Multus Biotechnology announces a US$$9.5 million Series A investment

Multus is a UK-based startup creating key ingredients for the affordable scale up of cellular agriculture. The company has just announced the close of a US$9.5 million Series A investment round. The funding includes an equity free grant of US$$2.5 million from Innovate UK through Europe’s most competitive start up grant, the EIC Accelerator.

The round was led by Mandi Ventures, with key investors including SOSV, Big Idea Ventures, SynBioVen and Asahi Kasei Corp.

The funding will allow Multus to build a world-first production plant in the UK to accelerate the cultivated meat industry towards price parity with affordable food-safe growth media at commercial scale.

Multus is at the forefront of the sustainable protein transition, pioneering the design and production of novel growth media formulations and ingredients for the affordable scale up of cellular agriculture. The company combines data science and automation to screen its library of non-conventional growth media ingredients to unlock affordable, high-performance growth media formulations that scale.

The founders of the company suggest that its work enables a genuinely sustainable alternative to intensive animal farming which continues to erode biodiversity, monopolize arable land, and emit high levels of greenhouse gases.

Multus growth media formulations and ingredients are the building blocks of cellular agriculture and enable the affordable at-scale production of real animal products, including meat, dairy, leather, and more, using cells instead of animals.

“Multus’ technology has the potential to revolutionize the cultivated meat industry by significantly reducing production costs and accelerating the commercial scale-up of the sector, benefiting cultivated meat producers, consumers and the environment,” commented Julio Benetti, Co-founder & Managing Partner at Mandi Ventures.

The funding will allow Multus to build a world-first production plant in the UK to accelerate the cultivated meat industry toward price parity with affordable food-safe growth media at commercial scale.

It will also accelerate product development in advanced growth media formulations and food-grade raw materials.

It follows a US$2.2 million raise in 2021 and the launch of our the company's product Proliferum M, an all-in-one solution to eliminate the use of foetal bovine serum (FBS) in cell culture. Proliferum M is demonstrated to grow muscle, fat, and connective tissue cells from mammals, birds, and seafood.

Multus recently achieved ISO22000 certification for food-safe manufacturing of growth media formulations and ingredients, a significant milestone on the company's journey to producing food-safe growth media.

"We are excited to use this funding to drive innovation in novel ingredient discovery, intelligent formulation design and food safe growth media production for the affordable scale-up of the cellular agriculture industry," concluded Cai Linton, Multus CEO. "We are confident that our unique approach to growth media will play a key role in making cultivated meat a sustainable and affordable choice for all."