Umaro Foods develops a patented seaweed-based bacon using a proprietary red protein called Umaro and positions its product as a crispy, fatty alternative to pork bacon. The company reports sales grew sixfold in one year and has traction in foodservice, including placements at Meta Burger and a popular B.E.C. sandwich in New York bodegas. Umaro plans a major retail launch in 2024 and will showcase a Bacon, Egg & Cheese sandwich and Umaro Bacon Bits at Expo West. The business is scaling via an automated, high-throughput manufacturing process designed to produce its plant-based bacon at roughly half the cost of pork bacon to optimize unit economics. Umaro also intends to expand its seaweed platform technology into new products using a DOE ARPA-E grant-funded application. Umaro Foods develops a seaweed-based bacon replacement and extracts protein from ocean-farmed seaweeds for use in meat alternatives. The company grew out of earlier work under the name Trophic, which continues as a seaweed farming subsidiary focused on longer-term carbon-sequestration and biofuel breakthroughs. Umaro emphasizes that seaweeds can produce more protein per unit area with no freshwater or synthetic fertilizers and that seaweed is a complete protein containing all essential amino acids. Co-founder and CTO Amanda Stiles joined from pea-protein dairy-alternative company Ripple, bringing food-tech experience to product development. Umaro has received a $250,000 grant from the Good Food Institute and a $5 million XPrize award tied to prior research dating to 2010. The company plans to begin piloting its seaweed-based bacon at select restaurants in Q2 and aims to compete with soy on price, volume, taste, and functionality.

Total raised

$7M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Seed

Latest activity

Mar 2024