May 19, 2021

By Lynda Kiernan, Global AgInvesting Media

Founded in 2011 with a mission to build a healthier, safer, and more sustainable food system, Eat Just has applied cutting-edge technology to create JUST Egg – the fastest-growing plant-based egg brand in America, and GOOD Meat – the world’s first-to-market cellular lab-grown meat.

This work has gained Eat Just widespread recognition, named one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Companies”, Entrepreneur’s “100 Brilliant Companies”, CNBC’s “Disruptor 50”, and a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer.

Last year the company also reached an important milestone when it secured the first regulatory approval for high-quality meat created directly from animal cells for human consumption in the world, only weeks before it made history when it served its GOOD Meat-branded cultured chicken to restaurant guests for the first time.

Cultured meat, in general, is on pace to be a $13 billion market by 2030, and Eat Just sees its GOOD Meat Cultured Chicken as being at a price parity with traditional chicken by that point, according to modeling conducted in February by a leading management consultant retained by Eat Just.

Rising consumer demand and a market outlook such as this has drawn the attention of investors to GOOD Meat which has just announced it has secured $170 million in funding backed by funds managed by UBS O’Connor, a hedge fund manager within UBS Asset Management, Graphene Ventures, K3 Ventures, and others.

“This deal is changing the future in terms of how humanity is fed,” said Nabil Borhanu, founder and managing partner, Graphene Ventures. “Eat Just has led and dominated the plant-based egg category with its JUST Egg products, and with all the efforts made, we’re confident that GOOD Meat will lead the cultured meat category starting with the $193 billion chicken market. For us, this is not only about meat, it’s about fueling the growth of planet-friendly food alternatives that can feed a rapidly changing world.”

With this capital GOOD Meat has now become a subsidiary of Eat Just, which itself just announced it had raised $200 million less than two months ago.

Concurrently with this investment, GOOD Meat announced another milestone achieved – the JW Marriott Singapore South Beach’s renowned Cantonese restaurant Madame Fan has agreed to be the first restaurant in the world to replace conventional meat on its menu with cultured meat during pre-set time periods.

Beginning May 20, GOOD Meat chicken will be featured in a range of dishes for delivery including Asian-inspired chicken salad with sesame mirin vinaigrette, steamed chicken dumplings, and chicken vegetable stir-fry, soon to be followed by inclusion in dine-in options.

“As part of a global organization aimed to cut food wastage, partnering with a purposeful company such as GOOD Meat was the perfect collaboration to support our ‘Source Responsibly’ efforts whilst we continue to deliver exceptional culinary experiences,”  said Marco Pedrelli, director of food & beverage and Culinary, JW Marriott Singapore South Beach.

Eat Just and GOOD Meat stated that this decision by Madam Fan is a reflection of the results of a consumer survey questioning restaurant preferences conducted by a leading management consulting firm that found two-thirds of consumers polled said that they were open to the idea of eating culture meat, and more than 80 percent of restaurant operator responded that they believed cultivated meat would replace all conventional meat in the next 10 years.

“The $2 trillion global market for meat and poultry is likely to experience significant change and disruption over the next 10 years as consumers increasingly recognize the environmental impact of their diet choices and search for healthier and more sustainable products like GOOD Meat to replace conventional animal proteins in their diets,” said Kevin Russell, chief investment officer, UBS O’Connor.

Recently, GOOD Meat has been focusing on expanding its team, along with its technology and manufacturing infrastructure to meet surging demand in Singapore, and to prep for an entry into the U.S. market. This new capital will be used to expand capacity and to accelerate R&D for high-quality meat without slaughter.

Josh Tetrick, co-founder and CEO of Eat Just commented, “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.”

– Lynda Kiernan is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Oilseed & Grain News. She can be reached at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.