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§ Private Profile · San Francisco, CA, USA
SCiFi Foods is a technology company.
SCiFi Foods develops a hybrid ground beef product, combining cultivated beef cells with plant-based ingredients. The company integrates cellular agriculture to provide authentic meat characteristics within a sustainable, plant-derived matrix. This approach aims to replicate the sensory experience of traditional ground beef for the food market.
The company emerged from a commitment to address global food system challenges and the environmental footprint of conventional meat. Its founders established SCiFi Foods based on the insight that blending cultivated and plant-based elements accelerates mainstream adoption of alternative proteins. This understanding shaped product development.
SCiFi Foods targets consumers seeking sustainable and flavorful meat alternatives. The company’s vision is to contribute to a resilient global food supply by making high-quality, hybrid meat products widely accessible. It strives to transform meat production and consumption, ensuring dependable and environmentally responsible dietary options.
SCiFi Foods has raised $28.0M across 2 funding rounds.
SCiFi Foods has raised $28.0M in total across 2 funding rounds.
SCiFi Foods has raised $28.0M across 2 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $22.0M Series A in June 2022.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 1, 2022 | $22M Series A | Vijay Pande, PHD | Accomplice VC, Alumni Ventures, Anderson Angels, Bascom Ventures, B Capital Group, Bling Capital, Flybridge Capital Partners, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Kleiner Perkins, KRM Interests LLC, Madrona Venture Group, Modern Venture Partners, NextView Ventures, Parkway VC, SOSV, Vzvc, Alain Hanover, Louis Beryl, TOM Williams, Peter Rahal, David Shapiro | Announced |
| Jun 1, 2020 | $6M Seed | — | 7percent Ventures | Announced |
SCiFi Foods was a California-based food tech company developing hybrid meat alternatives by blending cultivated beef cells with plant-based ingredients to create products like burgers that mimic the taste, texture, and nutrition of conventional beef.[1][2][6] It targeted consumers seeking healthier, sustainable options, addressing the beef industry's high carbon footprint, animal welfare issues, and rising production costs while serving foodservice and eventually retail markets.[1][4] The company solved key limitations of pure plant-based meats—such as off-flavors and incomplete flavor profiles—by incorporating 5-10% real beef cells grown via CRISPR-edited cell lines, aiming for commercial viability without massive scale-up.[2][3][5] Despite raising $40 million and achieving milestones like a 500-liter bioreactor pilot in 2023, SCiFi Foods shut down, highlighting cultivated meat's commercialization challenges.[3]
Founded in 2019 as Artemys Foods (later rebranded SCiFi Foods), the company emerged from co-founders Joshua March (CEO) and Dr. Kasia Gora (CTO)'s vision to make sustainable meat accessible by combining biotech with food science.[1][3][5] March, driven by environmental impacts of traditional meat production, pivoted from broader alt-protein ideas to cell-cultured beef cells for superior flavor, sparking the idea amid advances in CRISPR gene editing.[2][5] Early traction included raising $40 million from investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Valor Siren Ventures, and even Coldplay, plus piloting plant-based prototypes with Michigan State University and opening a Bay Area pilot plant in late 2023 where they grew beef cells in serum-free media—a claimed industry first.[1][3][4]
SCiFi Foods rode the cultivated meat wave, part of the alt-protein boom addressing animal agriculture's 14.5% global emissions and ethical concerns, amplified by consumer demand for meat-like alternatives amid climate pressures.[1][2] Timing aligned with synthetic biology advances (e.g., CRISPR) enabling efficient cell growth, plus post-2020 funding in food tech, though a 2023-2024 funding crunch hit scalability-focused startups.[3][4][5] It influenced the ecosystem by proving hybrid models could bridge plant-based and pure cultivated meat, pushing regulators (FDA/USDA consultations) and competitors toward pragmatic blends over ambitious whole cuts, but its closure underscores market forces like high costs and investor skepticism on path-to-profitability.[3][4]
SCiFi Foods' shutdown marks a setback for cultivated meat hybrids, likely due to persistent scaling economics and a tough funding environment, ending its run despite technical wins.[3] Looking ahead, survivors may refine low-inclusion blends for foodservice, propelled by regulatory approvals (SCiFi eyed early 2025) and falling bioreactor costs, but broader trends like regenerative ag and policy shifts could sideline pure cell-based plays.[2][4] Its legacy humanizes the risks in "optimistic sci-fi" food tech, urging the industry toward viable tech-behavior hybrids that deliver on price, taste, and health—echoing its core mission to empower sustainable eating without compromise.[2][5]
SCiFi Foods has raised $28.0M in total across 2 funding rounds.
SCiFi Foods's investors include Vijay Pande, PhD, Accomplice VC, Alumni Ventures, Anderson Angels, Bascom Ventures, B Capital Group, Bling Capital, Flybridge Capital Partners, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Kleiner Perkins, KRM Interests LLC, Madrona Ventures.