Umami Meats is cultivating the future of sustainable seafood by crafting delicious, nutritious, affordable cultivated fish that is better for our health, our oceans, and our future.
Current Status
We have established stem cell lines from eel and red snapper, reduced the cost of production 15x (with only another 2.5x required for commercialization), and begun development of first commercial prototypes. We have established 3 research collaborations to source cell lines, scale up our production process, and develop full fish fillets and have 2 corporate strategics currently discussing collaborations for end product development.
Problem or Opportunity
Global demand for seafood is expected to double by 2050, but we have already overfished most oceanic fisheries and our aquaculture systems create localized pollution. Further, our wild fish are frequently contaminated with microplastics and heavy metals while farmed fish often contain antibiotics residues that can create potential health hazards for consumers. We need novel production methods to sustainably meet this rapidly growing demand for seafood.
Solution (product or service)
Umami Meats is cultivating a sustainable seafood future. We're making delicious, affordable, sustainable cell-cultured seafood that is better for our health, our oceans, and our future. Our cultured fish is microplastic and mercury-free, nutritionally equivalent to traditional seafood, and provides a delicious culinary experience while protecting our oceans.
Business model
We will initially sell cultivated fish to fine dining and premium hospitality groups to build consumer awareness, establish our premium brand, and demonstrate demand. To scale, we plan to establish partnerships with seafood supply chain businesses, including specialty ingredients and seafood suppliers, who will license our tech stack and purchase proprietary inputs from us to manufacture cultivated seafood. In this way, we can elect to scale up our own premium brand while achieving far larger scale through licensing and partnerships.
Incubation/Acceleration programs accomplishment
Plug & Play Food, MassChallenge Sustainable Food Systems
