PHILADELPHIA — Because Animals Inc., a bioscience startup making pet food without animal meat, has closed on its seed round of funding.
It received investment from KEEN Growth Capital, Draper Associates and SOSV, according to a press release. The amount of the seed funding was not disclosed.
The company’s goal is to deliver cultured meat pet food to the marketplace by 2021.
Because Animals launched its first product, a cultured probiotic supplement, in 2018. The supplement contains over 250 million probiotics per gram, the release notes.
“The health benefits of this bacterial strain have been reported by over two dozen peer-reviewed research papers, with findings that the probiotic can help support improved digestion and immunity,” according to the release.
Because Animals recently announced the pre-sale launch of its certified organic, human-grade dog cookie, Noochies.
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Earlier this year, Because Animals announced that it had created the world’s first cultured meat pet food made from cultured mouse tissue, the ancestral diet of the cat. Because Animals’s cultured meat will be grown “without the use of antibiotics, growth hormones, and without contributing to the animal cruelty associated with traditional animal agriculture,” according to the company.
Because Animals was launched in December 2016 by Dr. Shannon Falconer and Joshua Errett.
