Air Protein secures $32m in funding to produce meat from elements in air

Air-based meat developer Air Protein has secured a $32m investment in a Series A round to launch ‘The Future of Meat’.

The funding round was led by ADM Ventures (the corporate venture capital arm of ADM), Barclays, and GV (formerly Google Ventures).

Based in San Francisco’s Bay Area, Air Protein was established in 2019 and is led by founder and CEO Dr Lisa Dyson.

Air Protein intends to use the proceeds to establish a research and development lab, as well as fast-track product development and commercialisation of the product by recruiting more people.

Dr Dyson said: “With this funding, we will be able to accelerate our work towards providing innovative, environmentally friendly, highly nutritious alternatives that will play an important role in meeting the growing global demand for alternatives to animal protein

“We are commercialising a novel technology platform that is capable of scaling to large-scale production to help feed the world’s ten billion people by 2050, in the most sustainable approach available today.”

Air Protein said that it uses a unique technology to produce protein in sustainable, vertical ‘farms’, which can be built virtually anywhere on the planet.

The company said that it produces meat with air-based protein without the traditional land, water and weather requirements.

It further added that meat can be produced in days, making it highly scalable and planet-friendly.

ADM Ventures managing director Darren Streiler said: “It’s essential to explore a variety of alternative solutions and options to help meet the growing global population’s demand for protein.

“ADM is a global leader in alternative proteins, and we are excited to help leverage our vast experience with fermentation solutions to help bring Air Protein’s innovative new ideas to the market.”

In November 2019, Air Protein unveiled its new meat type, which was claimed to have been produced using airborne elements.