H2Pro announces and celebrates laying the cornerstone of its first production facility, capable of producing 600MW/year of Green Hydrogen systems.

The facility is the first of its kind in Israel and will produce affordable green hydrogen systems at scale based on H2Pro’s innovative E-TAC technology.

 H2Pro announces the cornerstone ceremony for its new production facility (F1) in the Tzipporit industrial zone in Israel.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony was attended by 300 guests, including senior officials from the Energy Ministry, the CEO of the Innovation Authority, the Mayor, Technion leadership, partners, investors, and company employees.

The 600 megawatts (MW) facility is the first of its kind in Israel. In this facility H2Pro will produce cost-effective systems for producing green hydrogen from water and electricity. 

These systems are based on H2Pro’s innovative and patented technology called E-TAC (Electrochemical – Thermally Activated Chemical). By the end of 2023, the factory should be up and running. Once operational, it will create over 100 new jobs.

Four years ago, I got on a call with Gidi, Avner and Hen.

Talmon Marco, H2Pro’s CEO

“A call which was to bring to life a new company, conceived at the Technion, dedicated to solving the greatest challenge of our generation – the climate crisis. Making the world better, for us, for our children and for generations to come.” 

“Today, there are almost a hundred of us, innovating at a breakneck pace. Working hard to bring hydrogen to the world at an unparalleled efficiency. Affordable. Renewable. Green.” 

“Our achievements to date, impressive as they may be, are just the beginning of a journey. We’re just getting started. H2Pro is more than just a business. It is a vision. It is a mission. Our mission,” added Talmon.

H2Pro is developing a water splitting device, expected to reach an unprecedented 95% efficiency that will cost less than any electrolyzer today. The system will support renewable energy. Coupled with anticipated reductions in the cost of renewable energy, H2Pro believes its technology will enable $1/kg hydrogen at scale in the second half of this decade. 

The company earlier this year announced the closing of its $75 Million Series B financing. 

The B round was upsized and led by Temasek and Horizons Ventures with participation from existing investors such as Breakthrough Energy Ventures and multiple new strategic investors, including ArcelorMittal, Yara Growth Ventures, and Companhia Siderugica Nacional. The latest round brings total funding to $107 million. Thanks for staying up to date with Hydrogen Central.

About H2Pro

Founded in 2019 and based in Caesarea, Israel, H2Pro develops E-TAC – a revolutionary method for producing green hydrogen by splitting water that is over 95% efficient, safe and cost-competitive with fossil-fuel hydrogen.

H2Pro’s technology, known as E-TAC (Electrochemical – Thermally Activated Chemical), uses electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. However, unlike electrolysis, hydrogen and oxygen are produced at separate steps. 

This eliminates the need for a costly membrane, allows for a simpler construction and significantly lowers power consumption compared to electrolysis.

H2Pro is backed by leading investors and strategic partners, such as Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Temasek, Horizons Ventures, ArcelorMittal, Yara Growth Ventures, Hyundai, Sumitomo Corporation and New Fortress Energy. 

E-TAC is based on years of research conducted by its founding team at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. H2Pro is the winner of Shell’s 2020 New Energy Challenge.

H2Pro announces and celebrates laying the cornerstone of its first production facility, capable of producing 600MW/year of Green Hydrogen systems, CAESAREA, Israel, March 30, 2022 

SHOHAM, ISRAEL — Food technology startup Resugar raised $3 million in a Series A funding round.

Founded in 2020 by Niv Ben-Ami and Ron Livny, Resugar is developing a sugar substitute for large-scale industrial use. It uses a proprietary enzymatic process developed in partnership with The Technion – Israel Institute of Technology to transform raw materials into a finished sugar-like compound. The plant-based and low glycemic sweetener replicates sugar’s taste along with unique characteristics essential for moisture, color, volume and freezing point, according to the company.

The startup’s flagship product, the Resugar kit, offers food and beverage manufacturers a 1:1 sugar replacement with 70% to 80% less sugar content and 50% fewer calories. Resugar currently is in discussions with multinational companies around the licensing of its technology.

