A startup co-founded by CivMin PhD student Emily Farrar has earned a $100,000 investment in its technology, which produces cultivated beef fat in bioreactors.
Genuine Taste earned both the Top Venture and People’s Choice Awards in the 2024 Invest Together in Climate Innovation program. The competition is run by Spring, a Vancouver-based global incubator, accelerator and advisory firm with the goal of looking to change the world through innovation.
The company aims to introduce real beef flavour in foods, without the slaughtering of animals. Through this approach, they hope to reduce the environmental footprint of the meat industry, both in terms of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and the use of agricultural land.
“During the program, we worked closely with a team of angel investors through a due diligence process,” says Farrar.
“Special thanks to the investor team, who asked many great questions and helped clarify our vision. I can’t wait to continue on our journey to create delicious, ethical and sustainable food alternatives for consumers.”
The Spring program involved a 14-week program, seeing 75 climate tech ventures apply with only 16 of those accepted.
“Once accepted, we created a one-page overview of our company and pitched to the cohort of investors, who voted on the top five,” says Farrar.
“We were selected for the top five, at which point each company underwent due diligence with an assigned team of angel investors. At the end of the program, the full cohort of angel investors chose one company to receive the $100k investment. We also had a public pitch, where the audience voted for People’s Choice, which we also won.”
Farrar is pursuing a PhD in the Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering at the University of Toronto under the co-supervision of Professors Marianne Hatzopoulou and Shoshanna Saxe (both CivMin).
