Owen Thomas, Business Insider
Healthy treats from Silicon Valley.
See Also
Hamburger is a $100 billion market just waiting for technology to disrupt it.
So says top venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, who is funding a stealth startup working on just that.
He’s investing in a company that turns protein, fat, and fiber from plant sources into a juicy, beefy-tasting patty.
“There are no cows involved, but you can’t taste the difference,” he promised during a talk at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco today.
“When you put in on the grill it browns like a burger,” said Khosla. “I’ve tried it. It’s not quite there yet, but this is RD, high-risk stuff.”
Khosla promised that the product tastes “a lot better than any soy burger.”
He’s also working on fake cheese, which is further along: “I had a couple of people taste the cheese. They couldn’t taste the difference.”
It takes 33 pounds of corn, plus water, to produce about two pounds of beef, he says. So ultimately, if tech could solve this, it would go a long way to feed the masses more affordably.
Khosla also mentioned investing in a startup which is working on less-salty salt.
As well, he’s backed Unreal, a candymaker which promises healthier sweets.
“Innovation driven by tech is altering every area,” said Khosla. “Who would have thought [we could disrupt] beef?”
Don’t miss: From Virtual Shopping To Virtual People: 6 Tech Breakthroughs Coming Soon