Dutch Cultured Meat Pioneer Meatable Shuts Down After Funding Drought
Delft, Friday, 19 December 2025.
Meatable, the Delft-based cultured meat startup that raised €70 million since 2021, has ceased operations on December 19, 2025, marking a significant blow to Europe’s alternative protein sector. The company, which received €7.6 million in government innovation subsidies and pioneered cultivated pork technology, failed to secure new investors despite appointing American industry veteran Jeff Tripician as CEO to conquer the US market. The closure highlights the brutal reality facing biotech food startups as high production costs and regulatory hurdles continue to plague the cultured meat industry globally.
The Rise and Fall of a Dutch Innovation
Founded in 2018 by entrepreneurs Krijn de Nood, Daan Luining, and Mark Kotter, Meatable emerged as a promising player in the nascent cultured meat industry [1]. The company differentiated itself by focusing on pork production and developing technology that could grow meat from animal cells without requiring the slaughter of livestock [1]. Meatable’s approach involved using pluripotent stem cells from animal umbilical cords, a technique the company successfully demonstrated in September 2018 [2]. This innovation positioned the startup at the forefront of cellular agriculture, a field that uses tissue engineering techniques pioneered in regenerative medicine to produce meat outside of living animals [2].
Ambitious Funding and Market Strategy
The company’s early promise attracted significant investment, raising €40 million in 2021 and an additional €30 million two years later, bringing total funding to €70 million [1]. Beyond private investment, Meatable secured €7.6 million in government innovation subsidies, demonstrating official support for its technology [1]. The startup’s business model focused on hybrid products containing half cultivated meat and half plant-based ingredients to reduce production costs, selling sausages and dumplings through this approach [1]. However, the high costs of production made it difficult to sell pure cultured meat products to supermarkets, forcing the company to pursue restaurant partnerships and international markets [1].
International Expansion Attempts and Regulatory Challenges
Meatable’s expansion strategy targeted both Asian and American markets, with plans to introduce cultured meat in Singapore by the end of 2023, though this timeline was repeatedly postponed [1]. The company struggled to gain regulatory approval within the European Union, where cultured meat faced significant bureaucratic hurdles [1]. In a strategic pivot at the end of 2024, Meatable appointed Jeff Tripician, an American veteran of the meat industry, as its top executive, replacing co-founder and then-CEO Krijn de Nood [1]. Tripician was specifically tasked with conquering the American market, as the company believed it was “very difficult to do from Europe, without someone on the ground there who knows the supply chain and also has political connections,” according to a company spokesperson [1].
Industry Context and Technological Promise
Meatable operated within a rapidly expanding global cultured meat sector that grew from approximately 10 companies in 2016 to 98 companies by December 2022 [3]. The technology itself represents a significant environmental opportunity, with studies indicating that cultured meat production could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 92% when using renewable energy, decrease pollution by 93%, reduce land use by up to 95%, and cut water consumption by 78% compared to conventional beef production [2]. The industry has attracted substantial investment, with cultured meat and seafood companies securing over $2.5 billion in funding worldwide from 2021 through 2023 [2]. Despite these advantages, the sector faces persistent challenges around production costs, regulatory approval, and consumer acceptance that have proven difficult for many startups to overcome [2].