By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media
Earlybird Venture Capital has led the world’s largest Series A round for a cultivated meat company to-date, heading up $48 million in new funding for Paris-based startup Gourmey.
Joining Earlybird in the oversubscribed round was a new syndicate of investors including Amsterdam-based Keen Venture Partners and Instacart CEO Fidji Simo, existing investors Heartcore Capital, Point Nine Capital, Air Street Capital, and Beyond Investing, along with participation from Paris-based Omnes Capital and Eutopia, Berlin-based Discovery Ventures, Singapore-based Thia Ventures, with support from public institutions including French public investment bank Bpifrance.
Founded in 2019 by CEO Nicolas Morin-Forest, CTO Dr. Victor Sayous, PhD in molecular biology, and CSO Antoine Davydoff, cell biologist, Gourmey was launched with a mission to accelerate a global shift toward more ethical, sustainable, and healthy meat.
In recent years, concerns associated with animal protein production have increasingly come to the fore, including antibiotic resistance, sustainability, animal welfare, food-borne illnesses, and perhaps most pressingly, the environmental impact of such production systems.
Exacerbating these concerns is the knowledge that meat consumption is projected to grow by 40-70 percent by 2050 to keep pace with population growth and global consumption shifts. And although all food production carries with it some level of carbon footprint, meat production is a stand-out offender.
However, we are not without options. A recent study conducted by the Dutch independent research firm CE Delft indicated that cultivated meat production has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 92 percent and land use by up to 95 percent, compared to conventional production. With such potential to benefit society and the environment, consulting firm Kearney estimated that the category could account for as much as 35 percent of the $1.8 trillion global meat market by 2040.
Among the pioneers is Gourmey, a startup creating sustainable culinary-grade meats from real animal cells through the application of fermentation. With an initial focus on premium meats, the company’s flagship product is cultivated foie gras, which is to be followed by other premium meat products.
Indicating Earlybird’s strong interest and support, this investment in Gourmey was the first capital commitment made by the investor since opening its physical office in Paris.
“Gourmey is well positioned to become a global winner and lead the paradigm shift towards a more sustainable, equitable and resilient food supply chain,” said Christian Nagel, partner, and co-founder, Earlybird. “The company’s exceptional team has demonstrated how so-called frontier technology’s bottlenecks can be overcome at record-speed.”
The company stated that it intends to use this capital to triple its team from 40 to 120 members; to collaborate with world-class chefs, culinary partners, and global food distributors to expand its product portfolio; and in support of opening a 46,000 square-foot commercial production facility and R&D center in Paris.
“Food is the single strongest lever we can action as individuals to slow down climate change,” said Nicolas Morin-Forest, co-founder and CEO, Gourmey. “Today, we are thrilled to see our vision of a more sustainable food system come to life as we are moving from R&D to production and commercialization with the building of one of the largest cultivated meat plants in the world.”
This first-of-its-kind cultivated meat hub and commercial production facility will be home to 120 engineers, culinary experts, and operators by 2024, with a planned annual production capacity of tens of thousands of pounds of cultivated meat, beginning with foie gras.
“Gourmey has developed its breakthrough products rapidly and with greater capital efficiency than its peers thanks to the team’s immense ingenuity in stem cell, bioprocess engineering and food sciences,” said Nathan Benaich, general partner, Air Street Capital. “Their approach is generalisable to diverse mammalian tissues and huge scales, which charts a clear path to becoming a platform food company.”
Yacine Ghalim, partner, Heartcore Capital, added, “As early supporters, we have been consistently impressed with Gourmey’s achievements in such a small amount of time. We are excited to double down and support their world-class team as they take meat alternatives to culinary heights.”
~ Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor in chief with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Unconventional Ag. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@
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