Cell culture meat company “CellX” has completed an angel round of tens of millions of yuan in early 2021, led by Zhen Fund, with Yunjiu Capital, Xianfeng, Lever VC and others as follow-up investors. This round of financing will be mainly used for the continuous research and development of products. This is CellX’s second round of financing within six months after the seed round of financing of millions of RMB last year.
Founded in 2020, CellX is a start-up company in the field of cell agriculture. The team has expanded to 25 people and moved to the R&D center in Shanghai Zhangjiang in the middle of the year. At present, it has developed a number of prototypes of cell meat products, including stents and3D bioprintingStructured chunks of meat produced.
Cell agriculture has several important functions.According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and other data, the carbon emissions of animal husbandry have accounted for 14.5% of global carbon emissions.Good Food Institute’s latest research shows that with the popularization of renewable energy, the carbon emissions of pork and beef produced through cellular agriculture are reduced by 52% and 92%, respectively, compared with traditional farming methods. The production of cell culture meat through technical means can avoid the use of antibiotics and hormones, as well as the spread of animal infectious diseases, and resist risks such as plague. in addition,3D bioprintingThe technology can realize customized food, which can better adjust the fat-to-lean ratio of meat while customizing the nutritional ingredients, which not only improves the taste but also enhances the nutrition.
CellX R&D scene graph
Many plant-based meat brands have successively received a wave of financing in the first half of this year. In fact, the new protein includes not only plant meat, but also cell culture meat.Different from plant meat, cell culture meat uses animal muscle and fat cells as raw materials to conduct large-scale and low-cost cell culture outside of the animal body. At the same time, it uses biological scaffolds and3D bioprintingThe technology transforms cells into tissues to truly restore the taste and texture of animal meat.
Cell culture meat skips the feeding and slaughtering steps in traditional animal husbandry, and can complete the production of animal protein.The production process is mainly divided into the following steps: 1) Extracting cells: extract a small part of cells from animals and use them as “seeds” to become the starting point for cell culture meat cultivation and expansion; 2) Cultivation and expansion: simulate cells in animals The growth environment in the body provides sufficient nutrients to help it achieve exponential expansion; 3) Structure construction: use biological scaffolds or3D printingTechnology makes cells form the tissue structure of meat; 4) Become a meat product: further restore the taste and texture of meat through food science.
Most of the cost of cell culture meat comes from the medium used in its production process. The medium is mainly composed of basal medium, fetal bovine serum and growth factors. Cost reduction is the pain point of this industry, and it is also the focus of the CellX team’s next efforts.At present, the team has reduced the cost by 5 times, and plans to reduce it by 10 times in 2022, and achieve the same price as animal meat in 2025.The founder Yang Ziliang told 36Kr that, from the perspective of current technology realization, cost reduction can be achieved by developing serum-free culture and using synthetic biology technology to produce growth factors.
After realizing cost reduction, the next thing to be solved is the problem of legal supervision. Looking at the world, the US company Eat Just has obtained approval from the Singapore Food Agency to market cell culture chicken products in the local market. Yang Ziliang told 36 krypton that no relevant policies have been issued at the national level, but during the two sessions in May 2020, Academician Sun Baoguo has proposed to increase investment in research and development of cell cultured meat, and establish sound laws and regulations to address cell cultured meat as a solution to China’s food security. The strategic deployment of the problem has triggered extensive discussions.
CellX R&D scene graph
According to data from McKinsey, the cell culture meat market is expected to reach US$25 billion by 2030.Due to the barriers of technology and talents, there are not many companies that do cell culture meat in China. CellX is the first batch of Chinese companies to enter the cell culture meat track.
CEO Yang Ziliang is a former consultant of the Boston Consulting Group. Product leader Xiang Ning is a PhD from Purdue University. During his post-doctoral period, he conducted cell culture meat research and development in the laboratory of David Kaplan, an academician of the American Academy of Engineering, and has more than 10 years of experience in the field of food research and development. Huang Binlu, the head of cell research and development, is a PhD from Tsinghua University. Before joining CellX, he has 6 years of postdoctoral and immunotherapy industry experience, and more than 15 years of experience in the field of cell biology. Ran Liu is an MBA from Stanford University and a serial entrepreneur in the field of science and technology.
Fang Aizhi, Founding Partner and CEO of Zhen Fund, said: “The Cell Meat Track has great potential.3D bioprintingAnd other technical methods have avoided many animal breeding problems, and while improving the taste, it also reduces the cost. The founder, Zi Liang, is an influential entrepreneur who pays attention to social value. At the same time, the team is composed of a group of excellent partners with interdisciplinary backgrounds in biomedicine and food science. I believe they will definitely make innovative contributions to changing the global protein supply. “
Darong Cao, the founding partner of Yunjiu Capital, said: “China is a major global meat consumer and a broad market for protein substitutes in the future. CellX has been established only one year ago and has made rapid progress in team building, technology research and development, and industrial chain layout. I believe that in the near future, safe, healthy, affordable and easy-to-obtain cellular meat ingredients will appear on the public table.”
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