Biotechnology firm Pluristem and Israeli-based food producer Tnuva will join forces to develop, manufacture and commercialize a cultured food platform for cell-based products. Alternative meat is one of the fastest growing industries in the world and is estimated to be a US$140 billion market by 2030.
The collaboration will combine Pluristem’s expertise in mass-scale cell production with Tnuva’s R&D in consumer-packaged goods.
In order to facilitate the move, a new company was created called NewCo with global royalty bearing licensing rights to use Pluristem’s proprietary technology and intellectual property in the field of cultured meat.
Tnuva Group, which manages US$2 billion in annual revenue, will invest US$7.5 million in NewCo, according to a pre-money valuation of US$40 million, with the option to invest up to an additional US$7.5 million over a period of 12 months following the closing.
Independent R&D capacity
NewCo will use its own funding and resources to drive the commercialization of cultured meat. NewCo intends to present its technology Proof of Concept in 2022, with the goal of launching its first raw cultured meat product in 2023.
Pluristem will support the establishment and R&D advancements of NewCo, pursuant to a services agreement.
Tnuva will provide the R&D platform to develop consumer products and will receive preferred marketing rights of any developed NewCo’s products in Israel.
Over the last two decades, Pluristem developed a proprietary three dimensional (3D) expansion platform that can produce high-quality cells in a cost-effective manner with batch-to-batch consistency.
Bringing cultured dairy and fish to market
As part of the collaboration, the parties may expand the collaboration to include cultured dairy and cultured fish products by establishing separate, new ventures.
“We chose to collaborate with Pluristem because we believe it owns one of the most advanced cell production technologies in the world,” says Haim Gavrieli, chairman of Tnuva Group.
“We expect the collaboration between the companies to revolutionize the cultured food industry and develop the next generation of alternative proteins,” he explains.
The collaboration with Tnuva supports Pluristem’s strategy to establish partnerships that leverage its cell-based technology platform.
“As we embark on this collaboration with Tnuva, Pluristem is still dedicated to its core business of developing cell therapy products," says Yaky Yanay, CEO and president of Pluristem.
"Over the years, Pluristem has developed one of the most advanced cell manufacturing platforms. During the last year, we made our strategy more precise, with the goal of leveraging our technology and expertise through partnerships and collaborations,” he says.
BlueTree, a portfolio company of Fresh-Start Food-Tech incubator, in partnership with Tnuva, Tempo, OurCrowd, Finistere Ventures, developed a technology for physical-selective (natural) reduction of sugar from natural liquids.
