In California, Memphis Meats raised $17 million from a group of investors including Bill Gates, Richard Branson and Cargill to continue developing delicious products, to accelerate its work in scaling up clean meat production, and to reduce production costs to levels comparable to – and ultimately below – conventional meat costs.
“We’re going to bring meat to the plate in a more sustainable, affordable and delicious way,” explains Uma Valeti, M.D., co-founder and CEO of Memphis Meats. “The world loves to eat meat, and it is core to many of our cultures and traditions. Meat demand is growing rapidly around the world. We want the world to keep eating what it loves.”
Memphis Meats has already produced beef, chicken and duck directly from animal cells, without the need to raise and slaughter animals. The round was led by DFJ, a leading venture capital firm that has previously backed Tesla, SpaceX and Skype.