“The food and beverage industry has been disappointed by decades of sugar substitutes that underperform on taste, industrial properties, or both,” Mr. Ben-Ami said. “Stemming the tide of global sugar addiction requires harnessing the latest innovations in food science to deliver a flawless all-natural sugar substitute — to literally reinvent sugar, without the drawbacks.”Resugar will use funds from its Series A round to build out its global sales and marketing team, expand its partnership with Technion and accelerate regulatory approval and IP protection for its products. The round was led by Eitan Yochananof, chief executive officer of the Israeli grocery chain M. Yochananof and Sons, with participation from private investors. 

The incubator plans to invest $125 million in space tech startups over the next eight years. “We want to be part of the NewSpace revolution,” says Director Ofer Asif

The Earth & Beyond incubator is ready to take flight. Last month, the Earth & Beyond group, of which telecom company Spacecom is a partner, won the government tender to establish the first Israeli incubator that will invest exclusively in space tech startups. The tender covers a period of five to eight years, which will allow Spacecom to invest in young startups. The group is joined by several other notable partners, including venture capital firms and other aerospace companies, who along with Spacecom and the Israeli government will pledge $125 million toward budding companies’ R&D costs.

“Earth and Beyond wants to take advantage of Israel’s character as the Startup Nation, and help it be a leader in the satellite and space tech industry. We want to be part of the NewSpace revolution,” Ofer Asif told CTech in an interview. He serves as Director of the Earth & Beyond Incubator and also as SVP of Business Development, Marketing & Strategy at Spacecom.

“Israel possesses a very unique combination that is hard to find in other parts of the world. We are a leader in satellite knowledge. While we’re experts in satellite communications, on the Newspace commercial side, we’re lagging behind as a country. Israel has a thriving high tech scene, defense expertise, cutting-edge research institutes and know-how, and all these factors will help position Israel to be the leader of the NewSpace era,” he added.

In the 1960s, space was dominated by superpowers and funded by governments for infrastructure and defense purposes. However, it is now being led by the private sector for not just science and exploration purposes, but for daily uses on Earth. According to a recent report by Bank of America, the market will grow from $3-4 billion in 2022 to nearly $7 or $8 billion by 2030. “This has created a huge opportunity for Israeli startups. Israel is one of the world’s leaders in satellite technology on the defense-end, and we can use it to get ahead of the rest of the industry,” Asif added.

Asif joined Spacecom nearly two years ago with a background in software and digital communications and later finance, where he worked for Bank Hapoalim and managed public companies. Over the past year or so, Spacecom has transitioned from strictly a satellite operator to a communications services provider. The company possesses its own fleet that streams broadband television, connectivity, and internet services from space across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. The company is publicly traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, and is one of the oldest and first to join the Israeli space tech ecosystem. Last year, it launched its Digital Community Platform (DCP) aboard its Amos-17 fleet, which is powered by solar panels and can provide connectivity to underserved countries in Africa helping them gain access to vital services such as healthcare and education.

Director of the “Earth & Space” incubator Ofer Asif. (Spacecom)

A stellar board

Partners in the Earth & Beyond Incubator include global players such as Japanese Kyocera AVX, American Corning, Samtec, BlueSky Capital, and the NR Group, in addition to leading investment bodies, who operate in the space tech field. Those include the Israeli Rhodium Fund – a pre-seed investment firm – and the Group Consensus Business Group (CBG), Initium Foundation, Moon2Mars (an Israeli space tech VC) and TI-Caveret.

The group’s stellar advisory board features prominent executives with a background in either tech or space including former Minister of Science and Technology Yizhar Shai, who serves as chairman, serial investor Baruch Shor, former Director-General of the Israel Space Agency Avi Blasberger, Dean of the Physics Department at the Technion Prof. Ehud Bachar; former Israel Aerospace Industries’ CEO Yossi Weiss, Joshua Levinberg, formerly of Gilat Telecom, and female investors Renana Ashkenazi of Grove Ventures and Claudia de Antoni of Pico Venture Partners.

