September 28, 2022 – New Brunswick, New Jersey – Atelier Meats Corp. (“Atelier Meats” or the “Company”), a biotechnology company focused on development and commercialization of lab-grown meats, is pleased to provide a corporate update and share its achievements and vision for the future with shareholders, investors and other stakeholders. The Company’s accomplishments to-date cover significant operational and corporate milestones, including increasing the intellectual property portfolio, strengthening the balance sheet, and increasing the scientific breadth through world-class partnerships. Furthermore, Atelier Meats has built an accomplished senior management team to guide the Company’s future development and commercialization efforts.
Corporate and Industry Overview:
Interest in lab-grown meat or cultured meat has been on the rise in recent years, not only as a viable alternative to farmed meat, but also as a solution for climate change and animal welfare. By harnessing advanced biotechnology, tissue engineering, and process development, Atelier Meats is developing a proprietary technology and process for producing cultured meat that replicates the flavor and taste of the traditional product. Composed of a world-class team working with proprietary patent-pending technology, the Company’s mission is to produce a healthier and environmentally conscious protein source for the world without harming any animals in the process.
The cultured meat market is forecasted to grow significantly over the next several years and is estimated to reach US$2.78 billion by 2030.(1) This growth is attributable to several factors including increasing investor interest, investments/acquisitions by high profile food companies, innovations in cellular agriculture, the rising concerns toward animal welfare, public health risks associated with animal meats, and environmental sustainability.
Due to health and technological advances, as well as environmental solutions, it is expected that the cultured meat market will not only increase in size, but intersect into the agricultural meat market as well. The global meat market (raw and processed) was valued at US$2308.61 billion and is expected to reach over US$2960 billion by the end of 2026, growing at a CAGR of over 4.34% through 2026.(2)
Rising consumption of meat, due in part to a growing population, higher disposable incomes, emerging market growth, and an increasing demand for nutritional protein sources is expected to support the overall meat market growth forecasts. It is expected that this growing trend of protein consumption will present several opportunities for various meat processors and food companies to invest in alternative meat proteins to fulfill consumer demand. This is already evidenced by several major food processing companies such as Cargill Incorporated and Tyson Foods Inc. investing in cultured meat companies.
The cultured meat industry has also seen greater press and media attention with several high-profile celebrities, such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Ashton Kutcher, making investments in lab-grown meat companies. In addition, cultured meat has been highlighted by CNBC and included in a cover story in the New York Times. Following suit, Atelier Meats has received significant attention, including a recent focus by Forbes, and a segment appearing on NBC.
Corporate Initiatives:
The Company completed an amalgamation with Future Burger Corp. on July 28, 2022. The combined entity reflects the ongoing evolution in the food-tech sector by incorporating IP-backed science with a revenue generating business plan. In addition, the combined entity provides the Company with a strengthened balance sheet and shareholder base which will assist the Company with its plan to obtain a listing on a public stock exchange in North America. The Company is planning to launch a Series B financing in Q4, 2022, to fund its commercialization initiatives.
Scientific Developments and Operations:
Atelier Meats believes that the creation of a quality cultured meat product relies on the utilization of a well-defined “biological scaffold” on which to grow the cells that make the meat. The Company believes its scaffold technology is unique and represents a key differentiating factor when compared with other companies in the space. To further its technology, Atelier Meats has focused on several key strategies: growing its intellectual property portfolio, partnering with leading institutions and researchers, and being at the forefront of developing technologies for large scale commercial production of cultured meat.
Atelier Meats filed its first provisional patent application in November 2021, which focused on its unique scaffold technology. The second provisional patent application was filed in December 2021, which protects key processes with respect to the stem cells used for the production of its meats. Building and protecting the Company’s intellectual property portfolio is paramount as the Company continues to develop its cutting edge technologies, not only surrounding the stem cells used for meat production, but also the unique scaffold technology, which the Company believes will be the leading edge for the production of cultured meats.
On March 7, 2022, the Company announced that it entered into a multi-year and multi-disciplinary collaborative research and development agreement with Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (“Rutgers”) to further develop Atelier’s proprietary technology to manufacture lab-grown or cultured meats. The principal investigators leading the research are Joseph Freeman, Ph.D., Professor in the department of Biomedical Engineering at Rutgers- New Brunswick’s School of Engineering, and Yong Mao, Ph.D., Associate Research Professor in the department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Rutgers-New Brunswick’s School of Arts and Sciences. Full bios for Dr. Freeman and Dr. Mao can be found here. In general, the research effort will focus on:
- isolating a unique extracellular matrix that would serve as the scaffold for cultured meat;
- developing novel and proprietary lines of bovine stem cells that are easily culture expanded and differentiated;
- developing technology to populate the scaffold with cells to create the cultured meats.
