Aleph Farms

Main article: Artificial meat

Aleph Farms is a food company founded in conjunction with food technology incubator The Kitchen Hub and Professor Shulamit Levenberg of the Technion Institute of Technology in Israel. The company grows beef steaks from cow cages, eliminating the need to slaughter animals and without harming the environment.

History

2024: Lay off 30% of employees

At the end of June 2024, it became known that the Israeli artificial meat company Aleph Farms is laying off about 30% of its employees, despite the fact that in recent years the firm has become one of the world's leading startups in this area.

Artificial meat start-ups, which are mostly still at the research and development stage, have been known to face significant difficulties. Many companies cannot start producing commercially available products even after receiving regulatory approvals.

source = Manufacturer's site

It is assumed that financial problems led to cuts in Aleph Farms, because in 2023 the company could not attract significant investments. It is known that investors around the world are gradually losing interest in possible alternative sources of protein, but in Israel the situation is complicated by political instability and security problems. In 2023, investment in alternative protein companies decreased by 45% worldwide, while Israel fell by about 80%.

Aleph Farms was founded in 2017 and during its existence has raised about $140 million in investments, becoming one of the largest firms developing artificial meat technology in Israel. The company introduced the world's first cultured beef steak in 2018, the world's first cultured anthrecote steak in 2021 and cultured collagen in 2022. In 2024, Aleph Farms announced that it would soon launch its first commercial product, a cultured miniature steak 80% composed of plant materials and 20% cultured meat cells grown from Black Angus cow cells without genetic modifications.^[1]

2021: Attracting investment from Leonardo DiCaprio

At the end of September 2021, Leonardo DiCaprio announced an investment in artificial meat producers Mosa Meat and Aleph Farms. The actor and environmentalist will sit on the advisory boards of the companies. Read more here.

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