IntegriCulture, a Japanese-based cellular agriculture firm, has already obtained an investment fund backed by Beyond Next Ventures, AgFunder, and NH Foods, among other investors. The amount they raised totaled $16.4 million.
Recently, the company has raised $7 million from twelve investors in the Series A round. Existing investors, Real Tech Fund, Beyond Next Ventures, AgFunder, and other unnamed companies participated in the Series A-plus funding, which followed the company’s $7 million Series round in May 2020.
With all the funds raised, IntegriCulture plans on developing a cellular agriculture infrastructure platform that different institutions can utilize. The firm also plans on launching the world’s first commercial cell-cultured foie grass this 2022.
Sustainable protein is a major concern for humanity. IntegriCulture aims to create a general-purpose big-scale cell structure technology to supply reasonable and sustainable protein for every household.
It has been discovered that the food for 3.5 billion people is consumed as animal feed. Currently, thirty-six percent of global crop harvest is consumed as animal feed. Further, approximately seventy percent of the worldwide arable land is utilized for animal agriculture one way or another. The effect on the global ecosystem is massive, particularly on the number of natural resources needed.
If neither fish nor meat, becoming a vegetarian might be a possible solution, as more and more people are opting for a meat-free diet. Nonetheless, not everybody is happily eager to give up the culinary culture around fish and meat.
It’s well-known that meat eats up the planet, and fishing is hanging on a scary edge. However, people still can’t abandon their culinary cultures. That is why IntegriCulture’s solution is to develop sustainable and delicious meat through cell culture. Cell cultured meat features a thirty-five percent calorie conversion efficiency than the three percent of standard meat. That might cut down the ecological footprint of meat by ninety-eight percent.
The patented CulNet System of the company is a biotechnology platform that can generate animal cell-based materials and foods like leather, meat, and other products. The system, in theory, can also culture any particular animal cells and provides a broad spectrum of functions in materials products, medical, biochemical, and food.
IntegriCulture hopes the biotechnology platform will offer means to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in the food sector and to accomplish democratization of cellular agriculture, in which people can efficiently generate cellular agriculture products of any categories such as chemicals, cosmetics, nutraceuticals, medical, and food, among other materials.
All the funds raised will be utilized to research and develop cell culture technology, investment in equipment and facilities, and operational and staffing costs. It’s worth mentioning that the CulNet System units will be given to clients by rent or on a sales basis to roll out the cellular agriculture infrastructure.
The CEO of IntegriCulture Inc., Yuki Hanyu, explained that the funds would be utilized to develop accessible cellular agriculture to make 2021 the year one of democratized cellular agriculture. He also mentioned that the company would continue to build technologies to accomplish their mission—to use biological resources combined with technology to make a healthy social infrastructure and make cultured meat a reality this 2022.
IntegriCulture pointed out that it would utilize the Series A plus funds to create a cellular farming infrastructure platform that can provide emerging technologies and solutions to businesses of all sizes and sectors. On top of that, a portion of the funds will be utilized to launch the first food product.
Michael Dean, the founding partner of AgFunder, cited that the technological innovation that IntegriCulture has accomplished over the past few months is astounding, and AgFunder believes their CulNet System could be an industry-defining technology driving the future of high-quality and sustainable protein production.
