Y Combinator is a startup accelerator that invests in a large number of startups twice a year. It created a new model for funding startups. Twice a year, the company invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups. The startup accelerator works intensively with the companies for three months, to get them into the best possible shape and refine their pitch to investors. Each cycle culminates in Demo Day when the startups present their companies to a carefully selected, invite-only audience.

Y Combinator

Compound is a venture capital firm that invests in bleeding-edge technology built by outliers. They have partnered with elite operators that understand the intricacies of many different industries and various components of businesses, that help them navigate the complex systems in which each startup lives by removing roadblocks and compounding growth. Compound is based in New York City.

Compound

BoxGroup is an early-stage investment fund that invests in technology companies. The fund aims to invest in the consumer, enterprise, fintech, healthcare, life science, and marketplaces industries at the earliest stage, as early as pre-seed round and as late as Series A. It supports companies based on a conviction in the team and seeks entrepreneurs working at the beginning of movements in existing markets or new markets yet to be created and with visions to create the next generation of category-defining businesses. Their typical investment ranges from $200,000 to $500,000. Adam Rothenberg and David Tisch founded BoxGroup in 2009 in New York, New York.

BoxGroup

UpHonest Capital is an early-stage, industry-agnostic venture capital firm that partners with companies from pre-seed stage to Series A. The firm invests in entrepreneurs and early-stage startups and then uses its resources to boost value creation through disruptive means.

UpHonest Capital

SV Angel is a San Francisco-based venture fund. Their experience spans helping companies like Airbnb, Coinbase, Databricks, DoorDash, Faire, Flexport, GitHub, Notion, Pinterest, Snap, Square, and Stripe Scale. Over the last 30 years of investing, their core values of trust, loyalty, and integrity along with a founder-first approach have driven our strategy. They are a service organization, investing in founders who share these values. They support entrepreneurs in building lasting companies by assisting at key inflection points and leveraging networks to help them propel their businesses forward.

DCVC backs entrepreneurs using Deep Tech to solve problems and multiply the benefits of capitalism for everyone while reducing its cost. Deep Tech is a potent approach to this challenge that enables more for less - now and for this century. The transformative companies in their portfolio combine the latest advances in science and technology with unique computing and algorithmic advantage, reducing CAPEX and OPEX.

DCVC

Cultivian Sandbox is a venture capital firm focused on building next-generation disruptive agriculture and food technology companies capable of generating superior returns. As early investors and active board members, we employ a hands-on approach to building companies and are often directly involved in setting company strategy, recruiting key executives, and raising additional capital. Much more than simply a financial resource, we are capable of delivering tremendous value though active collaboration with our strategic partners and network, which are unparalleled in the agriculture and food industries.   As both experienced operating managers and venture investors we add value to portfolio companies both through our highly skilled team and extensive industry network. Our investment team combines the domain expertise and investment experience from Cultivian Ventures and Sandbox Industries. Our expertise in sourcing, evaluating, closing, managing and ultimately exiting successful equity investments positions us not only to build stronger businesses, but reshape industries.

Cultivian Sandbox Ventures

[Sandbox Industries](http://www.sandboxindustries.com), founded in 2003, is a Chicago-based venture capital firm with three main business lines: venture funds formed alongside strategic corporate partners, new business accelerator programs, and an innovation consulting business.  Sandbox is the exclusive partner for [Blue Cross and Blue Shield Venture Partners I and II](http://www.bcbsvp.com), which connects entrepreneurs innovating in the healthcare space with 25 Blue plans across the country for strategic investment and partnerships.   The [Cultivian Sandbox Food & Agriculture Fund II](http://www.cultiviansbx.com) is a leading fund in the US which invests in new technologies in the food and agriculture space.  [Healthbox](http://www.healthbox.com), founded in partnership with BCBSVP, is a healthcare accelerator with a presence in several US cities as well as in London. Sandbox is also partnered with TechStars Chicago (formerly Excelerate Labs).   The firm's innovation consulting business, Sandbox Innovation Partners, connects established corporations with emerging companies and helps them work together through pilots, partnerships, investments, or acquisitions.

