Media costs are not a reliable indicator for production costs – here is why!

The price of culture medium in cultivated meat is NOT a reliable indicator of production costs or unit economics.

A company with a $10/L growth medium could still have a cheaper end product than one using a $1/L medium. Why? Because price per liter doesn’t tell the full story.

Here’s what actually matters:

1️⃣ 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘂𝗺 𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆: You can dilute nutrients as much as you want (e.g., 10x), but if cells need 10x more of that “cheaper” medium to grow, the cost remains the same.

2️⃣ 𝗦𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: What production volume is the medium price based on? Pricing varies significantly depending on whether we’re talking 3-5 years from now or a hypothetical large-scale facility 10 years out.

3️⃣ 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘂𝗺 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: How efficiently do the cells use the nutrients? If a significant portion turns into wasteful byproducts rather than growth, a “cheap” medium won’t help much.

4️⃣ 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆: Is the medium discarded or recycled? The way it’s used across the production cycle plays a huge role in actual costs.

5️⃣ 𝗧𝘆𝗽𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮: Most processes require multiple media types at different stages, each with its own cost and impact on efficiency.

𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: The cost per liter of culture medium is a distraction. What really matters is how efficiently the entire system operates and how complex the whole process is – a costly downstream process can be a killer.

👉 If you want to know how the medium influences the production costs, you can ask:

How many liters of culture media are needed for producing 1kg of product/biomass and what is the weighted average medium cost at scale X (e.g. pilot scale or production volume in the first year)?

Don´t get distracted by cost indicators that don´t matter – some are just noise, while relevant ones are often hidden. Together we can make sure you are asking the right questions!