SAN FRANCISCO — Cultivated meat startup SCiFi Foods, formerly Artemys Foods, has closed a $22 million Series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz.
The company, which uses bioengineering technologies to grow meat from animal cells, aims to launch a burger combining plant-based meat and cultivated beef cells. The product is designed to more closely match the taste of conventional beef burgers at a lower cost than cultivated meat options.
“We’ve devised the technology to grow real meat without the need for an animal — an astounding feat,” said Joshua March, chief executive officer and co-founder of SCiFi Foods. “This innovation is the future we once only imagined could be a reality. I believe it’s important to be open and authentic about what we’re doing, and our new name reflects exactly that. Consumers value transparency, and I would rather be bold than hide behind a bland, corporate moniker. As a company creating food, there are two things we absolutely can never compromise on: trust as a brand and the taste of our products.”
The funding will be used to advance SCiFi Foods’ research and development efforts, support new marketing strategies and expand the team. Additionally, Myra Pasek, general counsel at agriculture technology startup Iron Ox and former executive at Tesla and Impossible Foods, joins the company’s board.
Since its founding, SCiFi Foods has raised a total of $29 million from investors including Valor Siren Ventures, BoxGroup, Entrée Capital, Prelude Ventures and more.
“Cultivated meat will disrupt the trillion-dollar global market for meat products, with huge benefits to the planet,” said Vijay Pande, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, which previously has invested in Airbnb, Facebook, Lyft and Pinterest. “However, there are major cost hurdles, and SCiFi’s technology and approach was the first we felt that truly has the potential to both scale quickly and to drastically reduce cost.”