The incubator’s main focus is on dual-use technologies (or applications and platforms that can be used on both space and Earth), and aside from satellites and communications, the fields range from robotics to nanotech, semiconductors, green energy, and more. Asif mentioned Corning, a partner in the incubator, as an example. Corning is a leader in sophisticated glass material solutions. Originally, Corning was hired as a NASA contractor for the Apollo 11 mission to build glass window panes for the Apollo spacecraft. The company later used that know-how to get into fiber optics, and has most recently provided glass materials for both the mirrors in the newly-launched James Webb Space Telescope, and to engineer Gorilla Glass which is used in our cellphones.

Glass engineered by Corning was used for the Apollo 11 spacecraft. (NASA/Shutterstock)

Capital for spaceSpacecom was chosen to lead the incubator, along with its global partners, and it was part of a multifaceted effort. “We tried to convince the Israeli government that NewSpace is a promising area for investments, but really requires government capital in order to assume a leadership position in the global market,” he said. The license will last for between five to eight years, during which the government will invest up to 85% in each company. If a startup receives 85% in government support, then Spacecom and the additional companies can provide between 15%-40% of their own accord.

The group has also managed to raise a follow-up investment sum of $60 million, which will enable it to continue to invest in space tech startups regardless of the incubator. “We can then invest further as companies mature,” Asif added. And the show isn’t over yet, even after the government funds run dry. “Over the next decade, climate change will have an effect on agriculture and we need to come up with new ideas of how to combat that. Agritech solutions for space are also critical, and humankind also wants to also build a lunar habitat. To do that, we’ll need ideas, startups, and capital.”

To the future

Asif believes that the incubator will help grow Israel’s space tech ecosystem, similar to how the automotive industry has expanded in Israel over the past decade. “Today, 90% of global brands have operations here, and I think that space tech can boom in exactly the same way. We want to be the NewSpace hotspot and mimic the automotive sector’s success. Our vision is that by 2030 there will be hundreds of NewSpace startups, who employ 20,000 people, and groups, such as ours, will continue to invest billions in these ventures.

”While Earth & Beyond hasn’t officially launched yet, behind the scenes, the team has already started getting down to business. “We’ve spoken to companies, raised capital, funded our establishment, and put together our management team, although we can’t disclose which companies we’ve chosen to invest in yet,” he concluded.

Technion UK – Out of this world trip to Israel

A group from the United Kingdom representing Technion UK have just finished their first trip to Israel in more than two years.

Amongst the many people they met and places they visited, one of the start-ups that they went to was Space Pharma. 

Space Pharma Is an Israeli Start Up that is connected to the Technion. Their mission is to leverage their miniaturised microgravity lab technology, enabling unprecedented possibilities to develop new drugs in Space. All this at a fraction of the cost, with higher success rates than experiements conducted with traditional research methods. They are aiming to bring a positive impact on millions of lives here on Earth.

They are currently launching three experiments in Space, one of which is completely connected to the Technion and is aimed at growing meat products from animal cells but outside the body of an animal.

Their space program, Aleph Zero, is part of their mission to produce quality, delicious meat, independent of climate or availability of natural resources.  Coping with fast-changing temperatures, limited access to natural resources and zero gravity conditions, drives efficiency in their processes. In space, they can develop closed-loop systems with zero waste and zero emissions. Knowledge from these explorations and technologies developed in space are then implemented in their sustainability and operational practices on Earth.

Of the three founders behind the Israeli company behind autonomous tractors, two are alumni of the Israel Institute of Technology

As the International Day of Forests approaches (Monday, March 21), two alumni of the Technion are revolutionising the agricultural industry.

Founded in 2017 by Yair Shahar and Aviram Shmueli, along with Ben Alfi, Blue White Robotics started as a platform that connects autonomous systems to real-world applications.

Hoping to create a “cohesive” experience across farming operations, its smart tractors are designed to improve farm productivity, precision and worker safety. It comes amid a growing disruption within the industry as farmers continue to reap the benefits of smart technology, especially with the world’s growing demand for food in mind.

The ultimate solution for the company is for permanent crops, which usually means trees, shrubs or anything that can last several seasons, instead of being replanted after each harvest.

The current focus is California, due to its being the main market to suffer from labour shortages and increasing costs, although the company has also started projects in Israel.

The theme for this year’s International Day of Forests is “Forests and sustainable production and consumption.”

