New Zealand-based cultivated meat company, Opo Bio, has announced a NZD 1.5 million (approx. $924,682) seed round and plans to launch its first research product.

Opo Bio is a B2B cultivated meat company, developing cell lines for the cultivated meat industry from New Zealand livestock. The company’s first product, primary bovine muscle cells (Opo-Moo), is available for researchers globally to purchase.

Opo’s research cell lines will be available for companies to licence. Initially, Opo will focus on cell lines that form cow and pig muscle, fat and connective tissue.

Its first product is aimed at researchers working in the field of cultivated meat. Opo’s primary cow cells are also available for researchers to purchase. The company says it hopes these products will accelerate research progress and transparency within the field.

Opo Bio was founded in July 2022 by Olivia Ogilvie, Laura Domigan and Vaughan Feisst based on research developed in Laura Domigan’s lab at the University of Auckland.

The seed round was led by Matū Fund, followed by Booster, The Inventors’ Fund, Booster Innovation Fund and Angels.