NESS ZIONA, Israel, October 18, 2020 – Meat-Tech 3D Ltd. (TASE:MEAT), a developer of industrial-scale cultivated meat production technologies based on advanced 3D bioprinting, today announced that it has made an initial €1M investment in Peace of Meat, a leading developer of cultured fat products.
With this investment, Meat-Tech is expanding its strategy of developing scalable cell-based agriculture technologies. Peace of Meat (POM) is an Antwerp, Belgium based B2B supplier of cultured fats. POM has developed a unique, proprietary, stem-cell-based technology to produce animal fats, such as those from cattle, chicken or geese in industrial-scale bioreactors without harming any animals. In 2020 POM was awarded a subsidy of €1.2 million (US$1.33 million) from the Flemish government as part of the €3.6 million Foieture project. Peace of Meat has also received 1mn USD in private investments from supporters such as Joyance Partners, Big Idea Ventures and Food Angels.
Meat-Tech’s investment is part of the planned full acquisition of the target company, as announced in September 2020. The acquisition of the remainder of the company remains subject to the completion of a final agreement, according to which Meat-Tech will purchase all of POM’s equity for a total of approximately $17.5 million, for a combination of cash and Meat-Tech equity over the course of two years as POM achieves technological milestones.
Meat-Tech expects to leverage POM’s cultured fat technologies to expand its cell-based offerings by accelerating cultured fat development and shortening times to market. Peace of Meat has already held tasting events demonstrating the potential of cultured fats to enhance plant-based protein products. Such products are being called hybrid products as they are made of both plant based and cultured animal cell ingredients.
“Expediting the development of a broader range of cultured fat options will accelerate our go-to-market plans and support our current activities while opening the door to new product opportunities,” said Sharon Fima, CEO and CTO of Meat-Tech.
“Meat-Tech believes that hybrid products, such as plant-based burgers made with cultured fat, may prove to be an exciting new product category. Such fats may offer improved aromas, flavors and textures as compared to purely plant-based proteins. Completing this acquisition will add technological capabilities to support Meat-Tech’s core center-of-plate product offering.” added Steve H. Lavin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Meat-Tech.
“POM shares the strategic vision of Meat-Tech 3D and is excited to join forces. We are convinced that the strong scientific and commercial synergies between both parties paired with our approach of creating hybrid products based on savory cultured fats is the perfect setting to bring cultured meat to market in an increasingly competitive space” said David Brandes,
Managing Director of Peace of Meat.
This acquisition is part of Meat-Tech’s growth strategy of complementing its processes and diversifying its product range along the cultured meat production value chain in order to introduce cultured products to the global market as quickly as possible. Through a combination of internal development and acquisitions, Meat-Tech is developing multiple cutting-edge technologies intended to be leased to major food producers globally. Meat-Tech intends for its technologies to be utilized by value-added food producers to make advanced cultivated meat and related products. This in tandem to minimizing the use of natural resources, improving animal welfare and meeting the growing demand for meat sustainably.
About Meat-Tech 3D
Meat-Tech 3D (TASE:MEAT) is a research and development company aiming to develop commercial and sustainable technologies to manufacture alternative proteins with no need for animal slaughter. Meat-Tech is developing a unique, proprietary bioprinter to deposit layers of cells (including stem cells and differentiated stem cells), scaffolding, and cell nutrients in a three-dimensional form of structured cultured meat, often called “clean meat” or “cultured meat”.
For more information, please visit www.meatech3d.com
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Words such as “believes”, “intends”, “expects”, “projects”, “anticipates” and “future” or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to the inherent uncertainties in predicting future results and conditions, many of which are beyond the control of Meat-Tech, including, without limitation, the risk factors and other matters set forth in its filings with the Israeli Securities Authority, including its Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 2019. Meat-Tech undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law.