CULTIVATED MEAT MAKER GOURMEY WELCOMES $10M IN SEED ROUND

Paris-based Gourmey, a French pioneer in cultivated meat, has raised $10 million (€8.48m) in new financing, said to be the largest seed round for a cultivated poultry start-up to date.

Point Nine and Air Street Capital co-led the deal which was oversubscribed, with significant participation from Heartcore Capital and Partech Partners.

The money will be used to scale up production capabilities in the centre of Paris, ready for global commercialisation. Gourmey, whose team is pictured above, is aiming to create sustainable restaurant-grade meats from real animal cells. “We believe there is a way to satisfy the world’s growing appetite for meat without compromising on planetary health,” said CEO Nicolas Morin-Forest.

Gourmey, which has been heavily focused on foie gras to date, claims to have strong commercial interest from chefs and restaurants worldwide as well as from meat and fine foods international distributors. The company expects to enter the market in late 2022 or early 2023.

Foie gras is first in the pecking order for cultivated meat

Gourmey’s strategy to accelerate cultivated meat adoption is to deliver its products at price and taste parity – quickly. “Foie gras, the single most premium and decadent poultry meat on the planet with a $2 billion market, is our flagship product. Other premium duck, chicken and turkey meats from the finest breeds are coming next,” noted Morin-Forest.

He added: “Our mission is to re-imagine meat for a conscious generation so that we have a chance to feed 10 billion people without devastating our environment. Poultry is the most consumed and fastest growing meat on the planet, so it is an obvious choice.”

Gourmey’s funding round also included participation from alternative proteins investment firm Big Idea Ventures, Paris-based Eutopia, Ataraxia in Silicon Valley, Beyond Investing, plus angel investors from life science and food industries as well as support from public institutions including Bpifrance, the French public investment bank, and the European Commission.

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