Israel’s Chunk Foods gets funding from Stray Dog Capital, others
Israeli plant-based food company Chunk Foods has raised seed funding from three investors including venture capital firms Stray Dog Capital and Good Seed Ventures.
The E14 Fund, the early-stage investment firm affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, also invested in Chunk Foods, according to the Tel Aviv-based company.
Chunk Foods, which began life in 2020 at the MIT, was founded by CEO Amos Golan. It says it enables large-scale manufacturing of healthy, realistic whole muscle cut meat alternatives.
The company says that by combining plant ingredients and food-grade microorganisms, it delivers “the textures, flavors, and nutritional benefits of meat without its moral and environmental costs”.
Chunk Foods will use the new money to expand its workforce and improve the quality of its product.
According to news website Green Queen, Chunk Foods raised $2 million in the seed funding round.
Stray Dog Ventures invests in early-stage companies across the food, beverage and biotechnology sectors that use plant synthetic biology and cell-based food technologies.
Its portfolio includes more than 30 companies including Aleph Farms, Alpha Foods, Barbecue, Better Dairy, Companion Protech, Geltor, The Meatless Farm Co and Purple Carrot. It had previously invested in Beyond Meat Inc but has exited the company.
Alternative meat is fast developing into a global phenomenon as a healthy protein alternative as against fat-based animal proteins. And startups around the world are venturing into the field with an eye on the vegan movement.
Other alternative-meat startups that have raised funding in recent years include Israeli firms Redefine Meat and Future Meat, and American companies Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods Inc.
Beyond Meat became the first alternative-meat company to go public when it listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange in 2019. Impossible Foods is also said to be preparing for an initial public offering. Redefine Meat secured $29 million in a Series A funding in February.
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