Memphis Meats — a Bay Area-based startup that specializes in making “clean meat” — has just raised $17 million in a Series A round, with former Microsoft head honcho Bill Gates headlining its group of investors.
The cash infusion was led by DFJ Venture Capital, and included other big names, like Virgin founder Richard Branson and tech entrepreneur Kimbal Musk (Elon Musk’s brother).
On its website, Memphis Meats says it’s looking to bring “real meat — without the animal — to the table.” The startup takes animal cells and grows its meat in a lab, using sugar and other nutrients to foster development. No animals are killed to make its products. While it hasn’t released any products yet, Memphis Meats has already made meat balls, hamburgers, and even duck from its lab kitchen.
By cutting out the slaughtering process, Memphis Meats is targeting animal-lovers and vegetarians who want to enjoy meat, without the ethical baggage. Growing meat in a lab may turn out to be a cheaper alternative, too. Fortune noted it takes about 1 percent of the land and 10 percent of the water needed to make “real” meat.
With Memphis Meats’ raise, it continues to show the animal-free meat sector is a budding industry. Other startups, like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat, are making plant-based meat options. But the process isn’t cheap; At $18,000 a pound, Memphis Meats will look to scale its production and cut down on its cost of production with its Series A investment.
6 Tech Giants Shaking Up News, From Jeff Bezos to Laurene Powell Jobs (Photos)
Tech leaders are increasingly intertwined with the news business. While some want to support old properties, one set out to destroy a new one. Here they are.
Jeff Bezos – Washington Post
The Amazon founder purchased the Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million in cash. President Trump has called the paper the “Amazon Washington Post.”
The Facebook co-founder purchased The New Republic in 2012, becoming executive chairman and publisher. However, he sold the venerable political magazine to Win McCormack in 2016, saying he "underestimated the difficulty of transitioning an old and traditional institution into a digital media company in today’s quickly evolving climate."
The eBay founder is a well-known philanthropist who created First Look Media, a journalism venture behind The Intercept. Inspired by Edward Snowden's leaks. Omidyar teamed up with journalists Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill and Laura Poitras to launch the website “dedicated to the kind of reporting those disclosures required: fearless, adversarial journalism.”
The PayPal co-founder doesn’t own a news organization, but he makes this list because he essentially ended one -- Gawker -- proving once again the power of an angry billionaire. Thiel secretly bankrolled Hulk Hogan’s sex-tape lawsuit against Gawker Media because he was upset that the website once outed him as gay. Hogan won the defamation lawsuit against the site that sent its parent company into bankruptcy, and Gawker.com is no longer operating.
OK, so Facebook isn’t technically a news organization… yet. However, the company is preparing to launch its much-anticipated lineup of original content later this summer, and there are also signs that it's on the verge of becoming an even bigger media platform.
Campbell Brown, Head of News Partnerships at Facebook, confirmed last week it’s developing a subscription service for publishers willing to post articles directly to Facebook Instant Articles, rather than their native websites.
Tech is increasingly intertwined with news, for better or worse
Tech leaders are increasingly intertwined with the news business. While some want to support old properties, one set out to destroy a new one. Here they are.