An ontario based biotech startup received funding from both provincial and maple leaf foods
Source：betakit.com
From：Taiwan Trade Center, Toronto
Update Time：2022/07/01
Ontario-based Evolved Meats (formerly known as CaroMeats), is part of a growing group of cultivated meat companies that have sought to develop more sustainable, lab-grown methods of meeting global demand for meat—which represents a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. The company raised $2 million CAD in equity seed financing led by Canada’s largest meat producer in Maple Leaf Foods. The round also saw support from New York-based alternative protein investment fund Big Idea Ventures, Garage Capital, Saltagen Ventures—which specializes partly in AgTech—University of Waterloo’s Velocity Fund, and undisclosed strategic angels.
Evolved Meats intends to develop whole cuts of scaffold-free cultivated meat that are structurally and biochemically identical to conventional meat products. Using cell sheet engineering techniques and transitioning its products from muscle to meat, the company wants to create cultivated meat products, from any livestock species, that align with consumer preferences and consumption habits. Evolved said that the proteomic dataset for conventional pork will be made open-source for access in the cellular agriculture ecosystem.
Amid an increasingly crowded sector, Evolved Meats co-founder and COO John Cappuccitti argues that the Canadian biotech startup’s technology is unique.
“The sustainability piece is just a nice cherry on top.”-John Cappuccitti
Evolved Meats turns cells into whole cuts of meat using cell sheet tissue engineering, which does not harm animals, while also generating fewer greenhouse gases than traditional meat production. While other companies have focused on the cell proliferation part of the equation, given that some have started to sell cells and the protocols for growing them, Evolved Meats opted to focus on the assembly side instead.
“The big problem with animal agriculture, not only is there a massive climate impact but there’s also an animal welfare issue,” said Cappuccitti. “If we’re able to recreate meat exactly as it exists in conventional animals, we’re able to impact both of those megatrends quite massively.
The idea of growing “whole cuts of real meat from any animal” is also awarded $75,000 from the Canadian Food Innovation Network (CFIN) and Ontario Genomics through their AcCELLerate-ON competition - a cellular agriculture competition that supports the research and development of innovative viable food production methods meant to drive economic growth in Ontario.
Evolved Meats plans to execute its first big product demonstration by the end of this year, where it intends to showcase a piece of pork belly “that should be perfect.”
Source: https://betakit.com/meet-the-biotech-startup-that-received-funding-from-both-garage-capital-and-maple-leaf-foods/