Natalie Portman Invests in Vegan Whole-Cut Muscle Meats
As the alt-protein industry continues to innovate and grow, Tender Foods has raised $12 million to launch whole muscle vegan meat products.
Food tech start-up, Tender Foods, has secured $12 million in seed round funding, to scale production of its vegan, whole muscle meat products.
Led by Chris Sacca’s Lowercarbon Capital, the round was supported by celebrity actress and passionate animal advocate, Natalie Portman, as well as pre-seed lead investor Rhapsody Venture Partners, Safar Partners, Bread and Butter Ventures, MCJ Collective, and food tech specialist investor Unovis.
Launched in 2020 by Harvard engineers, Tender Foods, formerly Boston Meats, uses novel technology to ‘spin’ plant protein into strands that mimic the texture of real meat muscle fibers. The end result is whole muscle cut products, such as chicken breasts, pulled pork and steaks that look, taste, and feel like their animal-based counterparts.
Despite alt-protein being one of the fastest growing categories in food and agriculture, most plant-based products developed and released are ground meat in the form of burgers and sausages, and nuggets. Tender’s mission is to develop the alt-protein market further by making “products that are indistinguishable from butchered meat” - something plant protein has so far struggled to replicate.
“By recreating the textures and fibers of animal-based meats, we can ensure that no matter what cut of meat you want, a plant-based product from Tender is what you reach for,” said Christophe Chantre, CEO and co-founder of Tender.
“The texture of real meat has been very difficult to imitate with current alternative meat texturizing solutions,” said Kevin Kit Parker, Ph.D., who is also a co-founder of Tender and former guest judge on the Food Network. “Our technology’s ability to replicate the architecture and mechanics of animal muscle in a plant-based protein food item, while meeting the nutritional goals of protein consumption, should impact the industry significantly.”
With this new $12 million in seed funding, Tender plans to scale up production of its plant-based meats and launch its first products in Boston later this year. Details of what the first product will be have not been confirmed, but the lineup will include chicken, beef, and pork, according to the company.
“The roughly 6 billion carnivorous humans that eat meat drive about 15% of total carbon emissions,” said Chris Sacca, co-founder of Lowercarbon Capital. “Cheers to the vegans, but to win over everybody else you need steaks and chops made from plants that are just as tasty off the grill as what gets cleaved off a carcass.”
Celebrity investment into the alt-protein space continues to grow. Earlier this year, Natalie Portman also backed French veggie bacon maker La Vie, during their Series A funding round which raised $28.3 million in the largest single alternative protein raise for a French food tech company to date. Other star-studded investors in the plant-protein space include Sia, Joaquin Phoenix, Leonardo DiCaprio, Paul McCartney, and more.
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