Intel CPU
Intel CPU

Tower Semiconductor, which has two Technion alumni as directors, has been valued at roughly $3.6 billion

The U.S. microchip behemoth is close to a deal of almost $6 billion to buy Tower Semiconductor, according to reports by The Wall Street Journal.

The Israeli company, whose shares trade on the Nasdaq Stock Market, makes semiconductors and circuits used in the automotive, mobile, medical and aerospace industries and operates manufacturing facilities in Israel, California, Texas and Japan.

Kalman Kaufman, Director and Chairman of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee, and Michal Vakrat Wolkin, also Director, both hold degrees from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.

This deal follows a long line of other global imprints Technion has left on the high-tech world, such as ISMLL, the world’s first autonomous traffic management platform and VoiceItt, an innovative speech impairment app.

With a market value of almost $200 billion, Intel has plans to invest at least $20 billion in new chip-making capacity due to a global shortage that has hampered the production of everything from smartphones to cars.

A deal is expected imminently.

A group of Israeli smart mobility companies – at least a quarter of which have come from Technion – has collaborated with a consortium of other bodies to overhaul road transport

Twenty firms have joined up with government-transport bodies, local authorities, municipalities and universities to form a private-public consortium that will tackle traffic congestion, road accidents, infrastructure and air pollution across Israel, and at least five of them are the products of Technion alumni.

Nexar, Moovit, Waycare, NoTraffic, Cognata and Blue White Robotics are all part of the ISMLL consortium (Israel Smart Mobility Living Lab), which hopes to share anonymous data via third-party apps, traffic cameras, drones and road sensors to accelerate transport innovation. The world’s first autonomous traffic management platform also plans to install thermal road cameras that will help with poor vision and Bluetooth sensors that will help monitor public transport usage.

The aggregated data will both process and provide insights to make other changes, such as altering the timing of traffic lights and adding more buses and/or bus routes.

ISMLL – which is backed by a group of 10 government ministries and received a $1 million investment – was co-founded by Eran Shir, the co-founder and CEO of AI road safety company, Nexar – and also a Technion alumnus. 

Traffic congestion is a major problem in Israel – both in terms of rate and cost – and was predicted to get much worse in a 2019 OECD report. According to the World Health Organization, road traffic injuries cause an estimated 1.35 million deaths annually – about one person every 25 seconds.

Alpha Omega, a revolutionary biomedical startup from Nazareth is valued at hundreds of millions of dollars and is writing a new and fascinating chapter in Israeli high tech history

When Reem and Imad Younis launched the technological system they developed, it filled the biomedical community with hope and excitement. The system’s great potential, which started a revolution in intracranial navigation during operations, immediately captivated many. Naturally, all the excitement and wonder raised several eyebrows: when a senior Israeli brain researcher sent an exclamatory email to his colleague overseas, sharing the news of the system, the colleague asked where the company’s offices are based, and thought the researcher was joking. 

The address was Maayan Mariam Square in Nazareth, a place that has long been considered a holy religious pilgrimage site for Christians, and differs drastically from the high tech hub in central Israel. The company’s idea was born in the home of young Arab engineer Imad Younis in 1993. Over the past few years, the company has become a leader in the field of surgical intracranial navigation, and has also created lab equipment for conducting brain research. The company owes its success to its founders Imad (60) and his spouse Reem (57) who opened Nazareth’s gates, turning the city into the capital of the Arab high tech industry in Israel, which today houses no less than 70 companies.

The couple founded the company in their youth (pictured). Photo: Courtesy of Younis family

Due to these impressive achievements, Reem and Imad were awarded the 2018 Industry Leaders Medal, at a special ceremony that took place at the Israeli President’s Residence in Jerusalem. But despite their breakthrough success, Alpha Omega remains private, and is owned by family, preserving its intimate character. Currently, it only employs 120 people – 48% of them women compared to the average of 33% in Israeli high tech. “We’re a small company that’s playing in the big leagues,” Imad said during an interview with Calcalist. “Our customers are Medtronic, Boston Scientific, or Abbott Laboratories, so people have high expectations from us. Surgeons who use our system don’t mind how many employees we have, or whether we’re from Nazareth or New York.”

