We are a start-up, aiming to produce a viable, artificial blood circulation system.
Our focus is on manufacturing blood for the manufactured meat industry. We think the market for manufactured meat is going to be very, very large. Manufactured meat has been demonstrated and eaten. It exists. However, it is still way too expensive and one reason for the high price of the meat is the use of lab-culture medium. We aim to address this problem and provide real blood to the nascent manufactured meat industry instead. Manufactured real blood should make for a better taste too.
At present we are in the process of acquiring seed capital. We aim to have a product setup ready next year. We will go to market as quick as possible after that.
Blood for manufacturing meat
There are several companies now building manufacturing capabilities for meat. The aim is to produce artificial meat. Artificial meat has already been grown in a lab. The proof of concept was done in 2013. It did not taste all that great…yet…
The cost of these very first batches of meat was astronomical and needs to come down. One of the reasons for the high cost is that the easiest way of feeding the artificial meat during the growth process has been to use Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS). This is blood extracted from cow fetuses, which is then processed further. This serum contains growth hormones which are useful for stimulating muscle growth.
Obviously, there are several problems with this approach. All inputs to the manufactured meat process need to be manufactured, not farmed! Also, the taste of the meat is heavily influenced by the serum used. Some serum will remain inside the final consumer product. The iron present in the red blood cells has a strong influence on the taste of the final meat.
For these reasons, it seems better to use blood instead of serum. The blood should be fairly close to natural blood, including red blood cells.
Next steps
We are building an artificial blood circulation system. Using this system, we want to be able to keep alive simple organs, for a longer time. Our initial deliverable will be any part of this system, including consultancy.
In 2021 we want to be able to assess what best to productise: delivering blood as such, the machinery to produce blood on meat manufacturing sites, the inputs to blood manufacturing, design and consultancy or a combination thereof.
To reach this goal, we are building a team of technical experts and are looking for seed capital at the same time.
Contact
To find out more, get involved or help us with this start-up, please contact our CEO Robert ten Hoor directly: rtenhoor@culturedblood.com!