• UAE-based KBW Ventures, founded by HRH Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud, has co-led a $12.3 million Series A round for US-based foodtech startup Black Sheep Foods, alongside Unovis, AgFunder and Bessemer Ventures Partners.
• Founded in 2019, Black Sheep Foods has developed a technology to produce plant-based lamb. 
• Adding this round, the startup raised a total capital of $18.05 million to date.
• This round will enable Black Sheep Foods to scale up production for its lamb made from plants for national distribution.
• Earlier in June, KBW Ventures also invested in a $40 million Series B round in Eclipse, a California-headquartered food startup that manufactures plant-based ice cream and dairy products. 

Press release 

Black Sheep Foods, a San Francisco-based foodtech startup, is redefining the term ‘alt-meat’, by crafting delicious meat flavors beyond the usual suspects, and doing it using plants. First up is lamb made from plants. The company has raised $12.3MM in Series A funding led by plant-based venture veterans Unovis – early investor in Oatly and Beyond Meat – alongside Bessemer Ventures Partners, AgFunder, and KBW Ventures, bringing total investment to $18.05MM since the company’s founding in 2019.

This round helps to accelerate Black Sheep Foods’ journey to bring consumers flavor freedom in the meat section, and to scale up production for its debut lamb made from plants for national distribution.

“Our minds associate meat with a shape, a texture, and a flavor,” says Sunny Kumar, CEO and Cofounder of Black Sheep Foods, “While texture has been the focus of meat innovation, flavor is a white space. Our debut lamb made from plants has more depth of flavor, richness, and

appetizing aromatics than other meats, full stop. We’re in the business of giving consumers access to the most delicious meat variety, using plants instead of animals.”

In the Middle East, where consumers are especially discerning about their lamb, a meat that is featured in many national dishes, Black Sheep Foods is also garnering high praise. Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed, the MENA region’s preeminent greentech investor, founder of KBW Ventures, and early investor in alt-proteins, participated in this funding round after tasting Black Sheep Foods’ lamb. 

In talking about his experience with the lamb made from plants Prince Khaled says, “Black Sheep Foods’ lamb is shockingly good; as someone who has grown up with this taste profile, I couldn’t believe the authentic mouthfeel and flavor. 

With taste being a vital aspect of customer adoption, Black Sheep Foods will easily dominate amongst plant-based meats.

Additionally, game meats are still a wide open playing field. There’s a whole range of taste profiles that Black Sheep will be able to explore, especially with the company’s technology, allowing for an amplified flavor, excellent texture, and a strong nutritional profile.”

This rate of product adoption is fueled by the years Black Sheep Foods has invested in flavor Their patent pending flavor technology allows them to isolate the flavor molecules that give any animal meat its distinctive flavor, identify the same molecules in plants, and reconstruct the depth of meat flavor – including mouthfeel and richness – using only plants.

Black Sheep Foods is not playing by the rules of industrial farming. The default American meat lineup of chicken and beef has been a product of factory farms’ unit economics. Often, dictated by which animals require the least amount of space per pound of meat produced, and grow the quickest in size with the least feed required. Black Sheep Foods’ flavor technology however, is unencumbered by the commercial constraints of industrial animal farming. The company can use plants to create the flavor of any animal meat. Flavor deliciousness is now the name of the game, not farming margins.

Timing is ripe for Black Sheep Foods’ flavor tech, with consumers becoming more adventurous with their eating since the pandemic. While travel was restricted, consumers found an affinity for taste tourism. 3 in 5 Americans are now using their meals to explore different flavors and cultures. This appetite for flavor diversity is seen even in demand for lamb itself, which hit a 30-year high in per capita consumption in the U.S last year.

Ultimately, Black Sheep Foods has the ability to shift the paradigm of “meat alternative”. Round lead, Unovis, an early investor in Oatly and Beyond, has a history of making bets on companies that transform food alternatives to mainstays and believes that Black SheepFoods is primed to do so for America’s meat flavor lineup. Dan Altschuler, Managing Partner at Unovis says, “Black Sheep Foods is set up to deliver the best-tasting meats that just happen to be made from plants. Animal-free and environmentally sound. We’re thrilled to partner with them on their journey.”

With this Series A funding, Black Sheep Foods is primed to bring their lamb made from plants to restaurants across America and unlock new, full-fidelity meat flavors for consumers, while removing animals from the equation. Tastier meats, made from plants.