NEW TECH FOODS

Swedish cultivated food start-up Re:meat is set to establish its first pilot 'Re:meatery' at Lund University’s Prepilot Plant after securing €1 million in an oversubscribed funding round earlier this year.

The installation, scheduled for completion by the end of 2025, will be hosted at Biotech Heights – an innovation hub located at Kemicentrum in Lund – and marks the hub’s first start-up membership. The site sits alongside the Prepilot Plant, Sweden’s only university-based prepilot facility for food, biotech and chemical engineering.

Re:meat has developed a patented food-grade bioreactor designed to cut hardware costs for alternative food production, precision fermentation and cultivated meat. The company says the system meets the high technical standards needed to grow mammalian cells, while also supporting yeast- and bacteria-based processes, enabling scalability at lower costs than pharmaceutical-grade equipment.

Emma Nordell, managing director at Biotech Heights, said: “Collaboration is necessary to advance the development of fermentation and apply bioprocess technologies to new industries. Re:meat will be our first start-up to pave the way for collaboration between academia, start-ups and industry players within biosolutions.”

Martin Hedström, manager at Lund University Prepilot Plant, commented: “It is really inspiring that Re:meat wants to establish a pilot in our environment, it will open up for exciting new opportunities for innovation, research and education".

Marten Schmidt CTO at Re:meat, added: “We identified the need to design equipment that costs a fraction of today to be able to scale and industrialize alternative foods production and all its connected processes. This could enable a food revolution. Inspired by our many years in the brewing industry combined with our R&D team in cell biology we have developed a food grade bioreactor that still meets the high standards and parameters to cultivate sensitive mammalian cells."

"This means that our Re:meatery also fits for yeast, and bacteria-based processes, such as precision fermentation. So, the potential really extends beyond cultivated meat. Biotech Heights is a great partner supporting our common goal of bridging academia and commercialisation by providing the perfect combination of available infrastructure and scientific know how.”

Validation of the pilot plant with partners and clients is expected to begin in spring 2026.