Multus media has raised 2.1 Million Dollars seed round for their flagship product that aims to reduce the cost of growing lab meat. Ploriferum M is said to offer a true replacement for foetal bovine serum which is expensive.
As the world becomes aware of climate change; individuals, companies and organizations are looking for ways of reducing emissions and other practices that affect the environment. In the meat industry, investors have poured billions of dollars into lab-grown or cultured meat. Cultured meat is real meat but it doen’t require the slaughter of live animals. Instead, this meat is grown in the lab from animal cells.
To grow meat in a lab, stem cells are taken from the animal and mixed with a number of nutrients and proteins in “huge casks” that look more like a brewing process than a farm. One of the biggest challenges to scaling the production is the cost of growth media.
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Growth media refers to the liquid mixture of nutrients, fats, and salts that are fed to cells to make them grow. The industry currently uses fetal bovine serum or cow foetus blood which is expensive. A liter of this serum could cost up to $965 according to Wired. This means the cost of producing meat fit for one burger will cost thousands of dollars.
University friends Cai Linton, Kevin Pan and Reka Tron formed Multus Media, after winning in multiple science competitions to provide a solution. This startup aims to break the lab-grown meat sector’s reliance on fetal bovine serum by using Proliferum M. The founders believe Proliferum M is a replacement for fetal bovine serum and have just raised $2.1 million in seed round hope to go to market by end of year. The expect companies to grow meat at low costs which is a cheaper than industrial farming.
Rearing cattle takes on more land that can be used for cultivation and growing trees. It also creates greenhouse gas emissions. Growing lab meat could ultimately lead to reducing the number of ranches and cattle farms which is positive for climate change activists.
