The feed company announced yesterday that it had taken a minority share in Scotland-based Roslin Technologies Limited, as part of that innovator’s £11m (US$12.3m) Series A funding round.
The fundraising effort, which was led by Novo Holdings and also saw participation from Kairos Capital Group, Esco Lifesciences, Future Planet Capital and Alchimia, is intended to support Roslin Tech in its mission to become the leading provider of animal cell lines to the emerging cultivated meat sector.
The supply of cell lines is a bottleneck in the growth of cultivated protein. Roslin has developed stem cells with the capacity to always self-renew and differentiate in desired end-tissues for meat.
“By combining Nutreco’s extensive knowledge on feed ingredients and supply chains and Roslin Tech's complementary skillsets on cell line development, we can do for cell-farming businesses what we already do for animal farmers: provide the best possible nutrients to the people who are growing the protein,” said Fulco van Lede, Nutreco's chief executive.
The investment gives the Dutch group an additional stake in the cultivated protein supply chain - it has previously invested in US cell-based seafood startup, BlueNalu, and cellular meat pioneer, Mosa Meat.
While it expects the animal protein market to continue to grow and it is fully committed to supporting livestock and aquaculture customers with ingredients and technologies, Nutreco argues that to sustainably feed an ever-growing population, the world will need more solutions than animal protein – and cultured meat is a great alternative.
Danish deal
Nutreco was also back on the asset trail this week, with it revealing on Wednesday that it had acquired Mosegården, a livestock nutrition supplier in Denmark focused on minerals and animal health products for pigs and cattle.
The move followed its purchase of another Danish entity in 2021, concentrates and mineral producer, Nutrimin.
Nutreco said the addition of Mosegården’s nutritional activities to its local livestock feed business will strengthen the footprint of its Trouw Nutrition brand in Denmark, enabling it to hold a sizeable position in the Danish ruminant nutrition market and bring its portfolio of specialities to a broader number of Danish farmers.
