Investment Notes: Vow

We are delighted to announce we have followed on in the Series Seed round of Vow led by our friends at Square Peg, after investing in the pre-seed round in 2019.

Vow is creating the next generation of cultured meat products. The company isn’t just trying to recreate chicken breasts or beef burgers – they are creating a new paradigm in food from the cells of once-admired and long-forgotten animal meats.

The Best of 2 Million Species

We have written a lot about how the third agricultural revolution is underway. Most of the world’s cultured meat companies are in a race to replace their animal equivalents. But if you can create meat without killing an animal, why restrict yourself to just the 4 species that humans have managed to domesticate (and industrialise)? That is just 0.02% of the world’s species.

It is a lesser known fact of Charles Darwin’s life that at Cambridge he was a member of the Glutton Club, dedicated to trying "birds and beasts which were before unknown to human palate”. He continued the tradition once on the world voyage that birthed the modern theory of evolution.

“Once he embarked on The Beagle, Darwin's penchant for bold food choices continued to evolve. He ate puma ("remarkably like veal in taste"), iguanas, armadillos. He not only ate giant tortoises, but tried drinking their bladder contents: "The fluid was quite limpid, and had only a very slightly bitter taste." He ate a 20-pound rodent (usually assumed to be an agouti) that provided "the very best meat I ever tasted." He even accidentally ate part of an ostrich-like bird called a lesser rhea, after spending months trying to catch it so that he could describe the species. (Don't worry: Once he realized what they were dining on, Darwin made everyone stop eating and sent a package of leftover bones, skin and feathers back to England.)”

Jessie Rack, “Dining Like Darwin: When Scientists Swallow Their Subjects”.

Meat 2.0

Vow is creating meats that are yummier, healthier and more sustainable than anything you’ve tasted before.

They will use this initial products to tastings via high end chefs and unlock new menu items that were never before thought possible - this is already underway with none other than Neil Perry, one of Australia’s most reputable chefs. As Vow scales, the team will work with other consumer brands to bring products to a broader market.

The Second Course

The key reasons for our prior investment were our excitement around their truly unique vision, founders’ George and Tim’s scrappiness and approach to experimentation.

Since investing in their Pre-seed round, those reasons have been reinforced – Vow has made incredible technical strides and their vision continues to be unique in the increasingly busy cultured  meat space and magnetises world-class talent to join the company.

Vow is now producing enough tissue to begin sensory panels internally and with high-end chefs who will be the beginning of their path to the mass market.

If you’re as excited by Vow’s mission as we are, learn more about them and follow along here. They’re also hiring for a bunch of roles, so take a look at their team page if you’re interested in becoming a Vowzer.  

You can learn more about the journey behind Vow in our Wild Hearts interview with George and Tim here.