Israeli AgriTech startup Aleph Farms gets $105M to grow beef steaks from non-genetically engineered cell
Early this year, the internet erupted when Bill Gates called on all the rich countries to change entirely to 100% lab-grown meat to save the planet from climate change disasters. Americans love beef and most don’t want to give up their juicy stake for genetically engineered meat. What if there is a win-win solution?
Enter Aleph Farms, an Israeli AgriTech startup that creates sustainable and cultivated meat. Unlike Impossible Foods which creates fake meats from the lab, Aleph Farms grows beef steaks, from non-genetically engineered cells isolated from a living cow, without harming animals and with a significantly reduced impact to the environment.
To further scale up its manufacturing and grow operations internationally ahead of its initial market launch in 2022, Aleph Farms announced today it has closed $105 in million Series B funding round led by VisVires New Protein, with participation from Peregrine Ventures and Strauss Group, as well as other leading global food and meat companies including Cargill and M-Industry. To date, Alephhas raised more than $118 million in total funding.
Aleph Farms will use the funding proceeds to execute its plans for large-scale global commercialization of cultivated beef steaks and portfolio expansion. Near-term milestones include scaling up manufacturing, growing operations internationally, and expanding its product lines and technology platform ahead of its initial market launch in 2022. The Company is currently working with regulatory agencies on its plans for market entry.
Aleph Farms was founded in 2017 by Didier Toubia, The Kitchen Hub of the Strauss Group, and Professor Shulamit Levenberg from the Biomedical Engineering Faculty at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.
DisruptAD’s investment in Aleph Farms will also help bolster Abu Dhabi’s long-term focus on food resilience. As a strategic partner to DisruptAD, Aleph Farms will evaluate the establishment of a manufacturing facility in Abu Dhabi to supply its cultivated meat products across the UAE and the broader GCC region.
Commenting on the funding, Didier Toubia, Co-Founder and CEO of Aleph Farms said, “We are thrilled to grow our relationships with existing partners, and welcome select new investors in this funding round. This additional capital from top-tier partners with unparalleled experience and expertise brings us significantly closer to our vision of providing secure and unconditional access to high-quality nutrition to anyone, anytime, anywhere. We see our investors as partners for building this new category of meat and it was critical to us that they share our strong commitment to improving the sustainability of our global food systems.”
Michael Farello, a Managing Partner at L Catterton’s Growth Fund, said, “With cultivated whole-muscle cut steaks, an optimized platform for cost parity at scale, and a global partnership network with the world’s largest meat producers, Aleph Farms has differentiated itself as the leading cultivated meat company poised to go to market. We are excited to support their success as they prepare for the global launch, and we look forward to leveraging our significant expertise in food and sustainable businesses that meet the needs of a changing consumer and a changing world.”