Meat substitutes based on soya, wheat or peas are becoming increasingly popular. However, when it comes to flavour, these products cannot yet compete with the animal-based original. The Berlin start-up Cultimate Foods wants to solve this problem with an innovative fat ingredient. In order to improve the flavour and texture of plant-based meat substitutes, the biotech company is developing a so-called hybrid product consisting of plant-based protein and cell-based ingredients such as cultured fat. The foodtech start-up has now raised 2.3 million euros from investors as part of a seed round.

Revolutionising the meat industry

The financing round was led by High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF). Other investors included Life Science Valley Wachstumsfonds, b.value AG, Kale United and foodtech investor Big Idea Ventures. "In a short period of time, Cultimate Foods was able to achieve important milestones, establish strong connections to the foodtech industry and enter into collaborations with universities. HTGF is excited to enter a new investment field and support Cultimate Foods in revolutionising the alternative meat industry with its cell-cultured fat ingredient," said Tilmann Petersen, Investment Manager at HTGF.

Lipid composition ensures authentic meat flavour

Cultimate Foods was founded in 2022 and sees itself as a B2B partner that wants to supply other food manufacturers in the meat substitute sector with the fat ingredient cultivated in the laboratory. According to the company, this is a "unique lipid composition" that provides an "authentic pork and beef flavour". Using modern cell culture techniques, real fat cells are grown in the laboratory without animals having to suffer.

"Science is the key to solving many of the problems caused by the food industry. Through innovative technologies, we can deliver the meat flavour that consumers crave, while reducing unethical factory farming and tackling climate change by reducing CO₂ emissions," said Eugenia Sagué, co-founder and CEO of Cultimate Foods.

Scaling and expansion of the product range

Cultimate Foods intends to use the money raised to scale its production processes and expand its commercial collaborations and operations. "Closing the seed round in today's funding environment validates the success of our technology approach and the efforts of our team. With a consortium of experienced biotech and foodtech funds on board, we look forward to benefiting from both areas of expertise as we scale to the next TRL and enter our first markets," said George Zheleznyi, co-founder and CEO of Cultimate Foods.

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