Conversation with Ed Steele of Hoxton Farms

Fat is key for flavor, texture, satiety, and overall deliciousness. But traditional animal fat is linked to health concerns, and industrial animal agriculture is linked to many negative environmental and animal welfare issues. Plant-based fats fail to fully replicate the taste and functionality of real animal fat. And consumers want healthier options. Enter Hoxton Farms — which grows real animal fat without the animals. Ed Steele is Co-Founder of Hoxton — naturally, I was eager to learn more.

What is your background, and how did you end up joining/founding the company? 

I’ve always been passionate about using technology to solve big problems. I started my career as a mathematician and machine learning specialist. But I wanted to build something that would have a lasting impact on people and the planet.

My co-founder, Max Jamilly, and I go way back: we’ve known each other since nursery school. While I took the maths and AI route, Max specialised in synthetic biology, earning a PhD from Oxford before working in biotech and venture capital.

We’re both food lovers - avid home cooks who appreciate the difference that good ingredients make. Fat is the key to making food taste amazing, and we saw an opportunity to reinvent how it’s made. That’s why we founded Hoxton Farms in 2020: to grow real animal fat without the animals. 

By blending my expertise in mathematical modelling with Max’s deep knowledge of biology, we’ve developed a scalable way to make animal fat, unlocking new possibilities for the future of food. We’re giving the food industry, and consumers, a healthier and more sustainable that doesn’t compromise on flavour.

What is the problem you’re solving?

Fat is the foundation of flavour. It carries taste, creates texture and gives food its satisfying mouthfeel. But the food industry needs an oil change: today’s food systems are unsustainable and unreliable.

Manufacturers are desperate for high-performance, healthy fats that align with ESG targets. As global demand for meat continues to rise, they’re increasingly concerned about long-term supply chain security. Current fats and oils come with major drawbacks:

• Traditional animal fat is linked to health concerns, including high cholesterol and other dietary risks. 

• Industrial animal agriculture is a leading cause of deforestation, GHG emissions, freshwater usage, antibiotic resistance and potential zoonotic disease.

• Plant oils like coconut and palm oil fail to replicate the taste, texture and functionality of real animal fat.

Meanwhile, consumers are seeking healthier alternatives to traditional meat, but are dissatisfied with the price, taste and nutrition of meat alternatives. Today’s fat systems are largely to blame. 

The food industry needs a new kind of fat - one that meets modern demands for taste, health, sustainability and performance. That’s exactly what we’re delivering.

And what’s your solution to tackle this problem?

We grow real animal fat without the animals. Our first product is cultivated pork fat – we start with cells from pigs, grow them in bioreactors and harvest real pork fat at the end of our two week process. It has the same rich flavour, texture and mouthfeel as conventional fat, it’s just made in a different way.

Our fat can be used in any food that benefits from high-quality animal fat, whether it’s making juicier sausages, healthier pastries, richer sauces, or better-tasting snacks. 

Our cultivated fat offers better nutrition, the same natural flavor profile as traditional animal fat, a sustainable and lower-emission way to produce high-quality fat, as well consistency and versatility — it’s a reliable ingredient that can be tailored to different applications.

Can you talk a bit about your technology?

We’ve built the world’s most scalable biomanufacturing system leveraging three different pillars.

First, our cell lines. We have proprietary stem cells and a powerful genome engineering programme to ensure they are not only delicious and meet the performance requirements of our customers, but that they also meet growth metrics that enable us to match our cost targets.

We also have patented bioreactors and are taking a scale out approach. Unlike other players in the space, we are scaling out (more bioreactors) instead of up (bigger bioreactors) using our proprietary modular bioreactors with 10x less CapEx. This will minimise costs, accelerate time to market and significantly reduce technical risks. 

Lastly, underlying our whole process, we use ML models to optimise cell selection (choosing the juiciest, tastiest cells), media (the food we feed our cells) and bioprocess, combined with a high-throughput platform driven by robotics and computer vision for data collection. Our models are trained using >25 billion data points to optimise for cost and scale - without compromising on taste.

What impact do you think Hoxton Farms will have, if you manage to scale up a in a meaningful way?

At scale, cultivated fat has the potential to fundamentally transform food production, addressing some of the industry’s biggest challenges. By customising the fat profile, we can reduce saturated fats, eliminate cholesterol, and increase beneficial fatty acids, creating healthier food options without sacrificing taste.

For food manufacturers and consumers this means no longer having to compromise on flavour or texture. Cultivated fat delivers the rich mouthfeel and performance of traditional animal fat, unlocking the potential for better-tasting products across a wide range of applications.

The environmental benefits are just as significant. By moving away from industrial animal farming, cultivated fat can dramatically reduce emissions, deforestation, and resource consumption, making food production far more sustainable. It also enhances food security, offering a stable, scalable source of high-quality fat that is no longer reliant on unpredictable livestock supply chains.

What’s your business model?

We operate as a B2B ingredient supplier, selling cultivated fat to food manufacturers and restaurant groups. Cultivated fat is a new ingredient, so we work closely with our customers through co-development projects to optimise product performance before launch.

The response from food companies has been overwhelmingly positive. We’ve worked with multinational food manufacturers, chefs and even legacy meat companies who see cultivated fat as a game-changer for health, flavour and sustainability.

Is this a big market?

The market for edible fats and oils is estimated to reach $530B by 2030. It’s growing rapidly due to increasing populations and a rise in demand for meat - which is expected to double by 2050. Key growth drivers for fats and oils specifically include rising interest from food companies in functional fats that improve health without sacrificing flavour, consumer demand for healthier choices and better-tasting alternatives, governments prioritising nutrition and reliable supply chains, as well as a global push towards sustainability in food.

Who else is in this space?

Our competitors span several categories. Our biggest competitors are conventional fats and oils. However, traditional animal fat is high in saturated fats and cholesterol, while plant-based oils like coconut and palm don’t deliver the same taste or performance and often come with sustainability concerns. 

There’s exciting innovation in the space, and there are many applications for these different approaches in this large market. For example, precision-fermented fats are better suited for applications like salad or frying oils, as their unencapsulated structure means they struggle with flavour and functionality. Most cultivated meat companies are focused on growing muscle. There are a few companies also working on cultivated fat. It's a huge market and we believe there is opportunity for many companies to succeed.

How do you see the next few years unfolding for Hoxton Farms?

The next phase is all about scaling and commercialisation. We have three top priorities. First, we’re scaling up operations at our pilot facility in East London to meet customer demand. We’ll then build a much larger manufacturing facility for cultivated fat. Our second priority is securing regulatory approval. We’re currently progressing through regulatory pathways to bring our product to market across several geographies. Third, we’re expanding our commercial partnerships by working with food manufacturers to develop next-generation food products using our cultivated fat.

How have you financed the company? Are you currently raising?

We’ve raised $35M to date from investors including Founders Fund, Collab Fund, F-Prime and Systemiq Capital. We’re not raising at the moment - we’re focused on scaling production, securing regulatory approvals and expanding our commercial pipeline.

What asks do you have for anyone reading this?

If you’re in the food industry - whether as a manufacturer, chef, or distributor - we’d love to chat. We’re actively exploring partnerships to bring cultivated fat to market.

If you know awesome scientists, ML engineers, or bioprocess specialists who are passionate about food - we’re currently hiring for a number of positions. Check them out here: https://hoxtonfarms.com/careers

We’re also keen to connect with investors and policymakers that want to help scale the future of food with innovative biomanufacturing. 

And how can people get in touch with you?

You can email us or connect with me on LinkedIn.