Food tech startup Adamo Foods has secured £1.5m to advance the development of its vegan alternatives to meat products.
The London-based company aims to set itself apart from many meat alternatives in the industry by emulating whole cuts of meat in vegan form like steaks and filets, as opposed to processed and shredded meats such as burgers, mince or sausages.
Adamo said that replicating whole cuts of meat is significantly more complex than processed ones, which has left consumers lacking satisfying options.
The company, which is yet to commercialise its products, claims that its technology is the gap in the meat-free market. The startup has developed a process to cultivate fungal mycelium in long, dense fibres to form a grain structure similar to steak or chicken filets.
Adamo’s first product is a meat-free steak that will be released for “public tastings” in late 2023.
The funding, which will go towards scaling the development of its products, was provided by SFC Capital and two grants from Innovate UK as part of the Better Food for All and Novel Low Emission Food Production Systems competitions.
In addition to emulating the taste and texture of high-quality beef cuts, Adamo Foods is looking to replicate the nutritional benefits, without the sustainability concerns.
“We’re working on an exciting new technology to take [mycelium-based] products to the next level and are hugely grateful to our new investors for recognising its potential,” said Pierre Dupuis, founder and CEO of Adamo Foods speaking to Vegconomist.
“The funding takes us one step further on our mission to remove animals from our broken food system.”
Adamo Foods previously raised £485,000 in a funding round in September 2022.
Other British food tech startups are taking a different approach to meat alternatives. Both Uncommon and Hoxton Farms are developing technologies to grow animal-free meat from cells.