Israel: Plant-based meat company Chunk Foods raises $2m

The MIT start-up is utilising fermentation technology to manufacture healthy, realistic whole-muscle meat alternatives on a large scale

Chunk Foods, a Tel Aviv-based plant-based meat company has secured $2 million from Stray Dog Capital, Good Seed Ventures and the E14 Fund.

Originating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Chunk Foods is utilising fermentation technology to manufacture healthy, realistic whole-muscle meat alternatives on a large scale. The company stated it will initially focus on developing beef alternatives using a handful of healthy, recognisable ingredients, without using gums, stabilisers, or GMOs.

The start-up added that the current round of funding will be used to improve its products and for recruitment in key areas.

Amos Golan, founder and chief executive of Chunk Foods, said: “Consumers expect healthy, nutritious and clean label options for their daily staples like meat and fish. They want their food to be aligned with their values, and they’re no longer willing to make compromises. Whole muscle cuts of beef such as sirloin, chuck or ribs have been the holy grail for alternative meats as they account for about 60% of the beef market in the USA. We have overcome the technological limitations of other approaches by naturally creating delicious and realistic products with many of the attributes of meat, while ensuring a clean and short ingredient list using our novel fermentation technology.”

Johnny Ream, partner at Stray Dog Capital, added: “Development of plant-based alternative proteins that resemble traditional whole-muscle products such as steak are often regarded as the most difficult and complex to achieve. We believe Chunk’s technologies and proprietary processes have strong potential to play a significant role in bringing these types of products to market and we’re looking forward to being on this journey with the team.”