Investment Notes: Fable

Blackbird is proud to have invested in the seed round for Fable. Targeting the high-growth area of plant-based protein, Fable produces healthy and delicious mushroom-based alternatives to meat. Through Fable, we are pleased to be working with one of our previous portfolio founders, Michael Fox, as well as his co-founders, chef and mycologist Jim Fuller and organic farming entrepreneur Chris McLoghlin.

The Third Agricultural Revolution

1.5 billion people will be born in the next 30 years, and one of the biggest problems facing the world today is how we’ll feed them.

Meat consumption is estimated to double, yet conventional meat production is at capacity. At the same time, people are increasingly concerned about antibiotic resistance, animal welfare and the ethics of eating meat.

The future of food is a river of inquiry we are exploring at Blackbird. Similar to plant-based meat company Sunfed, Fable addresses this theme with a healthy ingredient list - an increasingly important success factor for alternative protein food brands to succeed.

Magic Mushrooms

Fable uses mushrooms to produce a number of products, from initial meat substitutes such as pulled pork and braised beef, before branching out into fungi-based beef reduction ingredients and other meat substitutes like bacon and minced-beef.

Fable’s products are already gaining traction, with the pulled pork product used in a number of restaurants, by mealbox delivery service Marley Spoon, and retailed in hundreds of supermarkets across Australia. Its products are geographically unrestrained, making the business easy to scale.

A Shared Belief in Better

Fable is co-founded by Chris McLoghlin, Jim Fuller and Michael Fox. We’ve worked with Michael since before Blackbird was founded through his prior business Shoes of Prey and firmly believe many of the lessons he learnt at Shoes of Prey will help him grow this business. Most importantly, Fable is a product that Michael cares deeply about, having become vegetarian years ago.

Hailing from Texas USA, Jim is a chef and well known mycologist (the study of fungi), while Chris previously founded Australia’s largest organic mushroom farm. The co-founders met when Michael was working on his initial pulled pork mushroom business and Chris and Jim were developing a mushroom hamburger business. The three ‘mushroom heads’ decided to team up, uniting their skills in mushroom growing and processing, space management, branding, marketing and sales to cover the entire product lifecycle.

With ambitious founders, a highly scalable business and delicious products, we look forward to following Fable’s development into new regions and products over the coming years.

Try Fable’s products at Woolworths and Harris Farm supermarkets in more than 700 locations across Australia, or stay updated with them on Instagram.

You can learn more about the journey behind Fable with co-founder Michael Fox in this episode of Wild Hearts.