Sandbox Industries

Verily aspires to create a world in which technology and life sciences are not distinct, but partners with a united mission. Formerly Google Life Sciences, Verily's mission is to bring together technology and life sciences to uncover new truths about health and disease. Verily's multidisciplinary teams have access to advanced research tools, large-scale computing power, and unique technical expertise. They work with partners from across the industry and many fields of research to develop new technology, launch studies and start companies. The company was founded in 2015 and is based in San Francisco, California, United States.

Verily

E14 Fund are an investment fund focused on taking the biggest ideas hatched at MIT, deploying them to the real world, and scaling them for greatest impact.  At the E14 Fund, they help bring technologies out of the lab and into the world. Their network of advisors—investors, industry experts, and entrepreneurs—help their companies take prototypes to scale and raise further investment.  The E14 Fund supports companies across diverse fields—from biotechnology and smart cities to consumer electronics and manufacturing. They are a bridge that builds entrepreneurs from MIT and creates the paths to connect them with investors and industry experts who can help them scale. They believe diversity and inclusion are the seeds of innovation. Half of their companies have a female founder, and more than half have founders are from outside the United States.

The E14 Fund

Section 32, the new venture fund launched by Bill Maris, was named in homage to Section 31, an intelligence agency from the Star Trek universe.  Maris, the GV (Google Ventures) founder/former-CEO, has raised $150 million for the project that will focus on various investments.  The fund will be run directly by Maris and primarily based out of San Diego.

Section 32

Craft Ventures is an early-stage venture fund specializing in the craft of building great companies. It has brought together a rare combination of entrepreneurial experience and investor acumen. Over the past twenty years,  David, Bill, Jeff, and Sky have built and invested in some of the most iconic companies of this generation. The firm consists of a team of 15 investors and operators that are united by a quest to find the next generation of world-changing companies and deep respect for the founders who create them.

Craft Ventures

The Production Board is a San Francisco-based technology incubator and investment holding company. They aim to improve the efficiency and economics of global food and agriculture markets.

The Production Board (TPB)

Northpond Ventures is a science-driven venture capital ﬁrm headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. Our mission is to build a better tomorrow.  Our investments are focused on life sciences, technology, and aﬃliated industries.

Northpond Ventures

Synthesis Capital is an investment manager transforming our food system through food technology.

Synthesis Capital

Deep Tech Venture Capital firm. We invest in AI, Robotics, Life Sciences, Tech Infrastructure, Advanced Materials and others. Deep Tech is where Science meets Technology. Deep tech companies are building a better future, thanks to entrepreneurs, researchers, scientists, engineers, academics, and subject matter experts who develop new algorithms, models, systems, devices and products.

GRIDS Capital

Culture Biosciences

Culture Biosciences develops automated bio-reactor that helps biotech companies optimize their manufacturing processes and brings products to market faster. The company also builds automated tools for fermentation. It has a digital bio-manufacturing platform to enable scientists to run, monitor, and analyze bio-reactors faster than traditional approaches by robotic sample handling and cloud data monitoring and analysis. Culture Biosciences was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

<div>Based in California, Cultural Biosciences offers cloud bioreactor lab services that include designing, executing, and analyzing bioreactor experiments; the company attempts to fill the R&D and production capacity gap in emerging industries such as cell-cultured meat and cultured milk. In 2020, the company raised USD 15 million in a Series A round which was utilized to launch Culture’s cloud console, an online app for data and insights from experiments. It also used the funds to expand its R&D to cell culture and analytical chemistry in addition to fermentation.</div>

Making meat sustainable over the long term.

Cell-cultured Meat

<div>
 
 Based in California, Cultural Biosciences offers cloud bioreactor lab services that include designing, executing, and analyzing bioreactor experiments; the company attempts to fill the R&D and production capacity gap in emerging industries such as cell-cultured meat and cultured milk. In 2020, the company raised USD 15 million in a Series A round which was utilized to launch Culture’s cloud console, an online app for data and insights from experiments. It also used the funds to expand its R&D to cell culture and analytical chemistry in addition to fermentation.
 
 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/6123">
 In October 2021
 </a>
 , Culture Biosciences raised USD 80 million in Series B funding led by NorthPond Ventures. The funds were expected to support the expansion of its technology and data infrastructure.
 
