SuperMeat Report Shows Cultivated Meat’s Viability Despite Market Skepticism

SuperMeat cofounder Ido Savir noted that public sentiment around cultivated meat remains cautious, with doubts about its scalability and market potential leading some to view it as more hype than a feasible meat alternative. Savir emphasized that SuperMeat’s latest report demonstrates a commercially viable path to market, given the right technology.

Established in December 2015, SuperMeat, based in Rehovot, Israel, is one of the pioneering companies in cultivated meat. The company grows avian stem cells from fertilized eggs, which are naturally immortal and capable of differentiating into various cell types, to produce muscle and fat tissue. SuperMeat’s new 23-page report, along with a video, outlines a semi-continuous production process that isolates these cells from non-incubated eggs, preparing them for large-scale bioreactor processes.

Savir explained that the report details SuperMeat’s entire production cycle, including key metrics and performance indicators. With its current 10-liter setup, SuperMeat projects that production scaled to 25,000-liter bioreactors could yield cultivated chicken meat at costs of $11.8 per pound without depreciation and $13.4 per pound with depreciation, competitive with premium conventional poultry in the U.S. This estimate assumes cell densities of 80 million cells per milliliter within nine days, and animal-free media costs below 50 cents per liter. Savir added that SuperMeat is collaborating with manufacturing partners and regulatory agencies in the U.S. and Singapore to validate its processes on a ‘mid-scale’ level for potential partners and investors.

At this initial scale, Savir proposed a hybrid approach, using cultivated chicken meat at a 30% inclusion rate in processed products like minced meat and burgers, which would remain competitive in the value-added market. He expressed hope for regulatory approval in the U.S. by late next year.

Savir declined to disclose SuperMeat’s total funding, acknowledging that some investors in food technology are cautious. However, he argued that if companies can demonstrate commercial viability and market interest, cultivated meat could see renewed investment momentum.

Among the top-funded startups in the cultivated meat sector are UPSIDE Foods ($608 million), GOOD Meat ($270 million), and Believer Meats ($388 million). UPSIDE Foods has currently paused its plans for a large-scale facility in Chicago to expand a smaller facility in California. GOOD Meat, meanwhile, has shifted focus toward process optimization rather than fundraising for large-scale production. Believer Meats, on the other hand, is building what it claims will be the world’s largest cultivated meat plant in North Carolina, expected to be operational by the end of 2024, though regulatory approval for U.S. sales remains pending.

European firms are also making headway. Dutch startup Mosa Meat, which raised $43 million earlier this year, opened a 30,000-square-foot scale-up plant in Maastricht, while Meatable, another Dutch firm, secured $35 million in Series B funding, bringing its total funding close to $100 million.

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