UK-based cultured meat manufacturer Ivy Farm Technologies has struck a partnership with a biotechnology investor to produce in China.
BSF Enterprise, owner of the UK clinical and cell ag company 3D Bio-Tissues, will partner with the Oxford-based manufacturer. The partnership will “involve generating and progressing investment opportunities to support the company’s fundraising ambitions,” according to a statement.
Ivy Farm, a spin-out from Oxford University in 2019, is in a Series B funding round, having raised $40m in equity to date.
An Ivy Farm spokesperson said: “The goal of this partnership is to explore the best ways to bring cultivated meat into the Chinese market. BSF spearheads the outreach initiatives in Ivy Farm’s ongoing funding round, aimed at facilitating the scaling up of technology to accommodate large production-sized fermenters.”
The spokesperson added that Ivy Farm envisions producing “12,000 tonnes from a single efficient facility, fully powered by renewable energy, thereby slashing greenhouse gases by 92% and land use by 90% compared to industrial farming practices”.
They added that China’s annual consumption of meat stands at over 100 million tonnes, which “constitutes more than a quarter of global meat consumption”.
London Stock Exchange-listed BSF recently set up a separate Hong Kong-based entity as a vehicle to develop a distribution and partner network in the Greater China market. It told investors it was well placed to help Ivy Farm with its strong network in the Asian cultivated meat market.
Che Connon, managing director of BSF Enterprise and CEO of 3DBT, said: “Today’s announcement represents the start of a strong commercial and technical working relationship between BSF Enterprise and Ivy Farm. The cultivated meat market is front and centre for China in its blueprint for food security as part of its fiveyear agricultural plan.
“We look forward to helping Ivy Farm enter the China market through securing investment and working with key manufacturers to develop a variety of cultivated meat products that can serve a significant, growing market.”
Ivy Farm can produce mincemeat from Wagyu beef, Aberdeen Angus and English large white pork tissue to create products such as burgers, meatballs and scotch eggs. In 2022, the business launched a pilot plant capable of producing 2.8 tonnes annually, powered by solar and claimed to be largest of its kind in Europe.
A spokesperson told Just Food the UK business is “in partnership with several companies now which will aid us in scale-up with low capex for us and great capacity for rapidly increasing volume”.
