Ryan Bethencourt: This is the Future of Dog Food

"…when I say people had no idea, these were investors, right? These were people who thought they had a crystal ball on the future. And I was like, look, our world has to change for so many reasons. The fact that we're slaughtering animals and doing so in really horrific ways, that is not the future.

And so, if that is not the future, what is? It's embracing biotech, it's embracing food science, it's embracing the things that will remove these animals and the environmental impact of this out of the system."  - Ryan Bethencourt

30 percent of the meat consumed in the United States is eaten by our pets.

That is a staggering number. Ryan Bethencourt thought so too, which is why is doing something about it.

Ryan is the founder and CEO of Wild Earth, a sustainable, meat-free alternative to dog food. It’s the Beyond Meat for dogs. You may have seen Ryan pitch it on Shark Tank – not only did the Sharks taste his dog treats, Mark Cuban invested.

Ryan is a scientist, entrepreneur, and a biotech investor. He has led, built and advised more than 80 companies, including: Shiok Meats, Memphis Meats, Geltor, New Wave Foods, Clara Foods, and Finless Foods.

He co-founded IndieBio, the world's leading biotech accelerator and was head of Sciences for the XPRIZE Foundation. He's currently a partner at Babel Ventures, a consumer biotech fund.

Ryan believes that using biology as technology will solve some of the world's most intractable problems.