And the number of surgeons using Alpha Omega’s smart system is growing. It already operates in over 200 different hospitals around the world, and has been used in a large number of life-changing brain surgeries. 

What exactly does your system do?

“In most cases, treating neurological and psychiatric diseases is based on trial and error: the doctor tries a certain medication and examines what effect it has on the patient,” Imad explained. “It’s really difficult, because you need to play around with the dosage, which sometimes causes side effects.” In order to overcome this challenge, researchers developed the Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) process, a procedure that does not require medication in which a medical device – a neurostimulator complete with electrodes – is implanted in the brain and sends electrical impulses to specific areas of the brain. This stimulation could lessen worsening motor symptoms of neurological diseases like Parkinson’s disease or epilepsy.

Unlike a broken hand, however, which can be spotted from a mere X-ray, brain issues are far harder for doctors to diagnose, since they can’t see into the human brain. In order to do so, they must implant an electrode which can navigate the brain’s pathways, and that’s where Alpha Omega enters the picture. The company creates a separate electrode, which is inserted into the brain via a nail into the skull, and helps surgeons put together a “map” which helps point to the area that needs treatment. Alpha Omega’s technology is swift and precise, which is critical during such operations. “We simplify surgeries,” Imad specifies. “The surgeon can look at MRI images or CT scans, but deciphering neuron activity is tricky. The algorithm we developed analyzes neurotransmitters once the electrode penetrates the point of treatment, and our system builds a picture or an actual map. It enables the surgeon to find the best spot to implant the electrode.”

Once the system spots the problematic area, the surgeon can add additional electrodes (which are created by Medtronic, Boston Scientific, Abbott, and others) that remain inside the brain. A subcutaneous pacemaker, implanted later, activates the permanent electrode, which transmits nerve impulses instead of damaged nerve cells to treat the disease. “After implantation, our system gives neurologists and psychiatrists more options to treat patients: health professionals can try different medications or DBS – and send stronger or weaker pulses.”

The system starred in former Israeli government minister and Likud MK Michael (Miki) Eitan’s surgery, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Since his diagnosis four years ago, the 77-year old politician had become a shadow of his former self – no longer lively, slow-paced, bent over, and shaky. But the surgery brought him back to life, and on a segment broadcast on Israeli television last month, he was shown skipping at home, playing ping pong on the beach, and speaking with the same fluency and alertness which characterized his political career.

“My father didn’t live to receive our treatment”

While the Younis couple is goal-oriented, they’re also a charismatic duo with a sparkle in their eyes. They’re also very loyal to their employees, with nearly a third of their senior management having accompanied Alpha Omega since its founding 28 years ago. They’re also very connected to their Christian Arab community, something that is hinted at from their company’s name. Alpha Omega denotes the first and last letter of the Greek alphabet, and together serve as a godlike symbol in Christianity, signifying the beginning and end of all. But when asked why they chose such a name, Reem provides a far more prosaic explanation. “When we started the company, we didn’t intend for it to be a startup, rather just another subcontractor in the high tech industry. We thought that companies would order our equipment or services, and we’d provide them everything from A to Z – from alpha to omega.”

When Reem is in the operating room next to a Parkinson’s patient, one can only imagine she must wonder what may have been had they developed their technology earlier. Her father, Wadia, developed Parkinson’s when she was a child, and was shuttled from place to place for treatment. In 1995, after three decades of coping with the disease, he passed away, which was “only two years after we founded the company,” she says sadly at the beginning of our conversation. “He didn’t last long enough to receive our treatment. That is the irony of life.”

However, her father did manage to raise a determined woman, who loves challenges, and who never desired to belong to the mainstream. At 18, Reem began pursuing a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering at the Technion Institute of Technology, and there she met her husband, another Christian Arab, who was a senior college student and electrical engineering major. 

The couple founded Alpha Omega when they were already parents to Dima, their eldest daughter, who today at 30, serves as Product Specialist and manages the company’s international marketing. Their other children also work for the company, including son, Jude, 25, as Business Development Associate and their youngest daughter, Nada, 18. In parallel, they also founded Alpha-Cad Ltd., a company that provides software solutions for engineering, which was later sold. To make an initial investment, they sold their family car and four gold coins that Imad received from his father in case of a “rainy day.”

