Redefine Meat

Market position

Redefine Meat positions itself within the alternative protein sector as a producer of whole-muscle-style plant-based cuts rather than only minced or processed formats, describing itself as the first company to commercialize plant-based premium cuts and stating that few competitors attempt whole cuts because of the complexity involved. Its own material contrasts its combination of science, technology and food with competitors it says prioritize only one of these.

The company differentiates on its ability to produce whole-muscle-style cuts with fibrous texture and marbling using its Meat Matrix Additive Manufacturing process, on a workforce and advisory base weighted toward meat expertise (it states most employees are meat eaters, with 80 scientists and engineers, 12 PhDs, 10 scientific disciplines and 10 meat and alternative-protein scientific advisors, plus 500 sensory panels per year), and on the intent to replicate the full range of cuts from an animal rather than a single product.

Technology

The company's proprietary approach combines what it calls new-meat science, material science and "Meat Matrix Manufacturing," including its patented/patent-pending Meat Matrix Additive Manufacturing (MMAM) industrial 3D-printing process, plant-based tissue engineering, and AI and machine learning. MMAM builds products at the voxel level by layering separate plant-based "muscle," "fat" and "blood" formulations to recreate muscle-fiber structure, allowing texture to be tailored per cut. The company mapped more than 70 sensorial parameters — including texture, fat, juiciness and tenderness — with butchers and technologists, and reported reaching a printing rate of 10 kg per hour in 2020.

Go-to-market

Distribution runs through specialist food distributors and wholesalers across Europe, the USA and the Middle East, with a chef- and culinary-led approach: the company arranges product tastings for chefs and restaurant operators via a foodservice enquiry process, publishes chef recipes and testimonials from chefs including Marco Pierre White, Andreas Böhm, Shahaf Shabtay and Ron Blaauw, and operates a store/new-meat locator for consumers. Retail and e-commerce partners supply the home-cooking range, and the company has used blind tastings and pop-up events to build awareness.

Professional kitchens — restaurants, steakhouse chains, event and catering operators — and premium butcher shops and delis, alongside retail consumers described as meat lovers, flexitarians, vegetarians and vegans buying via grocery and e-commerce partners.

Geography

The company is Israel-based, with production lines funded in Israel and the Netherlands and a team established in Europe from 2021. Commercial launches in 2021 covered the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Israel. The company currently states its products are available at thousands of locations across Europe, the USA and the Middle East, including retailers Ocado and ASDA (UK), Coop (Switzerland), and Jumbo, Albert Heijn and Crisp (Netherlands).

History

Redefine Meat was founded in 2018 and produced what it describes as the world's first 3D-printed plant-based steak that year, also winning the 2018 Fi Europe Start-up Innovation Challenge category for Most Innovative Plant-based Finished Product. In 2019 it raised a seed round, had about 10 employees, entered a strategic collaboration with Givaudan and ran what it calls the world's first blind tasting in a restaurant, in Israel. In 2020 it reached a printing throughput of 10 kg per hour and ran a large-scale blind taste test that it says achieved over a 90% acceptance rate. In 2021 the company launched commercially in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands and in Israel, describes itself as the first company to commercialize plant-based premium cuts, sold thousands of new-meat dishes at a pop-up, and passed 100 employees (over 120 by late 2021, after tripling headcount during 2020). It reported 150+ employees worldwide in 2022, and its company page currently states 250 team members.

Risks & controversies

The company addresses questions about the use of soy, stating its soy is non-GMO and not grown on deforested land and that it also uses pea and chickpea proteins while investing in ingredient optimization, and it acknowledges that its products are processed foods. The reported $250 million round was described in May 2022 as still in progress rather than closed.