Meatable

Based in the Netherlands, Meatable is a startup developing cell-cultured meat. The startup uses pluripotent stem cells, which have the ability to convert to muscle or fat cells without using fetal bovine serum (FBS) or Chinese hamster ovaries (CHO). Meatable’s proprietary technology was developed in collaboration with Roger Pedersen, a stem cell biologist and founder of the University of Cambridge's Stem Cell Institute, and Mark Kotter, a Cambridge neurosurgery clinician scientist.

Meatable sources stem cells from animals' umbilical cords to produce its cultivated products. It claims its proprietary technology can be further scaled to develop more complex products, like steak. In May 2023, the company unveiled its cultivated pork sausage during a tasting event in Singapore. During the event, the company also announced it has brought forward its commercialization target from 2025, and now plans to enter the Singaporean market by 2024, followed by a US launch. In November 2023, the company unveiled a new pilot facility at the Bio Science Park in Leiden to expand its cultivated pork production capabilities. This 3,300 sq m facility is equipped with a bioreactor capacity of 200 l with expansion available up to 500 l.

In March 2024, the company achieved a new milestone, halving its previous 8-day cultivated meat production timeframe. According to the company, its platform is 60x faster than conventional pig farming and offers significant cost reductions. In April 2024, Meatable held the first cultivated meat tasting in the EU following its approval for product safety from the third-party committee sanctioned by the Dutch government. The tasting event held at its new headquarters in Leiden featured its cultivated pork sausages derived from pig cells.

Key customers and partnerships

The startup entered a joint development agreement with Royal DSM to develop cost-effective growth media for cultured meat production, which could help scale production while being cost-effective. In October 2022, the company partnered with Esco Aster to begin production of cultivated pork in Singapore. Further, in November 2022 the company partnered with Singaporean plant-based butcher Love Handle to establish the “Future of Meat” innovation center in Singapore.

Funding and financials

Meatable’s most recent funding round was in August 2023, when it raised USD 35 million in a funding round led by Agronomics, with participation from new and existing investors. The funding was intended to scale Meatable's processes and accelerate its first product commercialization. The company also planned to establish a presence in the US in two years.