What a VC That’s Invested Beyond Meat Looks for in Food Tech Startups

• Stray Dog Capital CEO Lisa Feria was an early investor in Beyond Meat.
• Feria says Beyond Meat’s team set a standard for what she looks for in potential portfolio companies.
• Right now, she’s interested in startups developing plant-based egg substitutes.

As an early investor in Beyond Meat, Stray Dog Capital CEO and managing partner Lisa Feria is now on the hunt for the next big startup in food tech. 

Before she went into venture capital, Feria had a long career in the food industry at companies like General Mills and Procter & Gamble, where she learned that the “the food system is not only bad for the environment, it’s basically murdering us.”  

“Right now, what we eat in many situations is what causes chronic diseases that eventually kill us,” Feria said.

It’s what led Feria into venture capital. Her firm, Stray Dog Capital, focuses on investing in companies that develop plant-based food products to substitute chicken, beef, pork and seafood. And it expects its portfolio companies and their founders to deliver “changes that matter” with their products.

Stray Dog has a portfolio of 47 startups that include plant-based seafood startups ISH and Good Catch. 

Startups like ISH, which make plant-based shrimp, salmon and crab, and Good Catch, which produces fish sticks, breaded crab cakes and fish burgers, are addressing demand for plant-based seafood alternatives. The alternative seafood space has attracted more interest recently, with $116 million invested in the space in the first half of 2021, topping 2020’s total of $90 million, according to The Good Food Institute. 

While working at Procter & Gamble, Feria learned how food brands establish relationships with their consumers. It was there that she had her “a-ha moment” and realized the current food system is not sustainable, nor is it able to keep up with the world’s population growth. This realization led her to enter the venture capital space.

“I loved the people that I worked with. But I didn’t feel like I was really making a difference in the larger problems in the world,” Feria told Insider. “I wanted to be working alongside innovators that could really make a difference or really change the food system.” 

That’s the kind of connection Feria looks for when seeking companies to invest in. She particularly seeks out startups that are developing innovative food products in a large market without much existing competition in the space.

For example, Feria is interested in startups working on plant-based egg substitutes, since it’s such a widely used ingredient. She believes products like this can scale quickly.  

She’s also less interested in hearing about a product’s market fit and wants to know how a startup’s product is going to present a viable food alternative. Feria expects startups to know if they will be a good match for Stray Dog’s investment mission, and what obstacles their products may face as they enter the food tech space.  

Once they invest, Feria and her team expect to work hand-in-hand with their portfolio companies and their founders to understand their capabilities and how to  meet their needs.

One of the companies that Stray Dog worked closely with was Beyond Meat. Feria’s experience with the company highlighted for her what an excellent team of cofounders looks like and how highly talented people could unleash market changes and upend the food system.

“Once you have the right folks on board to develop a solid team, you can gain more funding opportunities, ultimately making the process to scale easier,” she said.