© ProFuse Technology
ProFuse Technology, an Israeli biotech company creating solutions for muscle growth in cultivated meat, announces it has been awarded a €2.4 million grant from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Transition program.
The EIC Transition program, part of Horizon Europe, helps startups advance and validate new technologies as they transition from the laboratory to real-world application environments. Selected among hundreds of applicants, this prestigious grant acknowledges ProFuse’s cutting-edge technology and its ability to transform cultivated meat production with increased yields, shorter cycles, and reduced costs.
“This grant will be instrumental in our final push to gain regulatory approval for the use of our PROFUSE-Sx media”
The EIC grant will enable ProFuse to enhance its muscle cultivation technologies, including expanding production capabilities for large-scale cultivated meat production, obtaining necessary safety regulatory approvals, and strengthening collaborations with other cultivated meat companies.
Guy Nevo Michrowski, co-founder and CEO of ProFuse Technology, shares, “Regulatory approval is a critical hurdle for the nascent cultivated meat industry. This grant will be instrumental in our final push to gain regulatory approval for the use of our PROFUSE-Sx media supplements in high-volume production.”
Nevo Michrowski and CTO Tamar Eigler Hirsh founded the startup in 2021. Funded by the Fresh Start FoodTech Incubator, ProFuse won Israel’s FoodTech 2021 competition. In October 2022, ProFuse secured an additional $3 million in seed funding, with the US fund Green Circle leading the investment.
Using technology based on six years of research at the Tzahor Lab of the Weizmann Institute of Science, the company has developed and launched two products: the PROFUSE-S1 media supplement, which accelerates and optimizes cultivated muscle growth, and the PROFUSE-B8 cell line, a “unique” bovine myoblast cell line replicating indefinitely without genetic modification.
The company claims these technologies, along with scaffolds, developed in partnership with the Estonian materials technology company Gelatex, can accelerate muscle growth fivefold, allowing cultivated meat production within 48 hours and reducing the usual time by 80%.
Now, after successfully testing and proving the effectiveness of its technology with several companies that produce cultivated meat, ProFuse is looking to expand and further develop its solutions.
Eigler Hirsh comments, “ProFuse’s technology, including media supplements and muscle cell lines, enables significant cost reduction in cultivated meat production, while simultaneously enhancing its nutritional value, texture, and taste. This grant will allow us to further refine our technology to support large-scale cultivated meat production.”
ProFuse Technology highlights the importance of government funding in driving innovation in industries like cultivated meat, which requires significant capital investment. It also notes that the €2.4 million grant demonstrates the European Union’s commitment to support the alternative protein sector.
In March, the European Commission introduced a plan to enhance the biotech and biomanufacturing sector, including alternative proteins, with new regulations, actions, and investments.
Aviv Oren, Director of Business Engagement and Innovation at the Good Food Institute Israel, shares: “ProFuse’s success in securing the EIC grant underscores the significant role of government stakeholders in advancing CAPEX-intensive industries like alternative proteins that play a critical role in decarbonizing the economy.“
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