Roslin Technologies is commercialising cutting-edge scientific research from the University of Edinburgh to create the building blocks of an agricultural revolution
“We are very pleased that Future Planet Capital continues to support us both financially and strategically. Their networks are incredibly valuable to continue to grow our business and have an impact on society”
Scientific advances mean we can bring meat to our tables without needing to raise and slaughter living animals. This cultivated food can be made in the lab, or even at an industrial scale, and could provide a meaningful share of the global demand for animal protein at a fraction of the current environmental cost. But to make a quality product, you have to start with the best cells.
The University of Edinburgh’s Royal School of Veterinary Studies and Roslin Institute are among the world’s leading research centres for animal genetics and biotechnology. Founded in 2017, Roslin Technologies was created as a business to help commercialise the intellectual property from these organisations, holding the rights to use breakthrough advances in pluripotent animal stem cells that can endlessly self-renew and be used to make different tissue types such as muscle and fat.
Future Planet Capital was one of the early investors into Roslin Technologies, alongside the University of Edinburgh’s venture capital fund, Old College Capital. After exploring the opportunities available from this intellectual property, the company identified the opportunity to build the core technology for cultivated meat – producing high quality cells that will be fundamental to making the best food products.
There are now over 100 active businesses around the world dedicated to producing cultivated meat at scale, and they have collectively raised billions of dollars in capital. Regulators, meanwhile, are opening the door to the sale to consumers of these products in markets including Singapore and the USA.
Roslin Technologies has established itself as a key supplier to many of these cultivated meat producers, shipping its cells to companies in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Following this early success, the firm recently closed an £11 million Series A funding round led by Novo Holdings, one the world’s leading biotechnology investors, alongside Future Planet Capital, Nutreco, Esco Lifesciences, and Alchimia.