If you follow the world of cultivated meat, you probably know that a few companies have gotten historic regulatory approval and have sold some limited quantities of product both in the US and Singapore. But earlier this year, Meatly—a company founded only in 2021 and with just a few million British pounds in their pocket—succeeded in getting regulatory approval to start selling its cultivated chicken meat…in pet food.

This was the first-ever European approval for a cultivated meat product, and the first-ever approval for such a product in the pet food space. And as someone with a dog who sadly makes his distaste for plant-based dog food very clear, I can assure you that I’m eager to see if my dog Eddie will enjoy Meatly’s debut product. 

In this episode, I talk with Meatly CEO Owen Ensor about his journey from starting the company to now. We discuss the scale he’s at, the cost structure of his product, the inclusion rates in pet food he anticipates, what stores he plans to sell in at first, how he’ll fund the company, when he thinks cultivated meat may make a dent in total meat demand, and much more. 

It’s a riveting conversation with someone making headlines across the alt-meat world. Will pet food be the gateway for cultivated meat’s market entrance? You be the judge.

Discussed in this episode

• Owen became vegan after watching Cowspiracy.

• Owen’s chart showing the timeline to regulatory approval for various cultivated meat companies.

• Paul’s essay on pet food’s contribution to total meat demand.

• Bond is another company growing chicken protein for the pet market. You can see Paul’s dog Eddie enjoying it here.

• Our past episodes with Jim Mellon from Agronomics and Mark Post from Mosa Meat.

• Owen recommends reading Good to Great.

More about Owen Ensor

Owen is the Founding CEO of Meatly. Since establishing Meatly in 2021, with only £3.5m in funding, it has become the first company in Europe to get regulatory approval for cultivated meat, developed industry-leading technical processes, and created the world’s first cultivated pet food products. Before establishing Meatly, Owen started his career at the Management Consultancy company Bain and scaled one of the world's first insect protein facilities.