Pitch: Australian startup using cellular agriculture to produce exotic cultivated meats, starting with Japanese quail.
Source: Vow
ID card
- HQ: Australia
- Founded: 2019
- Funding: $55.9M
- Last Funding: $49.2M series A (11/22)
- Corporate investors: Toyota
- Partnerships: Ø
- Innovations: Cultivated quail as flagship product under the Forged brand
- Competitors: French startup Gourmey is developing cultivated duck foie gras
- Regulation: full approval in Australia and New Zealand obtained in June 2025
More insights
- Vow’s cultivated quail is sold under the Forged brand in premium formats such as foie gras and parfait, combining quail cells with vegetable oils, fava bean protein, with konjac, carrageenan, and yeast extract for structure and flavour, and natural vegetable and fruit concentrates for colour, to replicate traditional foie gras.
- It received final regulatory approval in Australia and New Zealand in June 2025, enabling launch in fine-dining restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne. Hong Kong also opened in late 2024, with products debuting at The Aubrey (Mandarin Oriental). In each case, it was (and remains the only) cellular agriculture startup to have received regulatory approval.
- Vow operates its own facility (producing 30 tons of cultivated meat per year), with a second commercial-scale plant under development.
- Beyond quail, Vow is developing exotic cultivated meats including kangaroo and a prototype mammoth meatball, emphasising novel food experiences over conventional meat replacements.
- Beyond these “exotics” products, Vow’s vision is to go beyond substitutes by creating new products combining the benefits of different ingredients (such as the taste of a meat product combined with the health benefit of the fat of a fish product). This forward-looking vision makes the startup quite unique in the cellular agriculture landscape.
For Symrise
Why did we select the startup?
First, Vow is the only startup focused on exotic species aiming to create premium applications that open new culinary and sensory frontiers.
Second, it received regulatory approval in Hong-Kong which could help to open the Chinese and other Asian markets. As Asia is increasingly seen as the best which are increasingly seen as key for the development of cellular agriculture, this could be the best partner to work with, at least to showcase Symrise’s expertise.
Why now?
Recent regulatory approvals in Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong, and commercial launches underway, mark a clear shift from R&D to commercialisation.
Source: Vow