Tender Food has closed a $12 million seed round that will be used to scale up technology that spins plant proteins into an alternative to chicken breasts, beef steaks and pulled pork.
“Our ambition is to make products that are indistinguishable from butchered meat,” said Christophe Chantre, CEO and co-founder of Tender. “By recreating the textures and fibers of animal-based meats, we can ensure that no matter what cut of meat you want, a plant-based product from Tender is what you reach for.
The difficulty of replicating meat texture
The creation of a plant-based whole muscle cut with a meat-like texture is considered the holy grail of the alternative protein industry.
“The texture of real meat has been very difficult to imitate with current alternative meat texturizing solutions,” said Kevin Kit Parker, Ph.D., who is the Tarr Family Professor of Bioengineering and Applied Physics at Harvard’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and an Associate Faculty member of Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, a co-founder of Tender and former guest judge on the Food Network.
“Our technology’s ability to replicate the architecture and mechanics of animal muscle in a plant-based protein food item, while meeting the nutritional goals of protein consumption, should impact the industry significantly.”
The Tender Food technology uses centrifugal force to spin plant protein into strands that mimic real meat muscle fibers.
More about the funding round
The funding round was led by Lowercarbon Capital and included Rhapsody Venture Partners, actress Natalie Portman, Safar Partners, Bread and Butter Ventures, MCJ Collective and food tech specialist investor Unovis.
The plant-based foods market is set to make up 7.7% of the global protein market by 2030, with a value of $162 billion, according to a recent report from Bloomberg Intelligence. Plant-based chicken alternatives are especially primed for significant growth in the next 12-18 months, with innovation toward products that more closely resemble whole cuts expected.
