August 26, 2020

By Lynda Kiernan, Global AgInvesting Media

Sustainable foodtech startup The Better Meat Co. announced it had closed on $8.1 million in Seed funding, including $1.6 million raised during the pre-Seed round in 2018, bringing total funding to-date to $9.7 million. 

The round was co-led by Greenlight Capital and Green Circle Foodtech Ventures, with participation from Johnsonville Holdings (the parent company of Johnsonville Sausage), and Lever VC.

A self-described business-to-business company, The Better Meat Co. provides plant-based enhancing ingredients to mainstream food companies that then use them to make hybrid animal-plant meat alternatives with anywhere from 25 to 50 percent of its ingredients coming from Better Meat.

The company’s allergen-free enhancers are used in beef, chicken, pork, and seafood products, creating hybrids that offer lower cholesterol, fewer calories, and less saturated fat, while lowering the environmental footprint of traditional meat products. It also acts to mitigate price volatility, as customers can lock-in prices under six, or twelve-month contracts.

“For our products, you’re getting better nutritionals; less saturated fat, less cholesterol, more fiber, and fewer calories, plus you can talk about plant-protein, which is very popular right now,” Paul Shapiro, founder and CEO of The Better Meat Co. told Food Navigator – USA.

Perdue Farms uses Better Meat Co. ingredients in the production of its Perdue Chicken Plus nuggets, tenders, and patties made of cauliflower, chickpeas, plant-protein, and white meat chicken that are sold in 7,100 grocery stores, and which The Food Network has named the best-tasting frozen chicken nugget in America.

“We were amazed by The Better Meat Co.’s ability to provide its customers with clean label plant-based formulas that blend seamlessly into ground meats, often at a lower cost,” said Stu Strumwasser, managing director of Green Circle Capital and now a Better Meat Co. board member. “We were also drawn to these thought leaders’ strategy of partnering with major meat companies to immediately make an environmental and public health impact.”

Since its partnership with Perdue, The Better Meat Co. has launched two seafood ingredient blends – a crab replacement and a ground pollock analogue – currently undergoing trials by major seafood companies. 

It is also an ingredient supplier for Hormel’s Great Organic Blend Burger produced through Applegate and Tyson Foods’ Raised & Rooted line of plant-based nuggets, according to Food Dive. 

Better Meat is tapping into the best of two worlds – one where consumers are looking to reduce their animal protein intake, and another where consumers aren’t willing to fully eliminate animal protein from their diet.

“Meat consumers are increasingly diversifying their protein sources, and enhancing meat with delicious plant protein formulas is a win-win for the consumer and the planet,” said Shapiro.

Lynda Kiernan is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, and HighQuest Group’s Oilseed & Grain News. She is also a contributor to the GAI Gazette. She can be reached at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.