Steakholder Foods is building the industry-standard machinery, software and printing materials to help accelerate the plant-based and cultivated food industries and bring them to full capacity. The company offers its proprietary 3D printers, printing ink formulated from constituent raw materials, operating software, and ongoing services to help manufacturers of all sizes reach the execution of their offerings.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 Eric, thank you so much for joining us.
00:02 Hi, Zorai.
00:03 How are you doing?
00:04 Excellent, thank you.
00:05 Well, look, I've teased the folks in terms of 3D printing and what is it that your company
00:10 does.
00:11 So why don't you explain it for us very briefly on what is it that you all do?
00:14 So Stakeholder Foods is a pioneer in the 3D printing of cultivated and plant-based meat.
00:21 We are currently traded in the NASDAQ, first company in the cultured meat sector that is
00:26 uplisted to a stock exchange, and we are among the leaders in this field.
00:32 The ticker on NASDAQ, by the way, is STKH.
00:37 You mentioned that.
00:38 Let's go and talk about how recently, just quite recently, you had an announcement with
00:42 the first private sector commercialization deal valued at several million dollars.
00:47 Give me a bit more insight under the hood about this deal.
00:50 So in general, if we zoom out for a second, the whole cultivated meat industry was non-existent
00:55 until a few years ago, and everyone is trying to reach the point of revenues, of like commercializing
01:02 their IP.
01:05 I think that we are among the first ones that have succeeded to commercialize our IP, and
01:11 the deal with VitaFarm is super interesting and super exciting for us because it validated
01:16 our technology.
01:17 We've sold them our printer, our heavy duty printer, which has already a capacity of hundreds
01:23 of kilos per hour of printing plant-based meat in the beginning.
01:28 In the future, we will be able to integrate also hybrid products inside.
01:32 And VitaFarms is the largest tofu producer in Israel, among one of the leaders of alternative
01:37 proteins.
01:38 So it means that they checked us very thoroughly.
01:42 We underwent a very thorough due diligence process, technical, also financial, and the
01:48 deal was signed.
01:50 So super exciting for us.
01:52 Now, I believe you've continuously had news come out.
01:55 So that's the one that we just talked about, the recent one.
01:58 Then on January 25th, you announced the exercise of warrants for approximately 6.6 million
02:04 in gross proceeds.
02:06 How are you planning to use the money that you just got?
02:09 So January 24th, January, like last month.
02:15 Yes, not that year.
02:17 So I think it's crucial for us in this very challenging environment to be well-funded.
02:24 And the exercise of these warrants, first of all, they showcase trust in our share,
02:30 in our company, in our activity.
02:32 And it gives us quite a range of activity.
02:38 So I don't see us raising funds in the near future.
02:44 We don't need to.
02:45 We are focusing mainly on commercializing the IP right now, the technology.
02:50 We are well-funded for the upcoming year.
02:53 And then when it comes to, you've got the funds, we've talked about the technology in
02:57 itself as well.
02:59 Do you feel like you've got enough cash, though, on the balance sheet?
03:03 Let's talk about debt.
03:04 Let's get into the financials a little bit.
03:06 Let's talk about the balance sheet.
03:07 Let's talk about if you have any debt.
03:09 And more importantly, what I'm sure our viewers want to know that are watching at home, do
03:12 you need to raise cash further in the short term?
03:17 So the answer regarding the debt is no, we don't have any debt in the company.
03:22 And we are an R&D company, so we are not generating enough revenues yet.
03:29 But this deal, as I said, it's like a super important milestone for us because we intend
03:34 to broaden our range and our deal flow.
03:38 We do not intend to raise any funds in the near future.
03:43 I'm sure that's something that our viewers and potential investors and investors already
03:46 would love to know that.
03:48 Now let's talk about catalysts.
03:50 What are the upcoming catalysts that companies should be looking out for when I say companies
03:54 in terms of anyone you're working with, but more specifically, also our investors that
03:58 they can kind of be looking out for?
04:01 So there are a few.
04:02 If we are looking at the Weiler deal, we published that we intend to finalize the integration
04:09 by the end of this year, maybe beginning next year.
04:13 But that said, we are searching for additional deals in additional territories.
04:20 The Asian territory is very interesting to us.
04:23 Singapore, for example, which is like the first company that has allowed to sell cultivated
04:28 meat, the super interesting territory for us, and we are focusing on trying to secure
04:33 a deal there.
04:35 We had the Emirates deal, which we've published a few months ago.
04:40 Hopefully we will see also positive news that comes from there.
04:44 Also very, very interesting territory, the whole Gulf area.
04:49 And the United States, the United States is our main target territory.
04:54 Hopefully we will be able to facilitate also first deal in the United States in 2024.
