US plant-based meat start-up, Sundial Foods, has announced that it will be closing down and has sold its IP to a currently unidentified acquirer.

The California-based business, established in 2019 by co-founders Siwen Deng and Jessica Schwabach, aimed to create ethically and environmentally friendly meat alternative products for ‘conscious consumers of all ages’.

It used a proprietary macro and microstructural engineering technology to create clean label plant-based meat products containing no artificial flavourings or synthetic additives.

According to the firm, its chickpea-based chicken wings – made from seven ingredients – contain more fibre, less saturated fat and the same amount of protein per serving as traditional chicken.

In a statement shared on LinkedIn last week, Sundial’s co-founders confirmed that they had sold the IP surrounding Sundial’s process and products to an acquirer with “greater scale and resources”.

The company was backed by Nestlé, having participated in the food giant’s R&D Accelerator programme in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2020.

Through the programme, Sundial took its chicken formula from bench scale testing to pilot production and co-branded a product with Nestlé’s Garden Gourmet brand in late 2020,

running a test launch in more than 40 retail outlets across Switzerland.

Nestlé also led a $4 million seed round in 2021 to support the launch of Sundial's whole cut chicken wing product.

Deng and Schwabach wrote in their statement: “While this is the end of our journey as Sundial Foods, the start-up, we hope it is the beginning of a larger journey for what we've built. Thank you so much to everyone who has been a part of Sundial Foods' journey. It's been a spectacular ride, and we are deeply grateful to all of you.”

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