IntegriCulture has successfully raised $7 million in a Series A funding round. The Japanese foodtech company will use the new investment to develop several affordable growth mediums, as well as other tech solutions for the cultivated meat sector. IntegriCulture has plans to make developments open source in a bid, in order to accelerate widespread progress and commercialisation.
IntegriCulture has raised a total of $16.4 million. In this latest round, existing investors, including AgFunder, Beyond Next Ventures and Teal Tech Fund doubled down on their interest in the company. New participants included Future Food Fund and KemuriVentures, amongst others.
IntegriCulture continues to focus on lowering the cost of cellular agriculture to more affordable levels. Consistent with this goal, its fundraising and commercial activities have always been tied to the gradual development of infrastructure that can be shared across the sector.
In May 2020, the company revealed its “CulNet” platform, which contained a consortium for technical developments. Shortly afterward, it confirmed a $7.4 million Series A raise. The investment was used to create the company’s first commercial-scale bioreactor, for the accelerated development of cultivated meat.
Later that year, in November 2020, the government awarded IntegriCulture a $2.2 million government grant to build a specialist production facility. The company has been gearing for commercial-scale manufacturing, and was optimistic about coming to market by 2023. However, to meet this deadline, drastic reduction of manufacturing costs needs to be addressed, hence the latest funding round.
IntegriCulture hopes to one day develop an “outside-factor-free” tech system that could be used in homes. “Until then, its CulNet system is available to all fellow cellular operations. The startup claims that its system “emulates natural animal body endocrine systems to produce cultured serum,”. By connecting with the system, producers can access on-site manufacturing of the media they need, thus cutting the cost of purchasing from an external source.”
The investment from the latest funding round will allow for expansion of the system, and businesses of all sizes to participate and benefit from open source technology. “The technical development IntegriCulture has achieved over the past 18 months has been impressive, and we truly believe that their CulNet System can be an industry-defining technology and drive the future of sustainable, high-quality protein production,” Michael Dean, founding partner at AgFunder said in a statement.
Aside from funding open-source tech solutions, IntegriCulture plans to bring its own products to market. The first consumer food item, foie gras, is expected to be available later in 2022.
