New Age Meats will double its hiring and build a manufacturing facility in Alameda, California.

New Age Meats grows real, flavorful meat from the cells of unharmed animals, and then, in a hybrid approach, adds plant-based ingredients for texture, taste, and health. The Berkeley, CA-based startup has raised a Series A $25 million round led by Hanwha Solutions of South Korea. Existing investors SOSV’s IndieBio, TechU Ventures, ff VC and Siddhi Capital also participated in the investment. (Food Navigator-USA)

Growing investor interest

Founded in 2018, the cultured-meats startup plans to use the funding to manufacture sausage products at a 20,000 square foot facility in California.

According to founder Brian Spears, New Age Meats is perceived by investors to have potential to bring volume and affordability to the cultured meats market.

Interestingly, Spears observed that more deep-pocketed investors were beginning to get interested in the space.

“I think of it as like this armada of ships that has set sail. In the beginning, they were all just like well let’s try it,” he said. “Now that we are in deep water, and almost to market, then bigger and bigger investors are seeing this as a viable opportunity.”

Why pork first

The company’s first products to market, sausages, may also be targeted at countries such as China, a large market for pork.

Spears told vegconomist: “One of the reasons we chose pork is that it’s the most commonly consumed animal in the world.”

“If the pandemic and climate change has underscored anything, it is that the world needs to find dramatically better ways to satisfy the growing demand by billions of people for protein without harming animals or further hurting the environment,” explained Spears.

“We believe our hybrid products, which combine cultured meat with plant-based protein, do just that,” he added.

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Images credit: New Age Meats