KBW Ventures, the investment firm founded by Saudi Arabia’s Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud, has invested in US plant-based alternative meat producer, Black Sheep Foods.
The food technology startup has raised $12.3 million in Series A funding led by plant-based venture veterans Unovis, with participation from Bessemer Ventures Partners, AgFunder, and KBW Ventures.
The company said in a statement the funding will help to scale up production for its debut lamb made from plants for national distribution.
The latest raise has scaled the company’s total investment to $18.05m since its inception in 2019, the company noted.
Mr. Sunny Kumar, CEO, and co-founder of Black Sheep Foods, stated that, “Our minds associate meat with a shape, a texture, and a flavor. While texture has been the focus of meat innovation, the flavor is a white space. Our debut lamb made from plants has more depth of flavor, richness, and appetizing aromatics than other meats, full stop. We’re in the business of giving consumers access to the most delicious meat variety, using plants instead of animals.”
The company’s patent-pending flavor technology allows them to isolate the flavor molecules that give any animal meat its distinctive flavor, identify the same molecules in plants, and reconstruct the depth of meat flavor using only plants, the company added.
KBW Ventures has invested in a number of companies in the food tech sector. Its portfolio includes plant-based alternatives and cultivated cellular product companies comprising plant-based dairy alternative company Eclipse Foods, organic gardening firm Back to the Roots, and Singapore-based milk biotech TurtleTree Labs.
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