BSF Enterprise subsidiary 3D Bio-Tissues lands cultivated meat supply deal with South Korea’s SeaWith

BSF Enterprise PLC said its subsidiary 3D Bio-Tissues had signed a commercial supply agreement with South Korean cultivated meat company SeaWith, marking a significant step in the wider adoption of its cell culture technology within Asia’s fast-growing alternative protein sector.

Under the agreement, 3D Bio-Tissues will supply City-Mix, its macromolecular crowder for cell culture, to support SeaWith’s cultivated beef production. The deal was valued at around £300,000, equivalent to approximately US$380,000, and will see SeaWith receive regular shipments of City-Mix to integrate into its production pipeline.

The agreement was formalized through a Head of Terms and represented a milestone for 3D Bio-Tissues as it expanded City-Mix into commercial cultivated meat manufacturing. The company said the technology was designed to improve cell density, growth efficiency, and tissue quality, while reducing overall production costs by lowering the volume of expensive growth media required. According to BSF Enterprise, SeaWith expected City-Mix to reduce its growth media use by around 30%.

SeaWith, founded in 2019, is a South Korean biotechnology company focused on developing slaughter-free meat alternatives using seaweed-derived technologies. The company has raised more than US$8 million in venture funding and is developing a cultivated beef product line under the Welldone brand, with a focus on scalability and environmental impact reduction.

BSF Enterprise positioned the partnership as a strategic entry point into one of Asia’s most promising cultivated meat markets. South Korea has emerged as a focal point for cultivated protein development, supported by government-backed initiatives aimed at accelerating commercialization.

Che Connon, CEO of 3D Bio-Tissues, said the agreement demonstrated the commercial value of the company’s technology beyond research and pilot settings.

“This agreement marked a significant milestone for 3D Bio-Tissues as we expanded City-Mix into one of Asia’s most dynamic cultivated meat markets,” Connon said. “By partnering with SeaWith, a recognized innovator in sustainable protein, we demonstrated how our technology could deliver real commercial impact, boosting cell yield, improving tissue quality, and crucially lowering production costs to help make cultivated meat economically viable at scale.”

He added that the collaboration served as validation of City-Mix’s role in addressing one of the sector’s core challenges, namely cost reduction. “We see this collaboration as a strong validation of City-Mix and an important step toward accelerating global adoption of cultivated meat,” Connon said.

From SeaWith’s perspective, the agreement aligned with its regulatory and commercialization strategy in South Korea. The company operates within the country’s Regulatory-Free Special Zone framework, which allows cultivated meat companies to bypass certain regulatory requirements for up to five years. The initiative is part of a national effort to position South Korea as a global hub for food technology innovation.

Heejae Lee, CTO and cofounder of SeaWith, said the technology fit well with the company’s existing cell lines and production approach.

“As Korea’s designated Regulatory Free Zone operator for cultivated meat, we were pleased to partner with an industry leader like 3D Bio-Tissues as we moved toward regulatory approval,” Lee said. “City-Mix technology aligned exceptionally well with our high-performing Hanwoo-derived muscle stem cells, supporting both robustness and scalability in our production process.”

Lee described the agreement as a meaningful step toward commercialization as SeaWith worked to bring cultivated beef products closer to market.

The deal also reflected broader momentum in South Korea’s alternative protein sector. Government support, regulatory flexibility, and public interest have combined to make the country one of the most active cultivated meat markets in Asia. Industry projections cited by BSF Enterprise suggested that South Korea’s alternative protein market could grow at a compound annual growth rate of more than 50% through 2030.

Consumer sentiment has also been cited as a positive signal. According to figures referenced by the company, around 90% of South Koreans have said they would be willing to try cultivated meat, although price and taste remain key barriers to widespread adoption. Industry participants have argued that technologies capable of lowering production costs, such as City-Mix, will be critical to addressing those concerns.

For BSF Enterprise, the agreement with SeaWith added to its efforts to commercialize tissue-engineered materials across multiple applications. The company develops scaffold-free technologies used in areas including cultivated meat, lab-grown leather, and corneal repair. By securing a recurring supply agreement in cultivated protein, BSF Enterprise reinforced its strategy of monetizing its platforms through downstream partnerships rather than solely through internal product development.

City-Mix has been positioned as a enabling technology rather than a finished product, designed to integrate into existing cell culture workflows. By improving cell growth efficiency and tissue formation, the company said it could help cultivated meat producers move closer to price parity with conventional meat, a long-standing objective across the sector.

While financial details beyond the headline contract value were not disclosed, BSF Enterprise said the agreement represented a key milestone in expanding City-Mix’s footprint in the cultivated protein market. It also highlighted the growing importance of Asia, and South Korea in particular, as a proving ground for commercial-scale cultivated meat production.

As SeaWith continued its push toward regulatory approval and commercialization, and as 3D Bio-Tissues sought to extend City-Mix into additional markets, the partnership underscored how supplier technologies are increasingly shaping the pace and economics of cultivated meat scale-up.