HEROTEIN, formerly HERO Protein, announces it has entered into a strategic partnership with Berkeley-based cell cultivated fat producer Mission Barns to launch hybrid cultivated meat/plant-based meat products. The company states its intention to be the first to commercialize such products in China.
The Shanghai company closed an $850K pre-seed funding round this February and in May announced that Vicky Lee, former CMO of McDonald’s Taiwan, had been onboarded as CEO, joining former senior R&D executives from some of the largest plant-based meat brands in the world including Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods.
Mission Barns raised $24 million in a Series A round this April, with plans to upscale its cell-cultured fat technology and build a pilot factory in the Bay Area. High profile investors in the round included Lever VC; Gullspang Re:Food (Oatly); Humboldt Fund (NotCo & Geltor); David Yeung’s Green Monday Ventures (Beyond Meat & Perfect Day); Enfini Ventures (Impossible Foods & Memphis Meats); and an undisclosed European meat company. Mission Barns claimed to have produced the first cultivated bacon in 2020.
HEROTEIN has also introduced a line of co-branded ready meals co-created with specialty foods brand Butler & White’s. The range of 16 products is fully plant-based and now distributed across the country.
Said HEROTEIN’s CEO Vicky Lee. “With growing concerns on health, food safety and sustainability in China, I believe the development of plant-based foods is a key part of the solution, and we have the right technology and people at HERO Protein to bring the best offerings to the market.”
