Mosa Meat

Mosa Meat is a Dutch foodtech startup founded in 2015. He specializes in the production of hamburgers with cutlets from cultured beef meat. It is grown on the basis of cow cells, while animals are not killed.

History

2021: Attracting investment from Leonardo DiCaprio

At the end of September 2021, Leonardo DiCaprio announced investment in artificial meat producers Mosa Meat and Aleph Farms. The actor and environmental advocate will join the advisory boards of companies.

Cultured meat grown from animal cells is still in its early stages and is criticized by some greens, but DiCaprio's participation provides support from one of the world's most famous climate fighters, Reuters said.

Leonardo DiCaprio invested in artificial meat producers

One of the most effective ways to combat the climate crisis is to transform our food system. Mosa Meat and Aleph Farms offer new ways to meet the global demand for beef, while solving some of the most pressing problems of modern industrial beef production, "said DiCaprio.

Beef, which Mosa and Aleph intend to grow from cells, has the largest greenhouse gas footprint among all types of food, in part because cattle produce a significant amount of highly heated gas, methane, when digesting feed. Cultivated beef, which involves growing only those parts that consumers will eat, and not an entire cow, does not have such a problem. Although at the current stage of development, it requires a significant amount of energy.

Even despite the growing threat of climate change and the growing popularity of plant-based meat alternatives such as Beyond Burger, there is little evidence that the world is changing its attitude towards food. According to FAO forecasts, global meat consumption this year will grow by more than 1%, and Mosa Meat CEO Maarten Bosch notes that by 2050 meat consumption is expected to grow by 40% to 70% with dire consequences for the planet.

DiCaprio's act can help convince skeptical environmental advocates that it can be more effective in practice than trying in words and protests to convince people who love meat to give up their burgers.^[1]

2020: Attraction of 63 million euros

On December 7, 2020, Mosa Meat announced the closure of the Series B financing round, following which the startup attracted a total of 63 million euros in investments. Investors included Target Global, as well as Mitsubishi Corporation, Blue Horizon Ventures, ArcTern Ventures and Rubio Impact Ventures.

The round itself took place in several stages. At the last of them, investors provided Mosa Meat with about 16.3 million euros. The Blue Horizon Ventures fund invested the most, but the specific amounts of investments and shares received by investors in the project are not called.

Target Global invested in foodtech startup Mosa Meat

Mosa Meat is considered the creator of the world's first burger of meat grown in laboratory conditions. Its price at the time of the announcement (in 2013) was €250 thousand, this money was allocated to the startup by the co-founder of Google Sergey Brin. Over the past 7 years, the company's specialists have managed to reduce the cost of grown meat by 88 times, but they expect that they will be able to produce burgers at €9 apiece.

After receiving funding, Mosa Meat intends to obtain regulatory approval for its products. According to the head of production of Mosa Meat, Sarah Lucas, the company will be able to release the product to the European market by the end of 2022.

We are making every effort to enter the market, because we want to begin to have a real impact on the industry as soon as possible. We strive to develop a cleaner and more humane way to produce real beef and ultimately rebuild the global food system, "she said.[2]

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