Podcasts · This Week in Startups
While other cultivated meat companies are collapsing, this one turned a profit | E2317
· 44 min · Episode 2317
Episode While other cultivated meat companies are collapsing, this one turned a profit | E2317
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Today's show:
*Most lab-grown meat companies have already gone under. It's expensive to produce, and there's little demand from real-world consumers. But Tokyo's IntegriCulture is still standing after selling their proprietary serum to cosmetics companies.
On Episode 3 of TWiST from Tokyo, Jason sits down with Dr. Yuki Hanyu, an Oxford-trained chemist who started a DIY meat movement out of a comic convention and turned it into Japan's first cell-cultured protein company.
PLUS why the cultivated meat market stalled out, why producing a "slurry of cells" is more efficient than jumping right to muscle tissue, the regulatory framework in Japan vs. the US, and… is it fair to call this "meat"? Or is it something else entirely?
Guest
Yuki Hanyu on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuki-hanyu-b860bb34/
IntegriCulture: https://integriculture.com/en/
Relevant Links:
AG Funder News: "IntegriCulture turns a profit": https://agfundernews.com/cell-ag-picks-shovels-pioneer-integriculture-turns-a-profit-but-cautions-that-as-long-as-cell-ag-remains-so-capital-intensive-it-will-be-difficult-to-take-off
Vegconominst: Cultivated duck liver coverage: https://vegconomist.com/cultivated-cell-cultured-biotechnology/cultivated-meat/japans-integriculture-products-cultivated-duck-liver/
Cellament skin care ingredient: https://www.cellament.jp/cellament-en?lang=en
Medium: Shojinmeat Project: https://medium.com/shojin-meat
Cellular Agriculture Institute of the Commons (CAIC): https://cellagri.org/en/about-us
Japan Association for Cellular Agriculture (JACA): https://jaca.jp/en/
Upside Foods: https://upsidefoods.com/
Vow: https://www.eatvow.com/
Impossible Foods: https://impossiblefoods.com/
Fast Company: "Inside the stunning collapse of Believer Meats": https://www.fastcompany.com/91462102/believer-meats-stunning-collapse-600-million-cooling-cultured-meat-industry
AG Funder News: "FDA clears Wildtype's cell-cultivated salmon": https://agfundernews.com/fda-clears-wildtypes-cell-cultivated-salmon-for-us-debut
Food Navigator: Parima gets green light for cultivated duck: https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2026/04/15/parima-gets-regulatory-approval-for-cultivated-foie-gras/
Protein Production: "Japan publishes first draft safety guidelines for cultivated meat…": https://www.proteinproductiontechnology.com/post/japan-publishes-first-draft-safety-guidelines-for-cultivated-meat-as-regulatory-debate-advances
Stateline: "Texas bans lab-grown meat": https://stateline.org/2025/06/30/texas-becomes-seventh-state-to-ban-lab-grown-meat/
TODAY: "Japan's Coca-Cola Plus has an unexpected ingredient": https://www.today.com/food/japan-s-coca-cola-plus-has-unexpected-ingredient-t121047
Timestamps:
0:00 Why founders should visit Japan
1:48 Intro of cultivated meat pioneer, Dr. Yuki Hanyu
3:19 Why don't consumers want lab-grown meat?
10:05 Every.io - For all of your incorporation, banking, payroll, benefits, accounting, taxes or other back-office administration needs, visit https://every.io
10:26 DIY meat manuals at comic conventions
15:37 Flavors that don't exist in nature
19:35 The Wagyu Hot Dog
21:38 MongoDB - AI-assisted and agentic coding is helping you build faster than ever. Start building at https://MongoDB.com/ai
24:23 Why chicken nuggets are the hardest problem
28:28 Beachhead markets, waypoints, and surviving early
30:25 Agree.com - Stop chasing invoices and automate your entire contract-to-cash stack. Go to https://agree.com and tell them Jason sent you to get 50% off for life!
35:57 Q&A: Commercializing an open source project
37:56 Q&A: Growing protein in space
40:07 Should this be called "meat"?
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Follow…
Links in the notes 20
- https://every.io
- https://mongodb.com/ai
- https://agree.com
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuki-hanyu-b860bb34/
- https://integriculture.com/en/
- https://agfundernews.com/cell-ag-picks-shovels-pioneer-integriculture-turns-a-profit-but-cautions-that-as-long-as-cell-ag-remains-so-capital-intensive-it-will-be-difficult-to-take-off
- https://vegconomist.com/cultivated-cell-cultured-biotechnology/cultivated-meat/japans-integriculture-products-cultivated-duck-liver/
- https://www.cellament.jp/cellament-en?lang=en
- https://medium.com/shojin-meat
- https://cellagri.org/en/about-us
- https://jaca.jp/en/
- https://upsidefoods.com/
- https://www.eatvow.com/
- https://impossiblefoods.com/
- https://www.fastcompany.com/91462102/believer-meats-stunning-collapse-600-million-cooling-cultured-meat-industry
- https://agfundernews.com/fda-clears-wildtypes-cell-cultivated-salmon-for-us-debut
- https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2026/04/15/parima-gets-regulatory-approval-for-cultivated-foie-gras/
- https://www.proteinproductiontechnology.com/post/japan-publishes-first-draft-safety-guidelines-for-cultivated-meat-as-regulatory-debate-advances
- https://stateline.org/2025/06/30/texas-becomes-seventh-state-to-ban-lab-grown-meat/
- https://www.today.com/food/japan-s-coca-cola-plus-has-unexpected-ingredient-t121047
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