Growing fungi proteins in beer fermenters to replace chicken

Zac is Co-Founder & CEO of Pacifico Biolabs. He started his career at McKinsey in London as a consultant working across a range of industries. In 2020 he joined the British Government’s Covid Task Force as Assistant Director in the Cabinet Office, focusing on National Healthcare. In 2021 he moved to Berlin to join Razor Group, a tech startup, as Head of Special Projects.

He co-founded Pacifico Biolabs in 2022, with the vision to create alternative protein products as a commercially viable alternative to fish and meat from mycelium fungi proteins. Building on many of the learnings from earlier movers in both the plant-based and fermentation space, Pacifico have developed technology to create realistic whole-muscle textures through mycelium fermentation, utilising agri-food sidestreams, with a highly-scalable process. The company have already won a number of awards including Givaudan’s Future of Taste Award, and EIT (European Institute of Technology) Food’s Net Zero Food System Award in 2023. After closing their $3.3M Pre-Seed Round in 2024, Pacifico are now focused on bringing commercial production online and launching products in the German, Austrian, and Swiss markets.

Join us to hear from Zac about his entrepreneurial journey to date, how mycelium is being used by innovators, Pacifico’s novel technology, and the company's commercial strategy and rationale. He will also touch upon the importance of building the right team and fundraising from venture capitalists.