2020 PCIP Grand Prize Winner
Location: USA/Austria
Founders: Shannon Falconer, PhD
Website: biocraftpet.com
BioCraft Pet Nutrition, founded in 2016, is the first and only biotech company developing cultured meat for the growing pet food market. Founder and CEO Shannon Falconer, MSc, PhD, left her post-doctoral research fellowship at Stanford University and turned down a prestigious academic scholarship to apply her scientific prowess to create meat-based, nutrient-dense pet food that doesn’t come at the expense of harming the environment or other animals.
BioCraft (formerly Because Animals) was the first to create a proprietary growth medium as an alternative to fetal bovine serum (FBS), helping reduce production costs by well over an order of magnitude and representing a key step towards commercial scale.
Today, the BioCraft team has grown to include a roster of PhD scientists, a veterinarian, and serial entrepreneurs, all focused on taking animals out of the supply chain by producing the healthiest, most environmentally sustainable and supply-chain stable meat for dogs and cats.