--- title: Black Sheep Food raises $5m for you to smell ‘lamb’ meat - The Hustle description: Black Sheep Food has raised $5m to make a plant-based lamb alternative that smells delicious. image: https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1151157287-News-Brief_2022-01-28T005320.622Z.webp --- # Black Sheep Food raises $5m for you to smell ‘lamb’ meat ![Trung T. Phan](https://thehustle.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Image-from-iOS-300x300.jpg?width=48&height=48&name=Image-from-iOS-300x300.jpg) [Trung T. Phan](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/trung-t-phan) [Trung T. Phan Twitter profile ](https://twitter.com/TrungTPhan) Published: January 28, 2022 Updated: October 11, 2023 It’s often said that you eat with your nose. ![Black Sheep Food raises $5m for you to smell ‘lamb’ meat](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hs-fs/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1151157287-News-Brief_2022-01-28T005320.622Z.webp?width=595&height=400&name=1151157287-News-Brief_2022-01-28T005320.622Z.webp) While the human tongue has taste receptors, research has [shown](https://www.scienceworld.ca/resource/taste-smell-connection/) that smell accounts for **~80%** of what we taste. Now, Black Sheep Food is using the power of smell to make faux lamb meat. #### **The food tech startup…** … has raised $5m+ in seed funding, per [*TechCrunch*](https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/26/will-your-nose-know-lamb-black-sheep-foods-is-betting-it-will/). And it’s using the funds to create compounds that can be detected by your nose. Per Black Sheep’s CEO Sunny Kumar, existing faux meat products are mostly focused on creating taste in the mouth. Launched in 2019, Black Sheep is concocting “taste” by combining pea proteins and fatty acids. #### **A gap in the market** Beyond Meat — valued at ~$4B — is the most prominent publicly listed faux meat company. Its go-to products are ground beef, burger, sausage, and chicken-tender alternatives. According to Kumar, lamb is a key part of “diets in the Mediterranean, India, the Middle East, and Africa,” and it and other game meats “were left behind” by the fake meat trend. The global plant-based market is projected to hit $16B+ by 2026. You smell that? It’s a gamey lamb scent with a dash of cash money! 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