MeaTech's shares surge on Hollywood support

A collective headed up by Hollywood actor Ashton Kutcher and involving talent manager Guy Oseary has partnered with cultivated meat firm MeaTech to propel forward the startup’s growth in developing and commercialising its lab-grown meat production technologies.

Shares in MeaTech surged 38 per cent this week to $8.49 amid news that Hollywood actor Ashton Kutcher is part of a venture capital firm that is partnering with the Israeli startup to help commercialise its offering.

“We are delighted to partner with MeaTech and assist it in its journey to become the market leader in cultured meat production,” said Kutcher.

“We are excited about MeaTech’s innovative technologies, which we believe position MeaTech to be the leader in industrial scale production of cultured meat, a key for a more sustainable and clean meat production.

"We intend to work closely with MeaTech’s management to help MeaTech implement its strategy and achieve its goals and global success by leveraging our marketing, strategic expertise, and network.

"The engagement with MeaTech is in line with our group’s mission to provide sustainable solutions through company building, investment, and acceleration of companies and technologies across various sustainability domains.”

Sharon Fima, CEO of MeaTech, said: “We are extremely excited to announce our strategic collaboration with such an entrepreneurial, visionary group. We believe this engagement will help accelerate our journey in becoming the global leader in the cultivated meat industry. We will leverage their expertise and relationships with key industry players to help us propel our strategy, go-to-market activities and brand.”

Kutcher's venture capital outfit is called Sound Ventures and also includes Guy Oseary, the Israeli-American businessman and talent manager who has worked with Madonna and U2

Sound Ventures is an investment vehicle with a focus on sustainability.

Sound Ventures describes itself as “an investment vehicle dedicated to the next generation of clean, circular and sustainable businesses. Anchored by a partnership program with some of the world’s leading brands and corporations, our unique investment thesis is focused on sustainable supply chain management".

MeaTech is the first cultured meat firm to be listed on the stock market and its long-term goal is to produce real meat cuts, such as steak or chicken breast, using 3D bioprinting technology.

Meanwhile, shares in AAK, the plant-based oils and fats company, in the week were down 1.9 per cent to 184SEK (Swedish Krona) after it announced a tie-up with Dutch algae firm Progress Biotech to supply it DHA- an omega-3 fatty acid for- infant formula.

Doctor Raimund Hoenes, AAK’s head of global special nutrition, said: “This partnership means we can offer infant formula manufacturers a plant-based DHA oil that meets the highest demands on quality. Our algal DHA also has neutral taste and color, which is difficult to achieve with alternatives based on fish oil.”

Elsewhere, shares in AgroFresh Solutions were up 2.25 per cent to $2.22 in the week and its shares have now climbed over 20 per cent in the past couple of months.

Finally, shares in Beyond Meat were down 4.5 per cent to $100.58 in the week and have recently taken a knock after a Wall Street analyst  warned that investors may be too optimistic about the company's prospects.