At the beginning of their journey, the Younises cooperated with two of the leading figures in the DBS arena – doctor and brain researcher Prof. Hagai Bergman from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and French-Algerian brain surgeon Prof. Alim Louis Benabid, who is a fellow at the French Academy of Sciences. 

“In Bergman’s post-doctorate which he wrote in the late 80s, he found that Parkinson’s disease could be treated in monkeys, if a small portion of their brain – termed the subthalamic nucleus – was lesioned,” Imad says. “In 1994, Benabid conducted the first such operation on a human to treat essential tremors (the most common symptom in neurological tremor disorders), but his team faced a problem: their intracranial navigation was based on CT, MRI scans, and the like, which weren’t precise enough. In 1997, we reached out to them and offered use of our navigation system which is based on neurotransmitters.” In 1999, they sold their first system in Europe, and a year later entered the U.S. market. In 2002, the Younis couple relocated to the United States for two years with their three children to open the company’s American branch. 

But the company’s real turning point came two years ago: in 2019, only a year after it received its first external investment of $7 million (from the Chinese Guangzhou Sino-Israel Biotech Investment Fund earmarked for expanding the company’s operations in China), the American medical equipment company Medtronic dropped a bomb. It announced that it would be marketing Alpha Omega’s systems worldwide, and in one swift move knocked out all of the company’s market competitors, including its own. “Medtronic recognized our system’s technological and clinical advantages, and decided to abandon their own system and instead sell ours,” Imad revealed. “We are continuing to conduct our own marketing and sales, but they opened the entire world to us. That allowed us to think like leaders.”

And that thought encouraged them to spread the news of DBS around the world. “This treatment is included and covered in the standard healthcare package in Israel, the U.S., and Europe, but it only reaches 10% of the potential population it could help,” Imad says.

Actor and environmental activist contributes undisclosed amount as part of Israeli company’s recent $105m funding round

Actor and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio recently invested an undisclosed amount in Israeli alternative meat startup Aleph Farms, a maker of cultivated meat that grows steaks from modified cattle cells, according to an announcement on Wednesday

The investment was made as part of Aleph Farms’ $105 million Series B funding round in July.

The movie star also backed Netherlands-based alt-meat startup Mosa Meat, according to the announcement. The Dutch company unveiled the first cultured hamburger in 2013 and recently announced an $85 million funding round.

Aleph Farms, meanwhile, rolled out the first cultivated steak in 2018 and a cultivated ribeye cut earlier this year.

DiCaprio will be joining both startups as an advisor, according to the statement. The actor has long championed environmentalism with his eco-focused Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, giving out $100 million in grants for everything from lion recovery and mangrove restoration to the defense of indigenous rights and better access to affordable solar energy.

In 2019, he joined billionaire investors and philanthropists to create a new nonprofit, Earth Alliance, charged with tackling climate change and the loss of biodiversity.

“One of the most impactful ways to combat the climate crisis is to transform our food system,” DiCaprio said in the statement released on Wednesday. “Mosa Meat and Aleph Farms offer new ways to satisfy the world’s demand for beef, while solving some of the most pressing issues of current industrial beef production. I’m very pleased to join them as an advisor and investor, as they prepare to introduce cultivated beef to consumers.”

Aleph Farms thin-cut steak. (Courtesy)

Dr. Didier Toubia, co-founder and CEO of Aleph Farms said that “as a committed environmentalist, we welcome Leonardo DiCaprio to our advisory board and family of top-tier investors. Our team is committed to improving the sustainability of our global food systems and we’re thrilled to have Leo share in our vision.”

“With his passion for and dedication to climate action, we expect this collaboration will lead to great things together,” Toubia added in a video announcement.

“Food systems touch all people, and it will take all of us to make this change happen,” he said.

Toubia founded Aleph Farms in 2017 with Professor Shulamit Levenberg of the Biomedical Engineering Faculty at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, alongside Israeli food-tech incubator The Kitchen, a part of the Strauss Group.

