Meatable Bets on Singapore Factory for Global Scale-Up of Cultivated Pork

Dutch startup Meatable has partnered with Singapore-based TruMeat to build a large-scale facility to produce cultivated meat at cost-competitive levels.

As it awaits regulatory approval in the island nation, Meatable is planning to build a commercial-scale factory in Singapore to produce cultivated pork at a faster and cheaper rate.

The Dutch startup has partnered with TruMeat, a firm focused on the industrialisation of cultivated meat tech, to construct what it says would be Singapore’s first cultivated meat factory capable of cost-competitive production.

While details of the bioreactor’s size and capacity are yet to be revealed, the companies plan to start construction this year.

“This is the next step in our journey to make cultivated meat accessible and affordable,” said Jeff Tripician, CEO of Meatable. “We have full trust in TruMeat’s expertise, and together, we are confident in our ability to optimise processes and scale efficiently.”

Scaling up ahead of market entry

The strategic partnership will focus on optimising processes and media development and building the state-of-the-art facility, which would be operated by TruMeat using Meatable’s technology.

According to the company, the factory would be able to deliver cultivated meat at the cost levels and volumes required to support Meatable’s commercial partners in formulating, testing, and launching products made with its cultivated pork.

“We recognise that Meatable is a clear leader in the cultivated meat space, and we have been waiting for a technology with this potential,” said TruMeat chairman James Chui.

“We are very confident that by combining our strengths, we can achieve the necessary cost reductions and the commercial scale to make cultivated meat a viable option for global markets.”

Meatable currently operates out of a facility in Leiden, which houses 200-litre bioreactors (with the potential of expanding to 500 litres). It has previously partnered with Singapore’s ESCO Aster, the world’s first approved contract manufacturing facility for cultivated meat, and plant protein manufacturer Love Handle.

Its process involves the use of pluripotent stem cells (PSCs), which – unlike immortalised cell lines that need to be altered to multiply indefinitely – have the natural ability to continue multiplying, and do so rapidly.

This is coupled with a perfusion process that enables a continuous cycle to generate very high cell densities and produce fully differentiated muscle and fat cells in just four days, the fastest of any startup in the industry.

“This collaboration brings us closer to providing the meat industry with the solutions it needs to deliver great-tasting, sustainable meat to customers and consumers worldwide,” said Tripician.

Meatable prepares for fundraising and regulatory approvals

In a wide-ranging interview with Green Queen in October, Tripician laid out Meatable’s “big change” in approach since he took over from co-founder Krijn de Nood five months earlier.

“The role of Meatable is to help meat companies gain access to more meat. We’re a supplier to them. We show them the technology. We transfer the technology so they can do what they do. They take raw material – meat – they turn it into food, and they sell it. We now provide them with some of the meat. Very simple.”

Meatable’s focus on production in the city-state comes amid its wait for the regulatory green light from the Singapore Food Agency. “We’ve got meat companies there that know there’s regulatory approval, or there will be, within 12 to 18 months,” says Tripician. “That’s where it’s going to gain traction, and then we’ll follow.”

At the time, he said the firm was expecting approval by Q1 2025. While this is delayed, the company said it will use the approval as a proxy to get clearance in other countries too, as a form of international cooperation for novel food authorisation.

Meatable is filing dossiers in at least six countries. “I see us moving with pretty good speed through 2025,” Tripician said in October. “At the end, I would be very disappointed in our team if we don’t have approval in five, six countries by this time or the end of next year.”

The company has already hosted two tasting events in Singapore, and one at its Leiden headquarters in the Netherlands (a first for the EU). Having raised $95M to date, it is looking to secure around $35M in a Series C raise, Tripician revealed at the time.

While funding has been hard to come by for cultivated meat (plummeting by 75% and 40% in 2023 and 2024, respectively), some leading startups have been successful, as can be evidenced by Aleph Farms’s $29M raise.

“If you believe we’re on the right path and the science and the IP and all that’s there, and our business model is going to be successful, can you invest an amount that will get us through this time?” Tripician had said when asked what his pitch to investors would be. “I know the meat companies will be buying licenses from us, building plants, and entering the marketplace over the next five years.”