Zebra sushi rolls, anyone? Primeval Foods, a UK cultivated meat startup, is aiming to explore an untapped and previously unavailable market through the cultivation of exotic meats, saying it plans to hold tasting events in both New York City and London in the coming months.
“We see this as the third revolution since the discovery of the fire and The Neolithic Revolution.”
Now officially launched, Primeval Foods – created by the London-based venture studio Ace Ventures – is looking to make “foods that carnivores will crave”. Pending regulatory approvals, Primeval Foods states Michelin-starred restaurants will be the first channels for its cultivated exotic meats, with lion, tiger, and zebra all on the menu.
The food-tech startup has also revealed plans to expand on a larger scale and into supermarket retail channels.
Cultivated meat in the UK
Whilst Primeval Foods chase the exotic meats market, other UK startups in the cultivated meat space are focusing on more conventional fare. Oxford University-based Ivy Farm is working on producing cultured sausages and burgers, and CellulaREvolution is a cultivated meat solutions company preparing to take its bioreactor technologies to market.
Meanwhile, Agronomics, the UK cellular agriculture investment group, has launched Good Dog Food – a cultured meat pet food startup. Studies show around a third of UK consumers are willing to eat cultivated meat and that the cultivated meat industry could add £2.1 billion to the UK economy by 2030, along with creating 16,500 jobs.
Third revolution
“To make a notable and long-lasting impact for animals, we need to make foods that carnivores will crave, not vegans and this must be the whole purpose of launching an alternative protein startup” stated Yilmaz Bora, Managing Partner of Ace Ventures, the venture studio that created Primeval Foods, named after his dog Ace who inspired him to become vegan.
“We see this as the third revolution since the discovery of the fire and The Neolithic Revolution,” he commented to vegconomist today.