To produce its meat, Aleph leverages the ability of animals to grow tissue muscle constantly and isolates the cells responsible. It then reproduces the optimal conditions for these cells to grow into tissue, basically growing meat outside the animal.

A rib-eye steak produced from meat cells cultivated in a laboratory by Israeli start-up Aleph Farms. (Courtesy: Aleph Farms/Technion Institute of Technology)

The tissue is grown in tanks that act as fermenters, similar to those in a brewery. There the cells are nurtured and shaped into a 3D structure that makes the meat.

Aleph Farms’ most recent investors include L Catterton, an American-French consumer-focused private equity firm with over $30 billion in equity capital, and DisruptAD, the venture capital arm of the Abu Dhabi holding company ADQ. The startup is also backed by a consortium of global food and meat companies, including Thai Union, BRF, and CJ CheilJedang.

The company has raised more than $110 million to date and has plans for a market launch in 2022. It signed an agreement earlier this year with Mitsubishi Corporation’s Food Industry Group to bring cultivated meat to the Japanese table.

Aleph Farms’ leadership team from left: Technion Professor Shulamit Levenberg, co-founder and chief scientific adviser; Didier Toubia, co-founder and CEO; Dr. Neta Lavon, chief technology officer and VP of Research and Development. (Rami Shalosh)

The Israeli firm has also set up similar partnerships with other multinationals: The Swiss industrial group Migros and the United States-based food corporation Cargill have also invested in the startup.

Aleph Farms is a leading player in a growing Israeli food tech sector. The global cultivated meat industry could reach $25 billion by 2030, according to analyst estimates.

SOURCE

Leonardo DiCaprio is investing in Israel’s Aleph Farms

The actor is joining Aleph and Dutch foodtech company Mosa Meat as an investor and adviser in the growing global movement to support sustainable technologies and transform the way meat is produced

Israel’s Aleph Farms and Dutch company Mosa Meat, two foodtech companies in the emerging field of cultivated meat, announced on Wednesday an investment from environmental activist and Academy Award actor, Leonardo DiCaprio. Both companies have demonstrated their ability to grow beef directly from animal cells, with the unveiling of the first cultivated hamburger by Dutch Mosa Meat in 2013 and the first cultivated steak and ribeye by Aleph Farms in 2018 and 2021. 

“One of the most impactful ways to combat the climate crisis is to transform our food system. Mosa Meat and Aleph Farms offer new ways to satisfy the world’s demand for beef, while solving some of the most pressing issues of current industrial beef production. I’m very pleased to join them as an adviser and investor as they prepare to introduce cultivated beef to consumers,” DiCaprio said.

Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio is investing in Aleph Farms. Photo: Shutterstock 

With global meat consumption projected to grow between 40%-70% by 2050, cultivated meat offers a solution to reduce negative impacts of industrial beef production, which uses precious sources such as land, water, and also causes harm to animals, while being a leading cause of carbon and nitrogen emissions. Cultivated meat will enable diners to enjoy the qualities of the meat they love, while eliminating the need for cutting out meat altogether. Analysts have projected the cultivated meat market could reach $25 billion by 2030, as part of the broader protein transformation. 

According to an independent Life Cycle Analysis study, cultivated beef production is projected to reduce climate impact by 92%, air pollution by 93%, and use 95% less land and 78% less water when compared to industrial beef production. 

“As a committed environmentalist, we welcome DiCaprio to our advisory board and family of top tier investors. Our team is committed to improving the sustainability of our global food systems and we’re thrilled to have Leo share in our vision,” Didier Toubia, co-founder and CEO of Aleph Farms said. 

Aleph Farms grows beef steaks, from non-genetically engineered cells isolated from a living cow, without harming animals and with a significantly reduced impact to the environment. The company is supported by The Kitchen Hub of the Strauss Group, and Professor Shulamit Levenberg from the Biomedical Engineering Faculty at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. Some of its investors include L. Catterton, DisruptAD (ADQ), BRF, Thai Union and Cargill.

Mosa Meat is a global food technology company pioneering a cleaner, kinder way of making real beef. Headquartered in Maastricht, the Netherlands, Mosa Meat is a privately-held company backed by Blue Horizon, M Ventures, Bell Food Group, Nutreco, Mitsubishi Corporation and others.

