I’m keeping a close eye on the progress of lab grown meat, so I created this page to serve as a company directory.
Note that most of these are private companies, if you are looking to invest in this industry, see my page on lab grown meat companies to invest in.
I’ll try to keep this page as up to date as possible as new startups gain traction.
Table of Contents
Lab Grown Meat Company List
I’ve grouped the cultured meat companies by country, but other than that they are just in alphabetical order.
Here is my complete list of lab grown meat companies:
Balletic Foods
Location: California, United States
Founded in: 2017
There’s very little information about Balletic Foods’ products and progress towards commercial offerings.
Because Animals
Products: Cat and dog food
Location: Illinois, United States
Founded in: 2018
Because Animals began by making plant-based cat and dog foods, but is now developing pet foods made from cultured meat as well.
While dogs have no problem with plant-based foods, it’s debatable whether they are appropriate for cats (the general consensus is that they are not). Lab grown pet food would allow owners to feed their pets meat in an ethical way.
Biftek
Products: Growth medium
Location: United States
Founded in: 2020
Biftek doesn’t make in vitro meat, instead they make growth mediums to sell to lab-grown meat manufacturers.
In order to cultivate cells, they need to be exposed to growth medium in a bioreactor. There’s a lot of room to improve the current growth mediums (that usually relies on fetal bovine serum).
BioBQ
BioBQ is a Texas-based startup focusing on lab grown beef brisket for BBQ.
They have a working prototype that is made without the use of FBS, and is currently fundraising to scale-up operations.
BlueNalu
Products: Seafood
Location: California, United States
Founded in: 2017
BlueNalu is aiming to be the global leader in cellular aquaculture (i.e. synthetic seafood).
Bond Pet Foods
Products: Cultivated chicken for pet food
Location: Denver, United States
Founded in: 2015
Similar to Because Animals, Bond Pet Foods has started with plant-based dog food, but has been working on cultivated meat-based pet food for years.
Unfortunately, they always seem to be “1 year away” from selling a commercial product. I remember learning about the company and following them in 2019 when looking at the potential of lab-grown cat food, and it was supposedly supposed to hit the shelves within the next year (which didn’t happen).
Finless Foods
Products: Plant-based and cell-cultured seafood
Location: California, United States
Founded in: 2017
As the name suggests, Finless Foods is focusing on lab-grown seafood.
They’re starting with tuna, since it’s the most popular fish in most metrics worldwide. One of the biggest advantages of lab-grown meat is the absence of toxins like heavy metals, which large fish like tuna accumulate in the wild.
GOOD Meat
Products: Chicken
Location: California, United States
GOOD Meat is a brand made by Eat Just (who also makes things like plant-based egg products). It seems like the company is ahead of most of its competitors on this list for now.
The company’s cultured chicken was approved for sale in Singapore near the end of 2020, and they are also working with the FDA in the U.S. to build a process for regulatory approval of cultivated meat.
UPSIDE Foods
Products: Chicken
Location: California, United States
Founded in: 2015
UPSIDE Foods was originally Memphis Meats, one of the startups that gathered the most attention in recent years.
It’s founded by cardiologist Uma Valeti, and has huge investors including:
- Cargill and Tyson Foods
- Bill Gates
- Richard Branson
- Kimbal Musk
- John Mackey
Mission Barns
Products: Bacon, sausage, meatballs
Location: California, United States
Founded in: 2018
While Mission Barns has created some lab-grown meats, those are mostly proof of concept of their lab-grown fat technology.
Traditional lab-grown meat so far is essentially pure protein, which results in not the greatest taste or structure. Mission Barns is creating lab-grown animal fat to add to traditional lab-grown meat.
New Age Meats
Products: Sausage
Location: California, United States
Founded in: 2018
New Age Meats is starting with making sausages because it’s “easy” compared to other types of meat (essentially shaping some ground meat in a casing), but is planning to expand over time.
Pearlita Foods
Products: Oyster
Location: North Carolina, United States
There’s very little information about Pearlita Foods available right now or their progress, other than that they are focused on making lab grown oysters.
The main reason I included Pearlita on this list is that it is one of the holdings of CULT Food Science.
Wild Earth
Products: Dog food
Location: Boulder, United States
Founded in: 2018
Wild Earth has been pitched on Shark Tank and has Mark Cuban as an investor.
