CellMEAT, a South Korean cultivated protein startup, has closed a ₩5 billion (approx. US$4.5 million) pre-Series A funding round. The firm says that the proceeds will go towards further R&D of its cell-based meat technology to scale up and cut costs, with the view to “make cultured meat a reality in South Korea”. So far, the company has already developed its proprietary animal-free cell-culture and cell-culture medium technology, which critically does not rely on fetal bovine serum (FBS).