Big Idea Ventures (BIV) launches Nexture Bio, Inc., a new player in biomaterial technologies developing scaffoldings to create whole-cut cultivated products.

© Big Idea Ventures

Meat

Nexture Bio Enters US Market to Pioneer Scaffoldings for Cultivated Whole-Cuts

Big Idea Ventures (BIV) announces the launch of Nexture Bio, Inc., a new biomaterial company developing novel scaffoldings for whole-cut products and other technologies to support the cultivated meat industry. Nexture Bio is the third company launched by BIV’s Generation Food Rural Partners Fund (GFRP), an RBIC-licensed investment fund that collaborates with universities across the US to commercialize intellectual property innovations in food, protein, and agriculture. Its focus is to create new companies to provide …

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Extracellular team

© Extracellular

Manufacturing & Technology

UK’s Extracellular: The Challenge of Upscaling Cultivated Meat

How does a cultivated meat startup scale from producing prototypes to developing commercially viable products? The emerging cultivated meat industry faces significant challenges in bringing cost-effective products to the market. Most manufacturing processes have been adapted for the biomedical sector, which produces much lower volumes of outputs than the food industry will need to bring products to market. Supported by Science Creates and based in Bristol, Extracellular was founded in 2022 by …

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Foody's and Cocuus to launch bioprinted bacon

Bioprinted bacon © Cocuus

Investments & Finance

3D Bioprinting Startup Cocuus Raises €2.5M in Pre-Series A Featuring Meat Giant Cargill 

Spanish startup Cocuus has raised €2.5 million in its Pre Series A funding round to scale its 3D bioprinting technology for the production of alternative proteins. Cargill Ventures, the investment arm of the multinational meat giant Cargill, has backed the round to accelerate Cocuus’s process for producing plant or cell-based animal protein food analogs. The Pre Series A funding round was also led by Big Idea Ventures, Eatable Adventures, and …

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Evolved Meats

© Evolved Meats

Investments & Finance

Evolved Meats Raises $2M in Seed Round Led by Maple Leaf Foods and Big Idea Ventures

Canada’s Evolved Meats, formerly known as CaroMeats, announces it has raised $2 million in a seed round led by meat giant Maple Leaf Foods Inc., joined by Big Idea Ventures amongst other investors, to accelerate product development and initial scale-up of production processes. The cultivated meat company states that its “species agnostic platform grows whole cuts of meat that are structurally and biochemically identical to conventional cuts of meat” such …

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Cultivated pork meat sausages

© Mewery

Algae, Microalgae & Seaweed

Czech Foodtech Mewery Becomes “The First European” Cultivated Pork Startup Using Microalgae

The Czech startup Mewery holds the claim of being the first European foodtech startup developing cultivated pork on a proprietary microalgae base. The Brno-based foodtech has now received backing from US accelerator Big Idea Ventures to develop cultivated pork.   With pork meat being the second most consumed meat worldwide and the most consumed and preferred meat in Europe, Russia, and China, among others, Mewery has set its sights on becoming …

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©MeliBio

Fermentation

MeliBio Secures $5.7 Million in Seed Funding to Disrupt Global Honey Industry

MeliBio, the world’s first company making real honey without bees, announces a $5.7 million seed funding raise to commercialize its first line of bee-free honey. The seed round, led by Astanor Ventures, brings the startup’s total funding to $7.2 million to date. The raise follows a successful test launch of MeliBio’s honey in four New York City restaurants and at one CPG company, and the startup will now begin scaling …

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