Top Companies for Investors in the Cultured Meat and Seafood Space
Will cultured meat and seafood make up the plate of the future? Here’s what to know about the industry, plus companies to invest in amid the shift.
Feb. 24 2022, Published 11:11 a.m. ET
Octopuses are proven sentient beings, but companies are still trying to farm them. The octopus issue has sparked ethical debates among researchers about live animal food industrialization. On the other side of the plate, scientists are growing meat and seafood in labs—a transition that could reduce the environmental and moral pressure of animal farming on land and in the water. What cultured meat and seafood companies can you invest in?
A whole slew of A-list investors are backing lab-grown meat and seafood companies, from Jeff Bezos to Leonardo DiCaprio. What should you know about the industry—and is cultured meat and seafood a subsector that retail investors can access?
Celebrities have invested in cultured salmon company Wildtype.
U.S. startup Wildtype Foods has attracted major backers for its lab-grown salmon. The company offers “seafood without the sea,” a model that has garnered a $100 million Series B investment round from actors DiCaprio and Robert Downey Jr. and billionaire Bezos.
Agricultural corporation Cargill also backs Wildtype, which plans to make its product available to the U.S. market. Wildtype is still privately held, and it could be a few more investment rounds until the company is ready to merge or go out on its own for shareholder backing.
U.K.-based Agronomics (ANIC) is a collection of cultured meat and seafood brands.
Based in the Isle of Man, Agronomics Ltd. trades on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “ANIC.” The company specifically invests in cellular agriculture and cultivated meat.
Much like the seafood and meat it invests in, the Agronomics portfolio is growing. The top names include:
BlueNalu: Cultivated finfish and other seafood to combat the fact that “populations of marine species have halved since 1970.”
New Age Meats: Cultivated pork made from “real meat, dense with flavor, from the cells of unharmed animals.”
SuperMeat: Cultivated chicken as a path to “providing nutritional security, drastically reducing carbon emissions, and increasing food safety worldwide.”
Bond Pet Foods cultivated animal fare, Ohayo Valley cultivated wagyu beef, and Shiok Meats cultivated crustaceans are also a part of the Agronomics portfolio.
ANIC stock has been on the London Stock Exchange for more than a decade, but the company also trades on the OTC (over-the-counter) market (AGNMF) as of September 2020. Since that time, penny stock AGNMF stock is up 325 percent.
GOOD Meat is a product of Eat Just.
Over the past year, Eat Just, Inc. has pondered an IPO (initial public offering), but it hasn't come to fruition yet. Still, the company is on its way to the next level with $706.6 million raised and a potential IPO valuation of $3+ billion.
Eat Just has a cultured meat division called GOOD Meat. The company’s latest funding round took place in the form of a Series F part three for $97 million. Investors included AIV Capital, CULT Food Science, Graphene Ventures, and more.
While Eat Just has yet to hit the market, its earnings could bolster an IPO in the near future. The company’s investments in plant-based alternatives are already making some impact investors’ mouths water.