Cell-cultured meat start-up Gelatex raises €1.2m in seed funding round

Estonian cell-cultured meat start-up Gelatex has raised €1.2 million in a seed funding round led by Change Ventures and Crosslight Partners.

The company has developed a way to use multi-purpose, cheap and easy-to-use nanofibrous 3D scaffolding in the manufacturing of cell-cultured meat.

This “scalable scaffold” method is used in the production of the cell-cultured meat in order to give it structure.

Märt-Erik Martens, CEO of Gelatex, said: “We are running multiple pilot projects with eight out of ten of the world’s leading cultured meat producers. We have run enough tests to know that our cheaper nanofibrous materials can make a true difference in the texture of cell-cultured meat.”

He continued: “Currently, one kg of scaffolding material costs about €100,000. Today, because of our technology, we are able to produce nanofibrous scaffolds at a price less than €1000 per kg easily. If we stay true to our ambitions and keep scaling our technology, it will cost only €40 in less than five years.”

The investment highlights the growth of the lab-grown meat industry and the demand for cell-cultured meat products.