The Company has achieved several key technological developments in order to expand its proposed cell lines to include pork products in addition to beef. Key developments include:
- A process for the isolation of a bovine collagen-based scaffold to be used to make cultured meat with bovine cells;
- A preliminary scalable process and associated analytics to manufacture the bovine scaffold; and
- Isolating bovine stem cells that have been characterized for their “stemness” attributes, both functional and physical.
Executive Team:
Atelier Meats has cultivated a seasoned team of senior executives, leading scientists and key strategic advisers to build the Company. The Company is led by its co-founders Dr. Mohit Bhatia and Maghsoud Dariani.
Dr. Mohit Bhatia, co-founder and Chief Science Officer (CSO), is widely known as one of the top biomaterials scientists in the sector. He leads the Company’s efforts to advance and expand its technology portfolio, and will also play an integral role in overseeing and building collaborations with R&D partners.
Dr. Bhatia previously worked with Celgene Corporation for approximately 20 years. He has held a leadership position in placenta-based biomaterials, ECM scaffolds and stem cells for more than 15 years. He was responsible for developing several placenta-based products including injectable collagen, an extracellular matrix and two commercial products – BIOVANCE, an amniotic membrane product and INTERFYL, a connective tissue matrix. Both were used for wound management. He holds several patents for placental biomaterials, has published numerous papers and presented at leading conferences for tissue-based therapies.
Dr. Bhatia received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from New York University. He completed his post-doctoral training at Rockefeller University in New York and Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA.
Maghsoud Dariani, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO), has over 40 years of diverse and progressive management experience in the development, scale-up and commercialization of products in the pharmaceutical and food industries. He is currently also President and CEO of Semorex Inc., a privately held company focused on the discovery and development of novel therapeutics for cancer. Prior to joining Semorex, Mr. Dariani was President of Focus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he managed the development and approval of drug products, achieving an FDA approval and bringing another to the clinical evaluation stage. He then successfully negotiated the sale of the company in February 2003. Prior to Focus, Maghsoud was Vice President of the chiral pharmaceutical business unit at Celgene Corporation. During his twelve years at Celgene, he was responsible for the successful development and FDA approval of the chirally pure versions of Ritalin, which are currently marketed by Novartis under the Focalin and Focalin XR trade names.
Maghsoud holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from The City College of NY, and a Masters of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts.
Commercialization Initiatives:
Through the partnership with Rutgers, the Company anticipates completing a first prototype of its scaffold technology in Q4, 2022. This will demonstrate that by using the same species as the growing cells, the scaffold will result in better cell attachment and organization to the scaffold structure than competitors. Many of these other companies use synthetic or gelatin cells as their scaffolds, which will be less effective in eliciting a cellular response.
With a prototype scaffold, the stage will be set for manufacturing and commercialization milestones including:
- Completion of the initial cell lines for production of t-bone steaks and a structured steak product in Q2/Q3 2023;
- Initiating product manufacturing at a pilot plant, scale for market testing and regulatory approval, followed by full scale commercial production;
- Marketing launch for a first line of products in Singapore, which was the first government to approve the sale of cultured meat; and
- Licensing of proprietary technology to other companies to execute on the B2B business plan.
In summary, management believes the balance of 2022 and 2023 will bring exciting developments as the Company builds on the foundation of recent accomplishments. Atelier Meats is committed to creating a healthier and environmentally conscious protein source for the world. The Company believes it has built a solid foundation and strategy that incorporates strong partnerships with recognized industry leaders, a world-class team, and a growing intellectual property portfolio. This is all supported by a solid capital markets strategy to propel future growth.
About Atelier Meats Corp.
Atelier is a biotechnology company dedicated to developing quality, lab-grown meats. Led by a world-class team, with proprietary patent-pending technology, Atelier’s mission is to produce healthier and environmentally conscious proteins for the world – without harming a single animal in the process.
For further information please contact:
Atelier Meats Corp.
1 Source: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/cultured-meat-market-A06670
2 source: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210920005477/en/Global-Meat-Markets-2021-2025-by-Product-Chicken-Beef-Mutton-Pork-and-Others-Type-Raw-and-Processed—