Cultivated meat start-up New Age Meats secures seed funding

US cultivated meat company New Age Meats has raised $2.7 million in a seed funding round led by FF Venture Capital.

Founded in 2018, Berkeley-based New Age aims to develop technology to make meat from animal cells instead of animal slaughter by using automation and data science in stem cell research and bioreactor optimisation.

The start-up, which is a graduate of IndieBio’s accelerator programme, was founded to make better meat while improving human health, animal welfare and the environment.

The company recently moved into lab facilities in Berkeley and is building out its science and engineering teams as it develops products to bring to market in the coming years.

“This funding enables us to grow our team, invest in automation equipment, and iterate our unique cultivators we design in house,” said Brian Spears, CEO and founder. “We can’t wait to share tasty, sustainable cultivated meat with avid meat-eaters.”

AJ Plotkin, partner at FF Venture Capital, added: “As a firm we focus on transformative technologies and visionary founders. We’ve found that in Brian and the team at New Age Meats. We are confident cultivated meat will be part of the food economy long term.”

Other investors in the funding round include Agronomics, Sand Hill Angels, Supernode Ventures, Hemisphere Ventures and Kairos Ventures.