2025-07-26 09:36:48
ALL TOGETHER NOW
Unless you’re a mutant superhero with multiple arms capable of processing six trains of thought at a time, it’s impossible for one person to do everything. The same holds true for alt-meat companies.
“A ton of startups founded in 2020 and 2021 tried to do everything themselves,” Revo Foods CEO Robin Simsa says. “Sadly, many faced challenges because it’s too capital-intensive.”
His solution? Collaborating with other companies that can fill your knowledge or talent gaps and vice versa. In the recent past, Revo Foods has collaborated with now-defunct mycoprotein company Mycorena to develop 3D-printing technology for the food industry and with precision fermentation firm Paleo on a plant-based salmon analogue.
In June, Revo announced a partnership with plant-based meat maker Juicy Marbles, which saw the two companies co-release a product called Kinda Cod in the United States under the brand name Juicy Marbles and Friends.
“Our collaboration with Juicy Marbles is a prime example of how partnership can bring the whole field forward by allowing startups with different strengths to focus on their core expertise,” Simsa says. “Juicy Marbles has built an international brand and distribution network, and we have pent-up demand for our products, so the result fulfills both of our companies’ missions.”
Partnering with “like-minded innovators” is a logical step for relatively young alt-protein companies struggling to make it in the CPG world against decades-old companies with cash and resources on hand.
Just ask Spain’s Heura Foods and France’s Swap Food, two plant-based meat companies that co-launched a new whole-cut plant-based chicken fillet, the Suprême, in April.
The product is made from soy protein, pea protein and sunflower oil using Swap’s texturizing platform, allowing Heura to expand into whole cuts while Swap benefits from Heura’s connections with mass market retailers.
“The biggest challenges aren’t solved alone,” says Laurent Gubbels, global head of content at Heura. “We don’t see other plant-based companies as competitors; we see them as mission partners.
“When we collaborate, when we improve the offer together, everyone wins: the market, the companies, the consumers, the planet and the animals.”
“This collaborative mindset is key to ushering in a new, more mature era for the plant-based industry,” Simsa adds.
“I hope that more collaborations like these will emerge in the alt protein space.”
45 New partnerships formed in the alt-meat sector in 2024 alone.
Source: 2024 State of Alternative Proteins report - The Good Food Institute (GFI)
Plant-based 2.0
Move over, extrusion. The new class of plant-based proteins are sizzling in a pan and about to hit the plate — bringing improved texture and scalability along with them.
When Impossible and Beyond took over the public consciousness, this new breed of alternative meat was mostly made via extrusion.
That’s right: These revolutionary new products were able to disrupt the market using technology that’s been in common use since the 1800s.
It’s almost no wonder things didn’t go quite according to plan, world domination-wise.
Cut to 2025, and a crop of new companies have heard consumers’ dissatisfaction with the original set of meat alternatives, and in response, these companies are innovating.
Canada’s New School Foods, which launched its plant-based salmon for foodservice in early 2025, is a great example of this phenomenon. Not content with the texture created by extrusion, Founder Chris Bryson went back to the drawing board, pulling many R&D scientists into his orbit until they created something entirely new.
The New School platform, which can also be used to make beef, ribs and other cuts of meat and seafood, relies on a technique called directional freezing, allowing the creation of both muscle fibers and connective tissue in a single macrostructure.
Similarly, Project Eaden, founded in Germany, makes its whole-cut plant-based meat products using a novel fiber spinning process, a technology originally developed for use in the textile industry.
The process is not unlike making cotton candy, with viscous wheat, pea, and fava bean proteins shot out of a spinneret, which forces them to quickly phase change to solid, forming tiny strands in multiple shapes and sizes. Project Eaden brings the fibers together with a proprietary compounding technique to create specific shapes, like a breast or filet.
On the b2b side, Rival Foods, a spinoff from Wageningen University, is creating whole cuts with what they call shear cell technology. The company’s patented process is sort of like a pressure cooker, using heat and pressure — just a lot less than is typically used during extrusion. The process creates larger, whole cuts and gives Rival more control over the texture of the final product, which can be fibrous or flaky depending on the processing conditions.
Much like Bryson’s directional freezing technique and Project Eaden’s fiber spinning process, Rival Foods says its approach is versatile across different types of meat and is scalable.
117 2020 vs. 148 2024
Alt-meat brands available in supermarkets increased 21% from 2020 to 2024.
Source: “The Current State of Meat Alternatives,” Circana, Integrated Fresh Market Advantage. May 2025
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