In Singapore, cultivated meat, leather, and cosmetics startup Cellivate Technologies has won the top prize in Channel News Asia’s business reality show, The Big Spark. The company will receive about $3.3 million in funding from venture capital firms, including Antler and Rigel-Farro Capital.
“This experience of being on the show has been incredible,” founder Dr. Krishnan-Kutty told Channel News Asia. “The company’s funding situation was very bad last year. Our team has been bootstrapping and we were so close to giving up on what we are doing.”
The funds will be used to expand R&D, scale production, and add staff.
Singapore became the first country to approve cultivated meat in December 2020, when it gave the green light to Eat Just’s chicken nuggets.