Stray Dog Capital portfolio company, SuperMeat, is on a mission to bring the world the highest quality chicken meat through a sustainable and animal-friendly process. As the industry grows increasingly close to widespread regulatory approval and commercialization, the company is utilizing a unique business model to position itself for rapid growth.
The business model focuses on three-key stages: first, supplying cultivated meat products made in-house by SuperMeat; then supplying the cultivated meat as an ingredient for the manufacturers to develop their own product application; before ultimately supplying the technology for manufacturers to produce the products themselves.
Enabling this, SuperMeat recently announced an MoU with PHW Group, one of Europe’s largest poultry producers, that formalizes the joint goal of bringing cultivated poultry products to European consumers via SuperMeat’s proprietary cultivated meat platform. The startup has also entered a deal with Migros, Switzerland’s largest supermarket and meat manufacturer, to accelerate the production and distribution of its products at a commercial scale.
The startup’s approach is facilitated by SuperMeat’s unique technological process focused on the mass-market appeal of chicken as an ingredient, a process that allows manufacturers to process many kinds of chicken products using the same method.
“We are using embryonic stem cells which are early developing stem cells. These have the ability to produce any type of tissue. We’re growing the cells in suspension, very similar to the way you would brew beer, but they form the structure in suspension,” Ido Savir, CEO and Co-Founder of SuperMeat explained, “So you’re getting small strands of meat, both muscle, fat, and connective tissue. Then using extrusion and other kinds of food-related processing, it is structured into different kinds of forms, whether it’s a filet or other kinds of structures.”
As the industry accelerates towards commercialization, SuperMeat officials are investing in their relationships with global regulatory bodies.
The startup was a founding member of Cellular Agriculture Europe and extremely active in corresponding with regulatory bodies in the region – for example, Beth Loberant, Head of Regulatory Affairs at SuperMeat, is on the Cellular Agriculture Europe Board of Directors tasked with helping the EU’s regulatory board get “up to speed with what is needed, what the companies are doing and providing the ability for them to build their framework.”
SuperMeat is also in the process of submitting its US GRAS dossier where it has a commercial launch planned by early 2025.