By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media
Australia’s Vow Food is tackling the challenges of hunger, food security, human health, and environmental degradation through ethically expanding the diversity of our options by using animal cells to grow meat in a laboratory.
If you could try alpaca, or water buffalo, or even an entirely new type of meat, without the guilt of slaughtering wild animals, or any of the ethical questions that would normally come to mind, would you?
Well, Vow Food, the first cultured meat company in Australia, is working on it, and has just announced a record-breaking $49.2 million Series A co-led by Blackbird, and Prosperity7 Ventures, the diversified growth fund of Aramco Ventures.
This round was also supported by Toyota Ventures, Square Peg Capital, Grok Ventures, Cavallo Ventures, Peakbridge, Tenacious Ventures, HostPlus Super, NGS Super and Pavilion Capital.
“As consumers shift to meat that fits their nutritional, sensory, and taste preferences, we see Vow’s cultured meat unlocking the next generation of alternative proteins,” said Jim Adler, founding managing director, Toyota Ventures. “Vow has the potential to meet the food demands of a rising global population while reducing the impact of food production on the environment. We are so excited to join the Vow team on their mission to make sustainable food both irresistible and available to billions across the planet.”
Try Just a Morsel?
Vow stated that since its founding in 2019, its business is at the forefront of facing one of the most urgent problems facing the planet – replacing animal agriculture with a more sustainable option for food production.
Not only does traditional meat production use one-third of the world’s fresh water and land surface, while also generating one-fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions, but evidence mounts that the global animal protein production system is not sustainable in the long-term.
As the startup strives to fulfill its mission, a lot has happened in a few short years as the company experienced tremendous growth.
In January 2021, it announced AUD$7.7 million (US$6 million) in Seed funding led by Square Peg Capital, and including Tenacious Ventures, Blackbird Ventures, and Grok Ventures. It saw the construction of one of the largest cultivated meat facilities on the planet; massive internal expansion; and the formation of new divisions and product teams.
This all culminated in the first Vow-engineered product brand being launched in Singapore this year. Called Morsel, it is a cultured umami quail product expected to be available soon in restaurants – not as quail, however, but chefs will be presenting it as a new type of meat.
“Vow represents the height of ambition – using robotics, data and biology – to make more delicious food than we do today,” said Samantha Wong, partner, Blackbird. “Having known the founders pre-company, we have been incredibly impressed with the rate of progress and the quality of hires in the last couple of years.”
Now, as Vow expands its manufacturing facilities with the addition of Factory 2, this new funding will be used for future product development, further manufacturing expansion, expanding its team and operations with the goal of disrupting the food industry, and for “planting the seeds for future growth across markets worldwide”.
“Food Security is one of the most important issues for humanity to solve, and cell cultured meat will be a critical development in the solution, making Vow a great fit with Prosperity7’s core mandate,” said Aysar Tayeb, executive managing director, Prosperity7 Ventures.
“Every choice Vow has made in its approach is thoughtfully aimed to accelerate acceptance and commercialization of cell cultured protein, including the deep application of technology and expanding the box to include thousands of cell lines to optimize taste, nutrition, and accelerate cell growth and cost down. We are thrilled to be a part of Vow’s pioneering journey to transform how food is made.”
~ 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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