Mission Barns is a technology company.
Mission Barns has raised $27.7M across 3 funding rounds.
Mission Barns has raised $27.7M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Mission Barns is a San Francisco-based food technology company specializing in cultivated meat, particularly pork fat grown from animal cells and blended with plant proteins to create sustainable alternatives like bacon, meatballs, sausage, pepperoni, and chorizo.[1][2][5][6] It serves consumers, foodservice providers, and CPG manufacturers seeking flavorful, guilt-free meat options that address environmental, animal welfare, and health challenges in traditional livestock production.[1][4][5] The company solves key barriers in alternative proteins—taste, texture, and scalability—through its fat-first approach and proprietary bioreactors, achieving FDA clearance for cultivated pork fat in March 2025 and USDA approval later that year, enabling retail debuts at stores like Berkeley Bowl and Sprouts.[4][5][7] With over 100 pilot runs and a dual B2C/B2B model, Mission Barns demonstrates strong growth momentum via restaurant launches, public tastings, and tech licensing to scale efficiently.[2][4]
Mission Barns was founded in 2018 by Eitan Fischer, a former scientist at Eat Just (known for cultured chicken), alongside key leaders like CEO Cecilia Chang (also chief business officer).[2][5] The idea emerged from Fischer's expertise in cell cultivation, aiming to produce real meat without slaughter by growing cells from a small animal sample in bioreactors that mimic the body's environment, then hybridizing with plant proteins for hybrid products.[1][2][6] An early pivotal moment came through partnering with Sweet Farm, a climate tech accelerator, to ethically source cells from a rescued piglet named Dawn, who now lives at the sanctuary—highlighting the company's commitment to animal welfare from day one.[3] This collaboration connected Mission Barns to investors and partners, fueling its evolution from R&D to commercial milestones like Fiorella restaurant debuts and regulatory approvals.[3][4][5]
Mission Barns rides the cultivated meat wave within agtech and alternative proteins, a sector exploding amid climate pressures, with livestock contributing significantly to emissions, land use, and disease risks.[1][3][5][6] Timing is ideal post-2025 U.S. regulatory approvals (FDA/USDA), unlocking retail and partnerships when competitors like Believer Meats and Meatable lag in commercialization.[1][4][5] Market forces favoring it include rising demand for sustainable, cruelty-free proteins, supply chain vulnerabilities in conventional meat, and investor interest—Sweet Farm partners alone raised $600M.[3] It influences the ecosystem by licensing tech to accelerate industry scale-up, demystifying cultivated meat via tastings, and proving economic viability toward price parity with pork through media efficiency and bioprocess innovations.[2][4][7]
Mission Barns is poised to expand via B2B licensing of its bioreactor and fat tech to CPG giants, targeting ingredient production and plug-ins for manufacturing while growing B2C presence through more retail activations and tastings.[2][4][7] Trends like regulatory momentum, consumer shifts to health-focused proteins, and bioreactor advancements for cost parity will propel it, potentially disrupting pork markets with lower land/energy/water use.[2][5][6] Its influence may evolve from pioneer to enabler, powering hybrid meats across the food system and setting standards for ethical scaling—turning "one animal can feed millions" into mainstream reality.[6] This fat-first bet positions Mission Barns as a tastemaker in sustainable food's next chapter.
Mission Barns has raised $27.7M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Mission Barns's investors include Bennett Siegel, Alt Capital, Better Ventures, BITKRAFT Ventures, Bond, Coatue, Fuse Venture Partners, Greylock, Hyper, Lever VC, Outcast Ventures, Playground Global.
Mission Barns has raised $27.7M across 3 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $24.0M Series A in April 2021.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 1, 2021 | $24.0M Series A | Bennett Siegel, Alt Capital, Better Ventures, BITKRAFT Ventures, Bond, Coatue, Fuse Venture Partners, Greylock, Hyper, Lever VC, Outcast Ventures, Playground Global, Saga, Tencent Holdings, Tet Ventures, Alex Lieberman, Chris Murphy, Dylan Field, Mathilde Collin, Matthias Wilrich, Ron Pragides, Scott Belsky, Stefan Jeschonnek | |
| Sep 1, 2019 | $700K Seed | Bennett Siegel, BITKRAFT Ventures, Coatue, Fuse Venture Partners, Tet Ventures, Matthias Wilrich, Stefan Jeschonnek | |
| Nov 1, 2018 | $3.0M Seed | Better Ventures, Playground Global, Tencent Holdings |