Cultured meat research and development company Space F (CEO Kim Byeong-hoon) announced on the 25th that it has completed a series A investment round worth 7 billion won.
Existing investors Daily Partners, Daesang Co., Ltd., Lotte Ventures (Lotte Chemical Innovation Fund No. 2), Timewise Investment, Nice Investment Partners, and UTC Investment are known to have participated in this investment. In addition to the scale of KRW 7 billion, it is encouraging that major domestic food and chemical companies participated in the investment.
Space F, established last year, specializes in cultured meat and is conducting R&D with researchers from Seoul National University's Animal Stem Cell and Food Science and Sejong University's Functional Food Science. It has already secured patents and original technologies such as muscle stem cell isolation, culture, and development of serum-free culture medium, which are essential for cultured meat production. In March, it introduced a prototype of cultured pork using pig stem cells for the first time in Korea, and the business is underway with the goal of commercialization in 2025.
Its technology has been recognized by major domestic global food companies such as Daesang and Lotte, and various R&D projects are underway. Along with Daesang, Seoul National University, and Sejong University researchers, it was selected for the second stage in the artificial eco-food field of the 'Alchymist Project', an industrial technology innovation project hosted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. It was also selected for the 'TIPS', a private investment-led start-up support program hosted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and is also conducting a serum-free badge development task. In addition, it plans to cooperate with Lotte Chemical and Lotte Fine Chemical to develop and commercialize high-performance materials necessary for cultured meat.
While interest in alternative meat is growing due to carbon neutrality and animal ethics, cultured meat is being evaluated as the most representative field. Cultured meat is an alternative protein that is produced without slaughtering livestock by culturing stem cells in vitro, and is predicted to become a representative future food in various institutions. In 2013, Professor Mark Post's research team from the Netherlands announced cultured beef hamburger patties for the first time, and last year, the commercialization of cultured meat was approved in Singapore for the first time in the world.
The size of the market is also growing rapidly. According to data from the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation, the global substitute meat market is expected to increase from 4.24 trillion won in 2015 to 6.97 trillion won in 2023. The size of the global cultured meat market according to the data of the global market research institute 'Polaris Market Research' is also expected to grow to $352.4 million (approximately KRW 414.1 billion) by 2028.
Space F is also convinced of the future changes in the meat market and the potential of the cultured meat industry. It has already accumulated research know-how for a long time, and plans to strengthen research to establish cultured meat production process and reduce unit cost in the future. In addition, it is actively working to produce cultured meat with texture, taste, and nutrients similar to existing meat, and to establish a cultured meat production platform that can be applied to various livestock species.
Space F CEO Kim Byeong-hoon said, “Cultivated meat research is one solution that can solve various problems such as global food insecurity, environmental and ethical issues that we are facing. We have a great team and game-changing key technology to achieve this. In a few years, cultured meat will be the protein of choice for people, and we are committed to developing sustainable and safely produced protein foods. I will do my best,” he said.
Lee Seung-ho, CEO of Daily Partners, said, “Space F is developing a source technology for alternative meat, and it is a bio venture that meets the global R&D trend and meets the eco-friendly ESG era.” succeeded in attracting strategic investment from large food companies. The company is a group of experts from industry, academia, and research institutes, and is expected to accelerate cost reduction, process optimization, and automation-based alternative meat commercialization in the future.”
