SeaWith plans a Hanwoo cultivated beef plant in Uiseong

A Korean startup signed a non-binding MoU to put about $14.9M into an industrial cultivated beef facility, pending regulatory approval.

SeaWith, a South Korean cultivated meat startup, has signed a memorandum of understanding to invest ₩20B (about $14.9M) in Uiseong County's Food Tech Research Support Center. The agreement is with Gyeongsangbuk-do province and Uiseong-gun county. It covers an industrial-scale facility for cultivated Hanwoo beef in Uiseong Biofood Valley, and SeaWith will raise its headcount at the site to 46. The two governments will help with administrative procedures and financial cooperation, and will work with the company on R&D, technology demonstration and commercialisation.

Today SeaWith works from the Uiseong Cell Culture Industry Support Center. There it has stored over 7,000 vials of AI-selected Hanwoo cells and runs three 500-litre bioreactors for approval batches. The planned GMP-compliant facility would have three 2,000-litre bioreactors and 400 tonnes of capacity by next year, growing to 1,200 tonnes per year later. The company uses a seaweed-based technology and will sell under the Welldone brand, starting with Hanwoo meatballs. CEO Keum Joonho says it is exploring the US. The support center itself covers 2,660 sq m, is funded with ₩14.5B from national and local governments, began construction on the day of the announcement and is due to open in 2027. Plant-based producer Ograe Agricultural Cooperative plans a separate ₩25.5B protein plant there.

Scale is what cultivated meat most needs. Small bioreactors can prove a process, but price only falls when output reaches hundreds of tonnes. Polling cited in the reporting says 90% of Koreans would try cultivated meat, and price is the top purchase driver at 65%, ahead of taste and texture at 62%. Public co-funding of shared infrastructure also lowers the capital burden on a single startup.

The caveats are large. The MoU is non-binding and subject to approval, as the CEO stressed. SeaWith plans to file with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety this year, but has no approval yet, and commercial production would follow only after approval. The capacity figures are targets, not achieved output. CellMeat and Simple Planet are also seeking Korean approval.

Source: Green Queen