South Korean Cultivated Meat Startup TissenBioFarm Raises $1.6 Million In Pre-Series A

Preparing to disrupt South Korea’s protein market, TissenBioFarm has closed a 2.2 billion KRW (approx. 1.6million USD) pre-Series A funding round.

TissenBioFarm says the new funding was led by impact investing company, Envisioning Partners, with FuturePlay and Stonebridge Ventures participating. Mirae Holdings, an existing investment company, also made a follow-up investment. The new funding follows its $400,000 raise in the spring.

The funding will support expansion plans for its research facility and the building of a production system that goes beyond its laboratory setting. It will also work on developing animal cell proliferation and differentiation technologies ahead of consumer launches once regulatory approvals are in place.

TissenBioFarm says it effectively replicates the texture, marbling, and nutrition of conventional meat. This technique is highly scalable, the company says, with the ability to mass produce whole-cut cultured meat using animal cells and functional bio-ink.

“In the global cultured meat field, it is very challenging to create meat as thick as a steak through cell culture methodology,” Wonil Han, CEO of TissenBioFarm, said in a statement. “Furthermore, replicating the meat texture and marbling in cultured meat, and mass-producing them requires cutting-edge technologies. Our technologies will provide high-quality cultured meat that is competitive in taste, nutrition, sensory, and price in the near future.” 

Tissen has created three bio-inks that it says are capable of being mass-produced for about $0.33 per 100 grams. The inks have applications in both cultivated and plant-based meat.

“Thyssen Biopharmaceuticals [and Tissen] is showing innovation in mass production technology beyond the limitations of the existing cultured meat production method represented by cells, culture medium, and support,” Kim Jae-hyeon of recent investor Mirae Holdings, said in a statement earlier this year.

“We expect to grow into a future food company that will solve the problems of animal ethics in the slaughter process and imbalance between supply and demand in the meat market by promoting the popularization of cultured meat in the meat market.”

All photos by TissenBioFarm.