 
 
</div>

<div>
 
 Dutch company Mosa Meat is a cell-cultured meat startup founded by Dr. Mark Post of Maastricht University, who produced the world's first lab-grown meat burger in 2013. The startup produces meat by growing myosatellite cells (muscle stem cells) extracted from an animal in a bioreactor fed with nutrient-dense medium.
 
 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/2765">
 In May 2021
 </a>
 , Mosa Meat announced that it was able to reduce the cost of its cell-cultured fat by 66x, setting it on course to achieve price parity with conventional meat. The company successfully replaced the fetal bovine serum (FBS) from its growth medium in July 2020, which led to an 88x cost reduction in its medium. According to the company, the replacement of FBS and the selection of the cheapest suppliers have contributed to the reduction in cost. The company claimed its fat medium was only 1.52% of the cost reported back in September 2019. The startup planned to bring down the production cost and price of the burger to EUR 9 at commercialization from the initial EUR 250,000 (approximately USD 297,000) per burger cost in 2013.&nbsp;&nbsp;In May 2023, the company opened the new 30,000 sq foot facility completing its Center for Advanced Meat Production, Upscaling, and Sustainability (C.A.M.P.U.S), increasing its total production footprint to over 79,000 sq feet. Claimed to be the largest cultivated meat campus in the world, the facility is capable of producing tens of thousands of cultivated hamburgers and is designed to be expandable as demand grows.
 
 
 In 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21645">
 September 2023
 </a>
 , Mosa Meat became the first cultivated meat company to attain B Corp certification. The company also announced plans to apply for regulatory approval in countries worldwide.
 
 
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 
 
 In 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/14175">
 November 2022
 </a>
 , Mosa Meat entered into an agreement with Singapore-based contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) Esco Aster to commercialize the company&rsquo;s cultivated beef in Singapore.
 
 
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 
 In its last funding round (
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/2734">
 February 2021
 </a>
 ), it raised USD 10 million in a third Series B round led by Blue Horizon Ventures as well as existing and new investors including Nutreco and Jitse Groen. Mosa Meat intended to use this to scale up its production, expand its pilot plant facility, expand its labor force, develop an industrial-sized production line, and commercialize its products. It planned to commercialize its product by 2022 and to commission the first high-volume production plant by 2025. 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/6188">
 In October 2021
 </a>
 , Mosa Meat&rsquo;s and animal nutrition company Nutreco&rsquo;s joint venture &ldquo;Feed for Meat,&rdquo; received a grant of USD 2 million from the European REACT-EU recovery assistance program. The funds were expected to be allocated to R&amp;D and to lower the expense of the base media.
 
</div>

Mosa Meat

<div>
 
 Eat JUST (known as Hampton Creek prior to 2018) is a food technology company founded in 2011 that initially developed plant-based alternatives, such as Just Mayo made from yellow peas and Just Egg made from mung bean. It then expanded to cell-cultured chicken and beef. In 2018, the startup developed cell-cultured chicken nuggets that cost USD 50 each to produce. In December 2020, the company became the first startup to sell cultured meat following approval from the Singapore Food Agency (SFA), selling to 1880, a restaurant in Robertson Quay, Singapore. The cultured meat is sold under Eat JUST&rsquo;s &ldquo;GOOD Meat&rdquo; brand. In 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/15768">
 January 2023
 </a>
 , the company received regulatory approval from the SFA for the use of serum-free media in the production of cultivated meat, marking another milestone for the company. The company also stated that it is on track to reach price parity with conventional meats by 2027, and plans on installing vessels that can handle 100,000 liters or more to further drive down the price of its serum-free media.
 
 
 In 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/17221">
 March 2023
 </a>
 , GOOD Meat received a &ldquo;no questions&rdquo; letter from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US, indicating that the FDA has accepted the company&rsquo;s conclusion that its first poultry product, cultivated chicken, is safe to eat. In June 2023, the company became the first cultivated meat producer to receive label approval from the USDA. Later that month, the company 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/19588">
 received the grant of inspection
 </a>
 from the USDA for its Alameda demonstration plant, and JOINN Biologics (GOOD Meat&rsquo;s contract manufacturing partner), allowing the company to begin the sale of its cultivated chicken in the US.
 
