Zurich, Switzerland — Cultivated meat and fish products are quickly establishing themselves as a promising alternative for consumers. The category’s growing popularity is clear in the numbers; over 50% annual growth and it is expected to be worth over $370b by 2030*. One of the key factors to realize and unlock this growth potential are technological improvements in texture and variety of meat and fish products on the market.
Deeptech startup sallea is today announcing a $2.6M funding round to help manufacturers of cultivated foods accelerate the production of premium whole cuts like steaks and filets without the need for animal farming. The team at sallea has created innovative edible scaffolds that promise to unlock the potential of cellular agriculture.
The pre-seed funding round was led by Founderful with participation from Kost Capital. This pre-seed round marks sallea’s first equity investment, building on the $1.8M in non-dilutive funding previously secured through research and start-up grants.
Founded in November 2023 by an all-female founding team, sallea’s technology enables the creation of precisely structured, edible, and porous 3D grids – so called scaffolds – that serve as the foundation for cultivating textured whole cuts of meat and fish. These scaffolds are added to bioreactors containing cells. These cells will then attach to sallea’s scaffolds and grow in three dimensions into whole cuts thereby improving the nutritional profile and texture of the end product. Manufacturers of cultivated foods will now not only be able to tailor the size and shape but also the nutritional profile of their scaffolds to the end product.
The company’s proprietary technology is built on research developed at ETH Zurich by co-founders Dr. Nicole Kleger, CTO and Simona Fehlmann, CEO who were joined by co-founder and CCO Anna Bünter (ex-McKinsey).
“Cultivated foods have been limited to sausages and minced meat. Our technology has the potential to kick-start cellular agriculture by accelerating time to market and lowering the production costs for cultivated whole cuts such as steaks and fillets,” says Simona Fehlmann, CEO and co-founder of sallea. “This funding round allows us to advance our mission of setting the industry standard for edible scaffolds in cellular agriculture. We can now upgrade our production capacity, enter partnerships for product co-development, and double down on our development efforts.”
While cellular agriculture offers a sustainable and cruelty-free alternative to traditional livestock farming — with the potential to reduce emissions by up to 90% for e.g. beef production — the industry has thus far been limited to low-margin, unstructured products like sausages. Sallea’s scaffolds address this limitation to help the industry to get to market faster.
Antonia Albert, Principal at Founderful commented: “Sallea unlocks the potential of cultivated meat, paving the way for a sustainable, cruelty-free future. With the cultivated meat market expected to surpass $370 billion by 2030, we are thrilled to partner with Simona, Anna, and Nicole as they redefine the future of food.”
Sallea’s technology comes at a crucial time for the cellular agriculture industry. As the sector shifts from completely integrated value chains to an ecosystem where specialized components like cell media and scaffolds are sourced externally, scaffolds in particular are increasingly recognized as a complex yet essential element. Cultivators are actively seeking partnerships with companies that can provide these specialized solutions.
“While the potential of cellular agriculture is clear, scaling it effectively demands not only capital and expertise but also innovative solutions like sallea’s, which enable the production of high-quality products that can accelerate the path to price parity and fully satisfy consumer expectations” commented Robin Matthew, CEO of Elsa-Group (Migros Industrie), a leading group in the Swiss dairy and alternative protein industry.
Dr. James Ryall, ex-Chief Scientific Officer at cultured meat company Vow added: “With cultivated meat now regulated and consumed globally, the industry is poised for its next evolutionary leap. Sallea is at the forefront of this advancement, developing next-generation scaffolds that address two critical challenges: cost reduction and enhanced structural complexity. Sallea’s edible scaffolds not only opens the door to premium cultivated meat products with superior texture but also significantly lowers production costs – offering consumers a wider range of high-quality, sustainable protein options.”
With this new funding, sallea plans to accelerate product development and initiate pilot projects with cultivating companies around the globe. The company aims to be the leading scaffold provider, accelerating the transition to more sustainable production of animal proteins. As sallea continues to grow, the team remains focused on its mission of setting the standard for sustainable, cruelty-free, and safe meat and fish production by providing the missing link in cellular agriculture.
“At Kost, we are passionate about providing better food for more people, and we’re proud to be backing sallea,” says Bodil Sidén, General Partner at Kost Capital. “With strong leadership from Simona, Anna, and Nicole, combined with groundbreaking technology aimed at setting a new standard in sustainable meat production, sallea is gearing up for success”
*Grand View Research, Cultured Meat Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report 2023 – 2030
About sallea
Our society’s reliance on conventional livestock farming leads to significant ecological issues, including high emissions, deforestation, and water overuse, along with ethical concerns around animal welfare. At Sallea, we aim to address these challenges by enabling sustainable, cruelty-free and safe meat and fish production. Our proprietary scaffolding technology enables cultivators to grow cells into textured, nutritious whole cuts, offering an eco-friendly alternative that replicates the experience of traditional meat. Sallea is an award-winning spin-off from ETH Zurich. We strive to be the leading scaffold provider globally, accelerating the shift toward a more sustainable, ethical food system.
About Founderful
Founderful is Switzerland’s leading pre-seed fund, backing founder teams building tech companies with the potential to become global market leaders. Founderful has a track record of supporting exceptional founders in creating breakthrough companies and has the passionate conviction that the Swiss startup ecosystem is just starting to write its best success stories.
About Kost Capital
We are what we eat, yet the food system is broken. A growing population, climate change, food waste, health issues & policy changes require rapid funding now to ensure sustainability, efficiency and resilience in the future of food. – We need to bring Better food for more people. That’s why we started Kost Capital. Kost Capital is a Copenhagen-based early-stage VC fund on the mission to create better food for more people. We look for the B2B inputs in the future food systems.
