Clever Carnivore, a local biotech that is looking to take the slaughter out of meat production, will be scaling up production next year after receiving $7 million in seed-round funding.
The funding round, announced on Monday, was led by Lever VC. It follows $2.1 million in pre-seed funding Clever Carnivore received in 2022, when it also opened a 4,200-square-foot facility at 2430 N. Halsted St.
The oversubscribed seed round is expected to help Clever Carnivore accelerate its expansion plans and increase access to its meatless products. The new raise also will help the company in a relocation to a larger nearby facility by year-end, as company officials say they have surpassed the capacity of their inaugural lab.
Clever Carnivore was spotlighted earlier this year on our 2023 Startups to Watch list.
The company makes pork, beef and chicken products using stem cell biology and bioengineering and is planning to unveil its prototype product, the Clever Bratwurst, a cultivated pork sausage, early next year.
Its research-and-development team is led by co-founder Paul Burridge, a professor at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. Co-founder Virginia Rangos is the company's CEO.
Lever VC, which currently is raising a $250 million Fund II to back early-stage global startups, invests in the alternative-protein category. In a statement announcing the funding for Clever Carnivore, managing partner Nick Cooney said the company has not seen anyone "come remotely close" to Clever Carnivore's low cost of production.