 
 Following necessary approvals from the USDA, GOOD Meat&rsquo;s chicken will first be available to customers at a restaurant operated by Jos&eacute; Andr&eacute;s Group in Washington, D.C. Jos&eacute; Andr&eacute;s Group operates more than 30 restaurants across the US.
 
 
 The company was also working on gaining approval elsewhere in the world for the sale of its cell-cultured meat. In 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/5242">
 September 2021
 </a>
 , the startup stated that the authorities in Qatar intended to grant regulatory approval for the sale of cell-cultured meat &ldquo;very soon,&rdquo; while it announced plans to build a commercial plant to produce cell-cultured meat in the country, in partnership with Doha Venture Capital and the Qatar Free Zone Authority. The startup is also expected to build two manufacturing facilities in northern California and Singapore to scale up the production capacity to more than 50,000-liter vessels of lab-grown chicken in the US and Asia (from the current 1,200 liters). 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9244">
 In March 2022
 </a>
 , the company announced breaking ground on its new manufacturing facility in Singapore&mdash;the largest in Singapore post-completion&mdash;slated to be complete in two years at a cost of USD 120 million. Further, in 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11035">
 June 2022
 </a>
 the company also broke ground in JTC Bedok Food City, which will house Asia&rsquo;s largest bioreactor for cultivated meat production, slated to begin operations in Q1 2023.
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 In April 2021, it collaborated with the food delivery partner, foodpanda, for the world's first home delivery service of cell-cultured meat in Singapore, produced under its GOOD Meat brand. The dishes were prepared by 1880 and included katsu chicken curry, chicken coconut rice, and chicken caesar salad. It was priced at SGD 20 (USD 15), starting on Earth Day (April 22). In May 2021, GOOD Meat&rsquo;s cell-cultured meat was added to JW Marriott Singapore South Beach&rsquo;s menu. 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8755">
 In February 2022,
 </a>
 Eat Just announced that it will be selling GOOD Meat chicken in Singapore&rsquo;s food hawker stalls. The company partnered with Loo&rsquo;s Hainanese Curry Rice, a food stall in the Tiong Bahru region, and sold curry rice dishes with cultivated chicken for SGD 4 (~USD 3). The company also launched its cultivated chicken satay at Singapore&rsquo;s food hawker stalls in 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/10542">
 May 2022
 </a>
 , this time partnering with family-run, Michelin-plate hawker Kee Eng Kee (KEK). KEK served customers cultivated chicken satay alongside a cucumber slaw, peanut sauce, Singapore bee hoon (stir-fried vermicelli), and KEK signature tofu in a dish priced at SGD 13.8 (~USD 9.94).&nbsp;
 
 
 To accelerate development of its cultivated chicken products, Eat JUST partnered with US-based multinational food processing company Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/10516">
 in May 2022
 </a>
 . The partnership&rsquo;s focus was to develop a low-cost growth media with ADM optimizing GOOD Meat&rsquo;s existing nutrient mix. The company also partnered with ABEC 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/10724">
 in May 2022
 </a>
 to build the world&rsquo;s first large-scale cultivated meat facility. In 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/15193">
 December 2022
 </a>
 , the company partnered with Huber&rsquo;s Butchery in Singapore to sell and serve cultivated chicken products.
 
 
 
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 
 In
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/12427">
 
 August 2022
 </a>
 , the company bagged a USD 25 million investment along with a strategic partnership from Alibaba Group-backed private equity firm C2 Capital partners. Together, the companies are set to work toward expanding Eat JUST&rsquo;s footprint in the Chinese market. Later, in 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21471">
 September 2023
 </a>
 , the company raised an undisclosed amount in new funding led by VegInvest/Ahimsa Foundation. The funding was to be deployed towards improving the quality and profitability of Eat JUST's products.
 
