France’s Gourmey has snapped up Vital Meat to form Parima, aiming to become the first cultivated protein company to get regulatory approval for two species.
In the latest consolidation move for alternative proteins, Paris-based Gourmey has acquired fellow French cultivated meat firm Vital Meat, combining their tech, regulatory and manufacturing prowess under a new entity, Parima.
The company combines Gourmey’s cultivated duck platform (which has spawned a foie gras product) with Vital Meat’s cultured chicken technology, which are collectively the subject of nine active regulatory filings across the world.
“Parima represents a new chapter, a unified platform built to lead the next generation of animal production, spanning multiple species and market applications, from premium to mass market. It’s about creating abundance through efficiency and scale,” Parima CEO Nicolas Morin-Forest tells Green Queen.
Vital Meat’s team is joining Parima, including co-founder Etienne Duthoit, who is taking up a leadership role. “We’re expanding our site presence in France,” adds Morin-Forest.
“Gourmey remains the group’s culinary brand, focused on premium products, chef collaborations, and established partnerships with leading gourmet distributors serving the world’s top restaurants and hotels,” he says. The brand’s demand from leading restaurants will “remain a key differentiator” as Parima expands across multiple species and applications.
Gourmey and Vital Meat to combine production at French facilities
Gourmey made a splash in the future food world when it announced regulatory submissions in five geographies last year, including the first ever in the EU. It has created a foie gras product using cultured duck cells, which has been endorsed by Michelin-starred chefs, and has been working on chicken too.
The startup’s platform leverages a “second-generation” tech stack that replaces legacy biopharma techniques with food-grade, cost-effective, scalable processes. It combines continuous production, undifferentiated cell biomass, and suspension-based cell cultures to support efficiency and consistency.
In June, Gourmey partnered with AI specialist DeepLife to develop the world’s first avian digital twin to optimise production of its cultivated meat, shortly after analysis revealed that its 5,000-litre bioreactor system can bring costs down to $3.43 per lb.
Vital Meat, meanwhile, makes cultivated chicken using cell-line technology developed from nearly 25 years of avian cell research at Groupe Grimaud, a global animal genetics leader. The startup filed for approval in Singapore in late 2023, and in the UK in summer 2024. And months later, it held a public tasting at Hue restaurant in Singapore.
Gourmey currently operates an innovation centre and a pilot facility in central Paris, where it runs multiple 400-litre bioreactors. It also has a dedicated setup with a 5,000-litre fermenter. Likewise, Vital Meat has a pilot plant near Nantes, equipped with 2,000-litre bioreactors that are run daily.
Following the acquisition, both sites will remain operational. “Together, they form a fully integrated end-to-end platform, covering cell line and process development, scale-up, and culinary innovation. Our combined bioreactor capacity reaches several thousand litres,” Morin-Forest highlights.
Parima expects regulatory nod in ‘next few months’
Parima has over 15 patent families and more than 70 applications, alongside regulatory filings in various geographies. “They cover the EU, where we’re the first and most advanced; the UK, where the Vital Meat and Gourmey dossiers are the two most advanced; Switzerland; Singapore, where both companies have active applications; the US; Australia; and another country we’re not disclosing yet,” says Morin-Forest.
Each company’s dossiers will continue under their existing procedures, and in an interview with Green Queen this summer, the Gourmey co-founder had said it was expecting approval in Singapore first.
“We anticipate the first market authorisations within the next few months,” Morin-Forest says now. “We’re aiming to become the first European cultivated meat company to get approved, and the first ever company with approval for two species: duck and chicken.”
Over the next 12 months, the company’s focus is on “execution, advancing regulatory approvals, scaling our production systems, and preparing our first market launches”.
“Our culinary brand, Gourmey, is grounded in B2B readiness, with strong culinary validation (we launched the industry’s first-ever culinary advisory board, bringing together Michelin-starred chefs Claude Le Tohic, Rasmus Munk and Daniel Calvert), global demand, and commercial partnerships already in place,” he says.
Since September 2024, more than 40 alternative protein companies have ceased trading, fallen into insolvency, or been acquired, partly a reflection of the industry’s struggles to fundraise. This year, cultivated fat maker Upstream Foods and cell culture tech firm CellRev shut down, while Uncommon Bio sold off its cultivated meat platform to Meatable and Vow to focus on therapeutics instead.
“After the initial hype, consolidation is the natural next step for our industry,” contends Morin-Forest. “A handful of leaders with the most scalable IP, the strongest products, and global regulatory market access will prevail. That’s what Parima is about.”
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