SOURCE

DiCaprio invests in Israeli cultivated meat co Aleph Farms

The Rehovot-based company has cultivated the world’s first slaughter-free ribeye steak, using 3D bio-printing technology.

Israeli cultivated meat company Aleph Farms has announced that the actor Leonardo DiCaprio has invested in the company and will join its advisory board. DiCaprio is also investing in Dutch cultivated meat company Mosa Meat.

DiCaprio said, “One of the most impactful ways to combat the climate crisis is to transform our food system. Mosa Meat and Aleph Farms offer new ways to satisfy the world’s demand for beef, while solving some of the most pressing issues of current industrial beef production. I’m very pleased to join them as an advisor and investor, as they prepare to introduce cultivated beef to consumers.”

DiCaprio invested in Rehovot-based Aleph Farms as part of its $105 million financing round completed in July. The amount of the investment has not been disclosed.

Aleph Farms cofounder and CEO Didier Toubia said, “As a committed environmentalist, we welcome Leonardo DiCaprio to our advisory board and family of top tier investors. Our team is committed to improving the sustainability of our global food systems and we’re thrilled to have Leo share in our vision.”

Aleph Farms was founded by Israeli food company Strauss Group together with Prof. Shulamit Levenberg of the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and Toubia and has cultivated the world’s first slaughter-free ribeye steak, using 3D bio-printing technology and natural building blocks of meat – real cow cells, without genetic engineering.

SOURCE

Leonardo DiCaprio Invests In Israeli Cultivated Meat Startup Aleph Farms

Leonardo DiCaprio at the United Nations, 2012, in a photo taken by Christopher Camp via Flickr (CC by 2.0)

Academy Award-winning actor and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio recently invested an undisclosed amount in Israeli startup Aleph Farms, a cultured meat startup that has created slaughter-free steak and ribeye from cattle cells. His investment was part of the company’s $105 million Series B funding round in July, according to an announcement. released on Wednesday.

He also invested in Dutch alternative meat startup Mosa Meat, Aleph Farms and Mosa Meat said in the statement. The Netherlands-based company is known for unveiling the first cultured hamburger in 2013.

Aleph Farms is also known for unveiling the “world’s first” cultivated steak in 2018 and a cultivated ribeye steak earlier this year.

“One of the most impactful ways to combat the climate crisis is to transform our food system,” DiCaprio said in the announcement, “Mosa Meat and Aleph Farms offer new ways to satisfy the world’s demand for beef, while solving some of the most pressing issues of current industrial beef production. I’m very pleased to join them as an advisor and investor, as they prepare to introduce cultivated beef to consumers.”

DiCaprio has a long association with environmental activism and social responsibility, which started early on in his career. In 1998, at the age of just 24, the Oscar-winning actor established the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation (LDF) with the purpose of raising awareness about environmental issues threatening the health of the planet and to date, has awarded more than $80 million in grants, funding over 200 projects in 50 countries.

In addition, the philanthropist also serves on the board of several environmental protection organizations including the World Wildlife Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council, International Fund for Animal Welfare, Pristine Seas and Oceans 5. He is also an advisor on The Solutions Project, an organization dedicated to scaling up the adoption of clean, renewable energy.

He also has a history of investing in Israeli eco-friendly projects, including a green hotel at the Herzliya marina, as well as promoting the development of – at the time – in January 2017, the world’s tallest solar thermal tower created by Megalim at the Ashalim solar complex in the Negev.

Aleph Farms has consistently made the news over the last several years as it attempts to disrupt the traditional meat market with its cultured, slaughter-free meat. It grows beef steaks, from non-genetically engineered cells isolated from a living cow, without harming animals and with a significantly reduced impact to the environment.

The company was co-founded in 2017 by Didier Toubia, The Kitchen Hub of the Strauss Group, and Professor Shulamit Levenberg from the Biomedical Engineering Faculty at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.

In January, the company announced an agreement with Japanese multinational Mitsubishi Corporation’s Food Industry Group to bring cultivated meat to Japan, followed by a deal to operate in Brazil.