 
 
</div>

Eat JUST

<div>
 
 SCiFi Foods (previously Artemys Foods) is a start-up developing cell-cultured beef. The startup uses pluripotent stem cells that differentiate into muscle or fat cells, which it separates into different bioreactors to cultivate. With the successful production of cultured beef, the company plans to launch a hybrid burger made from a blend of plant-based meat and cell-cultured meat by 2024 following regulatory approval. The startup believes it will be difficult to replicate the texture of beef burgers just by combining muscle and fat cells, without the connective tissues. Hence it sees blending muscle cells and fat cells with plant-based proteins as the best method to replicate the beef burger. In 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11598">
 July 2022
 </a>
 the company announced a breakthrough in R&D which allowed them to grow beef cells in single-cell line suspension leading to a reduction in cost by more than thousand fold. The company expects to reach price parity following this milestone.
 
 
 In
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/13063">
 September 2022
 </a>
 the company partnered up with Michigan State University to finalize development and test scaling of its hybrid beef burger.
 
 
 In 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/10966">
 June 2022
 </a>
 , the company raised USD 22 million in a Series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz(a16z) which brings the total funding raised by the company to USD 29 million. The planned use of the funds are to scale up R&D, attract new hires and marketing strategy expenses.
 
</div>

SCiFi Foods

SuperMeat is a cellular agriculture startup developing cultured chicken meat. The company hopes to initially launch blended products that will include both plant-based and cell-cultured meat (70% plant-based meat to 30%&nbsp; cell-cultured meat) offering a better taste profile than plant-based meat while costing less than 100% cell-cultured meat.&nbsp;SuperMeat filed a patent application in April 2018, covering the manufacturing of blended products by combining cell-cultured chicken and plant-based meat.In November 2020, the startup opened the world’s first cell cultured meat restaurant in Tel Aviv to give the opportunity to select diners to taste its products. The establishment operates similar to a test kitchen, for SuperMeats products that are still in the development phase. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21733">September 2023</a>, The Orthodox Union (OU) certified SuperMeat’s cultivated chicken as “kosher.”Further, the OU and SuperMeat will collaborate on establishing guidelines for the industry.Key customers and partnershipsIn January 2018, SuperMeat entered into a strategic partnership with PHW, one of Europe's biggest poultry producers. According to the partnership, PHW will support SuperMeat in R&amp;D and strategic positioning of their products in Europe. <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9319">SuperMeat signed an MoU with PHW</a> in March 2022 to supply cultivated meat products to Europe. <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8997">In March 2022</a>, SuperMeat partnered with Ajinomoto to set up a joint venture to accelerate the commercialization of cultivated meat while focusing on developing a cost-competitive cell-growth media. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11867">July 2022</a>, the company signed an MoU with Switzerland’s largest retail supermarket chain and leading meat manufacturer, Migros to expedite production and distribution of cultured meat at a commercial scale with a focus on European markets.Funding and financialsSuperMeat raised an undisclosed amount in a Series A funding round held in February 2021. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/10945">June 2022</a> the company received grant funding from the Israel Innovation Authority to set up what SuperMeat claims to be the world's largest high throughput screening system for identification and optimization of cultured meat ingredients, supplemental inputs, and cellular scaffoldings for the production of cultivated meat.

SuperMeat

<div>
 
 Gourmey is a startup developing foie gras using cell culture technology. The startup is developing cell-cultured foie gras using cells from a duck egg grown in a cultivator with feed media matching the nutrients of a duck's natural diet. Once the cells are multiplied, the company adjusts the nutrients in the media, increasing the plant based fats to replicate the effects of forced feeding at the cellular level. Gourmey has not unveiled a prototype or stated an expected market entry date for its product. In July 2021, the startup announced development of “Structured restaurant-grade meats” including poultry filets in the style of duck, chicken, and turkey. Gourmey is said to be co-developing the product line with chefs ahead of a soft launch in various restaurants.
 
 
 In 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/13534">
 October 2022
 </a>
 , the company raised EUR 48 million (~USD 48 million) in a Series A funding round led by Earlybird Venture Capital with the participation of Keen Venture Partners, Omnes Capital, Discovery, and others. The funding was intended for advancing from R&D toward commercialization.
 
</div>

Gourmey

Provide sustainable solutions for animal slaughter through the use of biotechnology

Developers of bioreactors and other technologies used in cell cultured meat production. Industrial scaling and efficiency gains are key areas of interest for the startups in the industry.

Culture Biosciences

Recent Updates

Culture Biosciences secures USD 80 million in Series B funding round

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