Raising the steaks: Adamo Foods secures £1.5m

In a triple win, Adamo Foods has secured £1.5m to support bringing its ground-breaking steak alternative to market.

A new approach to meat alternatives

Adamo Foods is a new food technology company developing delicious, healthy and sustainable alternatives to meat whole cuts. With growing demand for meat substitutes, the company targets the lack of quality products replicating whole pieces of meat - steaks, filets and chops - as opposed to processed or shredded meats such as burgers, sausages, nuggets and mince.

Difficulty replicating whole-cut meat’s complex muscle texture using plant proteins has left consumers disappointed with the options available. This has created a huge mismatch, where whole cuts make up 85% of the $1.2trn real meat market but are nearly absent from the plant-based segment.

Adamo Foods has developed innovative technology to successfully mimic the structure of whole-cut meat using an ancient food: fungal mycelium. Mycelium is the “root system” of fungi, which is naturally high in protein and fibre, and has higher protein quality (PDCAAS) than pea, soy, wheat and even beef.

Using new fermentation techniques, Adamo Foods has found a way to cultivate mycelium in long and dense fibres, which align to form the “grain” of a steak or chicken filet. Using this proprietary method, Adamo aims to appeal to meat eaters and not just vegans. The company’s first product is Europe’s first ultra-realistic steak alternative, due for public tastings in late 2023.

Raising the steaks

Adamo Foods has secured £1.5m funding to support the development and scaling up of its unique products.

First, Adamo secured pre-seed investment from SFC Capital, a leading UK Seed-stage investor and the third VC to back the company.

Adamo then won two major grants from Innovate UK under the ‘Better Food for All’ and ‘Novel Low Emission Food Production Systems’ competitions.

Adamo will work with research partners on biofortifying specific micronutrients that naturally occur in mycelium, to replicate the nutritional benefits of beef without the harmful dietary and sustainable impacts. Adamo will also develop processes to take its proprietary fermentation and formulation processes from the lab to pilot scale, preparing the company for product launch.

Last week Adamo was in Helsinki, showcasing its technology at the First International Cellular Agriculture Conference, as part of the EIT Food Accelerator Network. The startup has also been picked as a finalist in the Coller Startup Competition 2023, and will soon be pitching in the final.