周子未来 (Zhouzi Weilai) develops cell-cultured meat through end-to-end capabilities spanning basic research, industrialization and regulatory work. The team has achieved multiple technical breakthroughs including multi‑generation proprietary culture media, serum‑free media development, and significant cost reductions in cell proliferation and differentiation. It has advanced to pilot production with 100‑liter bioreactors and is described as the only domestic company able to reach 100L‑scale cultivation. The company plans staged scale‑up (100L → 500L → 1,000L) and will establish a Shanghai R&D center to accelerate industrialization. 周子未来 expects to deliver market‑competitive cultured‑meat products in 2024–2025 and target large meat consumption markets. The firm has received industry recognition and awards such as China Food Technology’s Top 10 Progress and MIT Technology Review’s “50 Smart Companies.” Joes Future Food is a Nanjing-based cultivated meat startup developing materials and methods for cell-cultured pork. The company focuses initially on pork and says it was spun out of Nanjing Agricultural University in late 2019. It claims to be the first company in China to have successfully produced cell-cultured meat and traces its team's R&D on myoblast induction and stem-cell differentiation back to 2009. Joes Future has developed serum-free culture media, a new cryopreservation method for stem cell cultures, and a cultured meat production scaffold containing a micro-pillar array. The startup raised ¥70 million (~$10.9 million) in Series A financing and previously raised ¥20 million (~$3.13 million) in pre-seed funding from Matrix Partners China. It plans to use the latest funding to grow domestically and internationally, strengthen its core team, increase R&D investment, accelerate commercialization, reduce production costs, and build a pilot production line. Zhouzi Weilai, founded in 2019 and based in Nanjing, develops cell-based (cultured) meat by cultivating animal cells for food. The company is led by Professor Zhou Guanghong at the College of Food Science and Technology of Nanjing Agricultural University and claims to be the first Chinese cell-based meat manufacturer. It raised RMB 20 million (USD 3.1 million) from MatrixPartners China to accelerate development and commercialization. The startup aims to push commercialization and scale production, while the article notes cultured meat faces regulatory, technical, and cost hurdles. Cultured meat production involves cell cultivation and tissue engineering, with key technical areas including cell proliferation and differentiation, 3D scaffolding, and bioreactors. The article positions Zhouzi Weilai within a broader alternative-protein market where plant-based products are more commercially mature and Singapore has become the first country to approve sale of cell-based meat.

Total raised

$4M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Series A

Latest activity

Oct 2021