They make plant-based pet food and plan to expand to pet food that’s made with cell based meat.
Wild Type
Products: Salmon
Location: California, United States
Founded in: 2016
Wild Type is another company trying to manufacture cell based seafood. It’s focusing on sushi-grade salmon to start with.
Aleph Farms
Products: Steak
Location: Israel
Founded in: 2017
Aleph Farms is the only startup I’ve come across that’s specifically focusing on making lab-grown (and carbon neutral) steak.
It’s also the company that produced cultivated meat in space in 2019. With the growing interest in space travel, being able to produce meat on demand in space could be huge (although probably decades down the line).
This is one of the cultured meat companies that Leonardo DiCaprio has invested in.
BioFood Systems
Products: General lab-grown meat
Location: Israel
Founded in: 2018
I couldn’t find much information on Bio Food Systems other than it exists.
Future Meat Technologies
Products: Chicken
Location: Israel
Founded in: 2018
According to the company, “Future Meat Technologies (FMT) is the first cultivated meat company to break the $5 cost barrier”.
They’re attempting to scale production in order to make products even more affordable.
MeaTech 3D
Products: Beef, poultry
Location: Israel
Founded in: 2017
MeaTech is another one of the most publicized startups in this space, with investors like Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary.
The company is focusing on developing premium cuts of lab-grown meat, rather than ground meats like most others are.
Their Belgium factory will 3D print realistic meats (i.e. both protein and fat).
SuperMeat
Products: Chicken
Location: Israel
Founded in: 2017
SuperMeat is one of the first to establish supply to a restaurant. The restaurant “The Chicken” will serve chicken made by SuperMeat, located in Tel Aviv.
Meatable
Location: Netherlands
Founded in: 2018
Meatable was one of the first startups to replace bovine serum while being able to improve the speed and cost of their lab-grown meats. They might be the first to make a lab grown meat that vegans might eat.
Mosa Meat
Products: Beef (specializing in hamburgers)
Location: Netherlands
Founded in: 2013
Mosa Meats is another one of the cell-based meat companies that DiCaprio has invested in.
It’s best known for making the world’s first cell-based hamburger.
Shiok Meats
Products: Seafood
Location: Singapore
Founded in: 2018
Shiok Meats is the largest cultivated seafood company in Singapore and South-East Asia.
Biotech Foods
Location: Spain
Founded in: 2017
Biotech Foods has a proven product – Ethicameat – that they are trying to scale up at this point.
Cubiq Foods
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Founded in: 2018
I wasn’t sure if I should include Cubiq Foods or not because the company doesn’t produce meat. Instead, it makes lab-grown omega 3 supplements.
Traditionally, omega 3 supplements are derived from fish (or algae for plant-based supplements).
GOURMEY
Products: Poultry
Location: France
GOURMEY is focusing on foie gras and poultry to start with, and then planning on expanding to other types of meat in the future.
Vow
Products: Kangaroo
Location: Australia
If you’re looking for lab-grown kangaroo meat, it’s not surprising that an Australian-based company would be the first one to try and manufacture it.
Note that the company has stated that it will expand to chicken and pork in the near future as well.
Avant Meats
Products: Fish
Location: Hong Kong
Founded in: 2018
Avant Meats claimed that in 2020 it was able to achieve a 90% cost reduction when it comes to cultivated fish fillet.
It is planning on launching a pilot production plant in 2022 and scaling up from there.
Higher Steaks
Products: Pork
Location: Cambridge, United Kingdom
Founded in: 2018
Higher Steaks is making pork products that are a mixture of cultivated meat and plant-based ingredients.
For now, it’s most well known for its bacon and pork belly prototypes.
Peace of Meat
Products: Lab grown fat
Location: Belgium
Founded in: 2020
There’s very little information on this company, so it remains to be seen if it will be a real competitor to the other businesses on this list.
Clear Meat
Products: Chicken
Location: India
Clear Meat is the first lab-based meat company in India, although it seems like the company is still working on prototypes.
Mogale Meat
Products: Free roaming livestock and antelope
Location: South Africa
Founded in: 2020
It’s still really early, but Mogale Meat is drawing some attention. The Canadian-based investment platform CULT has invested in the company.
