Meatly

Meatly, a London-based cultivated meat company founded in 2022, is strategically positioned to disrupt the £120 billion global pet food market. Initially established as Good Dog Food, the company rebranded to Meatly in late 2023 to reflect its broader ambition beyond just dog food.

The company was co-founded by CEO Owen Ensor and Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Helder Cruz. Ensor, a serial entrepreneur with a background in consulting and scaling an insect protein business, brings commercial acumen to the venture. His experience in the alternative protein sector, coupled with his personal commitment as a vegan, informs the company's mission. Dr. Cruz contributes over two decades of experience in cell therapy, biotech, and cultivated meat, providing the deep scientific expertise necessary for product development.

Meatly's core business is producing cultivated chicken meat for pet food manufacturers. The process begins by taking a single sample of cells from a chicken egg, which can then be used to produce meat indefinitely without further animal involvement. These cells are grown in bioreactors, where they are fed a proprietary, protein-free nutrient medium. This approach represents a significant cost-reduction breakthrough, with the company reporting it has slashed the price of its growth medium to under £1 per liter. The resulting product is a nutritious meat, free from GMOs, antibiotics, and other impurities, that is nutritionally comparable to conventional chicken.

The company's business model is B2B, supplying its cultivated chicken as an ingredient to established pet food brands. In July 2024, Meatly achieved a major milestone by receiving regulatory approval from the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), making it the first company in Europe to be authorized to sell cultivated meat. This was followed by the world's first retail launch of a cultivated meat product for pets in February 2025. The product, "Chick Bites," a hybrid of plant-based ingredients and cultivated chicken, was developed in partnership with dog food brand The Pack and launched in Pets at Home, one of Meatly's key investors.

To date, Meatly has raised approximately $7.7 million (£3.6M) in seed funding from investors including Agronomics, K9 Ventures, Globalive Capital, Siddhi Capital, and Pets at Home. The company is focused on scaling production, further reducing costs to achieve price parity with conventional meat, and expanding its partnerships to integrate its sustainable protein into the wider pet food market.

Keywords: cultivated pet food, cellular agriculture, cultivated chicken, pet food ingredient, sustainable protein, B2B pet food, food tech, cell-based meat, alternative protein, animal-free meat, UK food technology, Owen Ensor, Helder Cruz, Pets at Home, Agronomics, slaughter-free meat, ethical pet food, cultivated meat regulation, bioreactor technology, sustainable pet industry