Clean Meat Startup Aleph Farms Closes $12M Funding Round

Israeli slaughter-free meat startup Aleph Farms announced that it secured $12 million in Series A funding led by Singapore’s VisVires New Protein (VVNP), Cargill Protein, and M-Industry – the industrial group of Migros. Existing investors included the Strauss Group, Peregrine Ventures, CPT Capital, Jesselson investments, New Crop Capital, and Technion Investment Opportunity Fund.

Aleph Farms, previously Meat-the-Future, was co-founded in 2017 by Israeli food-tech incubator The Kitchen, a part of the Strauss Group, and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, alongside Didier Toubia and Professor Shulamit Levenberg, the startups’ chief scientific officer.

The startup produces real meat from cow cells, “providing the same meat – same experience, same taste – but without killing animals, without using antibiotics, and potentially causing less foodborne illness risk.”

In December, the company unveiled the first prototype of lab-grown steak in the world.

The company said it will use the new funds to “accelerate product development of its slaughter-free meat” and to transform its prototype into a commercial product. Its cultured meat will grow in large, bio-farm facilities.

“This is a vote of confidence in Aleph Farms’ leading 3D technology and its capabilities for growing real beef steaks,” said VisVires New Protein founder and managing partner Matthieu Vermersch. “Strategic partners from the food industry are important because we need to build a sustainable ecosystem for cultured meat.”