ↑ "Kweekvlees en vleesvervangers - Rondetafelgesprek 26-9-2018". Arnews (in Dutch). Dutch House of Representatives. 26 September 2018. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
  7. 1 2 Ilona de Lange (9 October 2018). "Vleesbedrijven zien nu ook brood in kunstvlees". Trouw (in Dutch). Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  8. ↑ Gijs Vroom (4 March 2020). "Krijn de Nood (Meatable): 'Wij pionieren een nieuwe manier van vlees maken'". Emerce. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  9. ↑ Krijn de Nood (15 January 2020). "Meatable, la viande qui pousse en laboratoire". YouTube. HUB Institute. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  10. ↑ Watson, Elaine (11 February 2020). "Cell-based meat in focus: In conversation with Meatable, Finless Foods, New Age Meats". Food Navigator. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  11. ↑ Carel van der Velden (20 July 2020). "Delft steekt 1,5 miljoen in Biotech Campus". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  12. ↑ Pepijn de Lange (13 September 2021). "DSM stapt in kweekvlees met start-up Meatable: groen, diervriendelijk en (hopelijk) rendabel". de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 9 December 2021.
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