Roslin Tech, an Edinburgh-based food & ag tech company, has raised £11 million Series A funding.
The company aims to become a leading provider of animal cell lines to the emerging cultivated meat sector.
Cultivated meat is meat grown directly from animal cells without the need to raise animals. It promises to improve animal welfare, lower antibiotics use and reduce the environmental footprint of meat production.
However it needs to deliver a great sensory experience and lower production costs. High quality cell lines are needed to make cultivated meat safe, affordable and nutritious.
Roslin Tech has developed pluripotent animal stem cells with the capacity to self-renew indefinitely and differentiate into desired end-tissues for meat. Roslin Tech is making these cells available to cultivated meat producers globally. Currently, the company has customers in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
The new funding – led by Novo Holdings and featuring Kairos Capital Group, Nutreco, Future Planet Capital, Esco Lifesciences, Alchimia and private investors – will be used to expand its cell line portfolio and to further develop the protocols for scale up of its cells into cost competitive cell biomass for meat production.
It will do so jointly with its customers, development collaborators, and the University of Edinburgh with which Roslin Tech has a privileged relationship. It will also invest in its insect venture which focuses on breeding better insects for the emerging insect protein sector, a promising regenerative agricultural technique.
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“We are excited to welcome Novo Holdings and other investors on our journey to improve the food system. With the investment and strategic support, we can accelerate the development of better cells for the sector and focus on making our customers successful,” said Ernst van Orsouw, CEO of Roslin Tech.
“We’ve been impressed with Roslin Technologies’ team and innovative technologies, which have the potential to materially improve the production of novel, sustainable proteins.
“We are excited to invest alongside a strong syndicate of investors whose joint vision for Roslin Technologies and complementary capabilities will be a great asset to the company in its continued development.”