Episode 116: Just Meat Protein: Ellie Whelan & Aarti Tobin on Landing a Strategic Corporate Lead, Upcycling Chicken into Whey's Rival, and Structuring University IP That Investors Will Back
In this episode, I speak with the two women behind Just Meat Protein — Ellie Whelan, CEO & Co-Founder, and Dr. Aarti Tobin, Chief Scientific Officer and the scientist behind the technology — fresh off closing a A$1.8M seed round. Just Meat Protein takes low-value cuts of meat and turns them into high-value, nutrient-dense ingredients: their hydrolysed chicken protein powder (ProPepta) is roughly 90% protein, highly soluble, clear in solution, and allergen-free — an alternative to whey protein isolate arriving right as whey prices spike and supply tightens. Ellie walks us through how their lead investor, poultry giant Ingham's Enterprises, came out of a multi-year R&D relationship that began while the tech was still a project inside CSIRO — a strategic partner that both supplies the raw material and shares the circular-economy vision. We get into the real objections they faced (plant-based skeptics, the "meat in my cookies-and-cream" consumer perception question, and scale-up manufacturing risk), and Dr. Tobin gives a masterclass in how a scientist earns an investor's confidence on scale-up. Then Ellie breaks down two things founders rarely explain well: how they structured CSIRO's IP as a license-for-royalty (keeping the research org off the cap table) and how Australian matching grants stack on top of a closed round.
🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear how a low-value poultry cut worth $1–2/kg becomes a $40+/kg ingredient, why whey's price surge and supply shortage are a tailwind, Dr. Tobin's answer to "how do you know it scales?", the bare-bones fundraising stack (a Canva deck and a Microsoft Teams data room), and the exclusive-worldwide-license-with-assignment-triggers structure that made investors comfortable with university-born IP.
Key Facts: Just Meat Protein
- Ellie Whelan (CEO & Co-Founder): https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliewhelan
- Dr. Aarti Tobin (CSO & Co-Founder): https://www.linkedin.com/in/aarti-tobin-82a121141
- Headquarter: Australia
- What They Do: Upcycle low-value meat cuts (poultry) into high-value, nutrient-dense protein ingredients. Flagship product ProPepta is a hydrolysed chicken protein powder — ~90% protein, highly soluble (stays in solution up to ~60%), clear in solution, and allergen-free — positioned as a whey protein isolate alternative for sports nutrition, functional foods, beverages, and specialized/aged-care nutrition.
- Funding: A$1.8M seed round, led by strategic corporate investor Ingham's Enterprises (Australia's largest poultry producer), which invested A$1.05M for a ~10% stake. Ingham's is both an equity partner and a raw-material supplier.
Blurb
JUST MEAT PROTEIN is built on a simple, powerful piece of arithmetic: a poultry cut worth a dollar or two a kilo can become a protein ingredient worth forty-plus. Born from four years of research inside CSIRO, the company's hydrolysed chicken protein — ProPepta — hits roughly 90% protein while solving problems whey can't: it stays soluble at high concentrations, runs clear in solution for protein waters and beverages, and is allergen-free. It arrives at an ideal moment, as whey prices climb and supply tightens, and as demand for high-protein foods surges across sports nutrition, functional foods, and GLP-1-era nutrition. It is upcycling as a business model — more value from every animal, and a genuine circular-economy story.
