Singapore’s GOOD Meat bags $170m to scale meat without slaughter technology

GOOD Meat, the Singapore division of US-based alternative food firm Eat Just Inc, announced raising $170 million in new funding that it says will be used to scale its meat without slaughter technology.

The investment came from funds managed by UBS O’Connor, a hedge fund manager within UBS Asset Management, Graphene Ventures, K3 Ventures, and others, according to an announcement.

The food technology startup claims to produce the world’s first-to-market meat made from animal cells instead of slaughtered livestock. With the fresh funding, the startup said it will increase its capacity and accelerate R&D for high-quality, real meat without slaughter.

In recent months, the company has been focused on expanding the team, technology, and manufacturing infrastructure to meet the surging demand in Singapore and to prepare for market entry in the US.

The company said it will quickly scale production in North America and Asia through multi-million-dollar investments in facilities in the US and Singapore while evaluating collaboration and acquisition opportunities in the fast-growing sector.

It also disclosed that The JW Marriott Singapore South Beach’s renowned Cantonese restaurant Madame Fan will be replacing conventional meat with cultured meat during set times. GOOD Meat will replace conventional chicken beginning May 20.

The JW Marriott Singapore South Beach’s decision reinforces the results of a recent survey of consumer and restaurant preferences conducted by a leading management consulting firm.

Two-thirds of consumers polled said they were open to substituting conventional meat with cultured meat and more than 80% of restaurant operators said they envisioned cultured meat replacing all conventional meat in the next 10 years

“This investment, along with the historic decision by JW Marriott Singapore South Beach, points to what’s ahead: meat without killing animals will replace conventional meat at some point in our lifetimes. The faster we make that happen, the healthier our planet will be,” said Josh Tetrick, co-founder and CEO of Eat Just.