Dutch food technology company Mosa Meat has raised $55m in a Series B funding round to extend its cultured meat production facility in Maastricht.

The round was led by Luxembourg-based Blue Horizon Ventures and joined by investors such as Bell Food Group, M Ventures and other mission-based investors and advisers.

Mosa Meat CEO Maarten Bosch said: “We are very excited to welcome our new partners and see existing partners continue our journey together.

“With their support and capabilities, we have the opportunity to take the next concrete steps to scale production, make progress towards a cleaner, kinder way of making real beef, and ultimately increase the resilience, sustainability, and safety of our global food system”.

Apart from expanding the pilot production facility in Maastricht, the company will use the funds to develop an industrial-sized production line and expand team size.

However, the company has not released a precise date for the launch of its cultivated beef and will be working with food regulators to establish that its beef is safe to consume for obtaining regulatory approval to serve consumers in Europe.

Blue Horizon Ventures partner Dr Regina Hecker will be joining the Mosa Meat board with special focus on science, scaling, and regulatory.

Hecker said: “We are excited to be joining Mosa Meat as lead investor in this round. Following a thorough investigation of its technology and team, we are convinced that Mosa Meat is strongly placed to pioneer the scale-up of cultured meat.”

In July, Bell Food Group unveiled plans to increase its investment in the Dutch start-up Mosa Meat.

With this investment, the Bell Food Group intends to actively take part in the new trends in the convenience food sector and access the booming market for meat alternatives.