05:01 I would love if you wanted to sponsor like date night for me or something like that,
05:05 and I could just go ahead and serve your food that's printed.
05:07 Because I actually sent, because we've got a couple of minutes here, I went ahead and
05:12 sent pictures from your website to a friend of mine.
05:15 And she was like, oh my God, this looks delicious.
05:16 And I was like, would you believe me if I told you this was printed?
05:19 And it was just mind blowing.
05:21 I feel like you're such in the early stages of what this could possibly be.
05:25 And especially in terms of it helps save costs, because that's one of the biggest things is
05:28 cost of goods and also cost of labor for restaurants.
05:31 I think this is definitely something that gets interesting.
05:33 Let's talk about the United States.
05:35 Are you concerned?
05:36 Because I know I read when I was on your website, when the investor releases about how you're
05:39 working with the EU government to go ahead and make sure that you're above board with
05:43 everything and doing everything you need to do by the book.
05:46 How's that process going?
05:47 Let's talk about that with the EU, then we'll come back to the States.
05:50 So I think that there's a lot of noise lately about countries that are banning or potentially
05:56 banning cultured meat.
05:58 So cultured meat is nonexistent anywhere.
06:00 So it's like more of a populist, I think, say, but you cannot stop technology and you
06:08 cannot stop progress.
06:10 So it's funny what you said about your friend, because I think that the best test for our
06:15 technology is that we had one of the largest meat slaughters in Israel come to our facility
06:22 lately.
06:23 And I gave him to, we've 3D printed him our meat product and he tasted it.
06:29 And that was the showcase puff to say, OK, if he says that it's not tasty, it's irrelevant.
06:35 And he was amazed.
06:37 He said it's amazing.
06:38 So I think that in the United States, we will see certain territories, maybe like certain
06:43 countries that at the beginning will say, OK, we are banning it.
06:47 And that said, the first products that we intend to print are fully plant based, so
06:50 they're not cultured at all.
06:53 And so it's something that can be sold.
06:54 You have a lot of companies in the United States, very famous one that are selling plant
06:59 based products.
07:01 Our products are more advanced because they are printed.
07:04 So texture wise, taste wise, they are better.
07:07 And when the cultured meat products will enter the market, I believe that the majority of
07:12 the states will allow it, maybe in the beginning there will be challenges in some states.
07:15 But at the end, you need to feed the people.
07:18 And there's not enough meat today to feed the whole population.
07:22 So it's a no brainer.
07:24 I mean, we've seen how expensive eggs are, right?
07:27 It became a meme in the United States about how eggs used to be three bucks.
07:31 But now you've got to save a paycheck to go ahead and get that under your belt itself
07:34 as well.
07:35 And I'm sorry if you already kind of lured tourists, but did you have an idea?
07:39 And I don't want to quote you on it, but like, hey, are we looking for the entry in the United
07:42 States later 2024, 25, 26?
07:45 Any idea?
07:46 I know you're still getting things figured out there.
07:50 I can say what I hope.
07:51 So I hope to secure a deal maybe this year in the United States.
07:56 I believe that there will be possibly other deals that will be prior to the United States
08:02 deal because we are active currently.
08:05 We are very active in Asia.
08:06 So hopefully we'll see something coming from there.
08:08 I cannot guarantee anything, but hopefully we'll see something for that.
08:12 But we are alluring towards the United States.
08:15 That's where we are traded.
08:16 That's the largest consumer worldwide.
08:20 And hopefully we will try to secure something in the near future, the United States.
08:25 Well, I look forward to that.
08:26 I would love to kind of see a taste test, kind of like you mentioned, right?
08:29 I would love to do some content with y'all where it's like, hey, you have steak that
08:32 people may enjoy, and then you also have the steak that you guys are going to go ahead
08:39 and print.
08:40 And I'm just really excited about that.
08:42 But before I let you go, though, any final thoughts on your end that you want to share
08:46 with our viewers?
08:47 Any topics that I may not have brought up?
08:49 I think that what's exciting for us at this point is that we have reached the point that
08:56 we begin to sell our products.
08:58 We're not talking about future things, more romantic descriptions.
09:03 We are selling the heavy duty printers, which will print amazing products at an industrial
09:09 scale, fully digital control, and the tailoring of each product in the future, like the possibilities
09:15 are endless.
09:16 So I'm very excited to be the CEO of the company at this very exciting stage.
09:21 And I believe that the following years will be much more exciting because we will see
09:24 more companies entering the markets, more products entering the market, and the future
09:29 is amazing.
09:30 Well, I'm telling you what, again, when it comes to the US, I call dibs on any taste
09:34 testing that you need us to do.
09:35 I will happily do that for you.
09:37 But thank you so much for joining us, man.
09:39 I really appreciate your time.
09:40 Thank you.