Leonardo DiCaprio Just Invested in Two Lab-Grown Meat Companies

We always love to see celebrity investors put their money where their mouths are by investing in companies working to fight the climate crisis. This week, Leonardo DiCaprio did just that when he made investments in Aleph Farms and Mosa Meat, two companies creating lab-grown meat, aka cell-based, cultured, clean, cultivated, or slaughter-free meat.

Even though lab-grown meat is not yet available to purchase in stores or restaurants, we are getting closer and closer to a world where meat that does not hurt animals is the norm, thanks to the many cultured meat brands trying to innovate society away from the unsustainable and cruel animal agriculture industry.

On Sept. 22, Leonardo DiCaprio announced that he had partnered with two lab-grown meat companies, becoming an investor and advisor for both of them. One is Mosa Meat, a European food technology company known for making the first cultivated hamburger back in 2013. The company is still focused on creating the perfect lab-grown beef.

The other company, Aleph Farms, successfully grew a cultivated steak in a lab in 2018, and a ribeye in 2021. One of Aleph Farms’ techniques is using a plant-based matrix, aka textured soy protein scaffolds, to grow beef — pretty cool.

“One of the most impactful ways to combat the climate crisis is to transform our food system,” Leonardo DiCaprio said in a statement sent to Green Matters. “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.”

The animal agriculture industry has a monumental impact on the environment. The immense pollution, methane emissions, waste, and use of land, water, and grain contributes significantly to the climate crisis. According to a February 2021 study, lab-grown beef production uses 95 percent less land and 78 percent less water than industrial beef production — not to mention, it doesn’t harm animals.

Fortunately, there are a slew of lab-grown meat companies working to make cultured meat a mainstay of restaurant menus and grocery stores all around the world. In addition to Aleph Farms and Mosa Meat, here are a few companies doing awesome things in the world of growing slaughter-free meat in labs.

Eat Just, the company that makes the popular plant-based scrambled egg Just Egg, started a cultured meat brand called GOOD Meat. The new label has already perfected its recipe for lab-grown chicken bites, which the Singapore Food Agency passed a safety review of in 2020.

Startup Wild Type makes a lab-grown salmon, which was served to guests for the first time in 2019. Overfishing is hurting our oceans in so many ways, and planet Earth desperately needs more seafood alternatives that don't deplete our oceans.

Formerly known as Memphis Meats, UPSIDE Foods is a California-based cultured meat company. In 2016, the company unveiled what it claims was the world’s first cultured beef meatball, and in 2017, the first cultured chicken and duck.

Pet food company Because, Animals recently unveiled its cultured mouse treats for cats. The company is also working on nutritionally complete meals for cats made from lab-grown mouse meat, as well as lab-grown rabbit meals and treats for dogs.

Cultured meat developer MeaTech uses 3D-printing technology to create cultivated meat. And on Oct. 7, 2021, the company announced that actor Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary, co-founders of Sound Ventures, had partnered with MeaTech to become the company's latest investors and advisors.

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

UPDATE, Friday, Oct. 8, 1:20 p.m.: This article was updated to include MeaTech.