Whether the meat industry’s environmental footprint is as big or as bad as has been mooted in the popular press is no reason to detract from the benefits of cruelty free meat.

And if you, like I, love animals, the guilty secret of many of our beloved pets is that they are the beneficiaries of a cruelty filled and wasteful industrial meat industry. We are a long way away from the native hunter thanking an animal for giving its life to the tribe and wasting nothing.

Enter Because, Animals, which uses world class nutrition science to make clean, low-cost, cruelty free, cultured meat pet treats and foods. They’ve been very aggressive about reducing the cost of animal-free media to grow their cells in, which has dropped prices a full order of magnitude since they began.

In addition to reducing the required concentration of certain key growth factors they’ve also been able to completely eliminate a growth factor that the rest of the cultured meat industry is heavily dependent on. Growth factor cost optimization is core to the future of the entire clean meat industry.

So here is a company that is leading in both science and ethics and who is one of our SOSV accelerator graduates that has been beavering away quietly to get the job done!

I have been delighted to support them in every investment round because they care about animals and they are extremely good at the science. Their CEO Dr. Shannon Falconer is an authentic genius who truly cares about a better world.

It’s wonderful that Because, Animals just closed a new investment round led by Orkla ASA, a European supplier of branded consumer goods. This is Orkla’s first-ever investment in pet food, and project for the Orkla Alternative Proteins division. We joined the round, as did Draper Associates and Keen Growth Capital. To date, Because, Animals has raised $6.7 million.

Because, Animals is really just getting started. They have a clear pathway to market and they have actual products already flying off the shelf. Their Omega & Probiotic Sprinkles for Dogs is a cult hit with more than 500 five-star reviews that will also land at key US national pet retailers – Chewy and Petco – this summer.

I personally cannot wait to see their distribution start in Europe so I can switch my own cats and dogs to a cruelty and waste free diet.

Because, Animals time has come, now that pet food formulations can be far superior in health and taste and cost for animals using a mix of clean meat and plants. It’s easy to see how they are going to generate solid returns. It’s a total win, win, win.