A Dutch company that presented the world’s first lab-grown beefburger five years ago says it has received funding to make and sell artificially grown meat to restaurants from 2021.

Maastricht-based Mosa Meat has said it raised 7.5 million euro (£6.7 million), mainly from M Ventures and Bell Food Group.

M Ventures is an investment vehicle for German pharmaceuticals company Merck KGaA.

Bell Food is a European meat processing company based in Switzerland.

Test-tube burger
A lab-grown meat burger made from cultured beef (David Parry/PA)

Mosa Meat has in the past also received one million euro (£890,000) from Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

It is one of several working to produce cultured meat for consumers concerned about the environmental and ethical impact of traditional farming.

Mosa Meat aims to sell its first products in 2021, achieving industrial-scale production two to three years later.