flint bets on AI to make alternative proteins healthier and tastier

A new startup called flint has emerged from stealth, aiming to transform the alternative protein industry by deploying artificial intelligence to accelerate improvements in taste, texture and nutrition – areas often neglected in the rush to lower costs.

The company is co-founded by Pablo Quintero, PhD, who previously worked at cultivated meat company, Vow, and Sam Watts, former Too Good To Go ML/AI expert. flint’s mission is rooted in a conviction Quintero formed during his time at Vow: that alternative proteins will only replace animal-based foods if they are simultaneously cheaper, healthier and tastier.

“If we want to replace animal-based foods, our alternatives must be cheaper, healthier, and tastier,” Quintero wrote in a LinkedIn post announcing flint’s launch. “Miss one and adoption fails. Nail all three and there’s no going back.”

While many companies in the sector are focused on bringing down production costs – a race driven by the need for price parity with conventional animal products – Quintero argues that the next competitive edge will lie in making these foods genuinely desirable to consumers.

“Right now, the industry is sprinting toward cheaper. Makes sense. Unit economics are life or death,” he said. “But here’s the question I keep circling back to: What happens after price parity? When cultivated and fermented proteins reach cost-competitiveness (in just a few years and months respectively), what makes these products stand out?”

flint intends to provide the tools to answer that question. The company is building an AI-powered platform designed to help alternative protein developers rapidly test and optimize their products for factors such as mouthfeel, flavor compatibility, thermal behavior and nutritional profiles.

According to Quintero, most food biotech companies currently endure months-long development cycles, relying on manual trial-and-error experimentation to tweak formulations. “The average time to bring a new product to market is typically a minimum of six to 12 months of tedious manual trial and error,” he said.

Quintero believes that flint’s technology will radically shorten this timeline, giving companies faster insights into how ingredients interact and how best to achieve desired characteristics in alternative proteins.

He offered examples of the kinds of technical questions flint aims to help answer. “How does your protein affect texture under low heat? Which is the best fat to mix with your cell biomass for that specific flavor? How does mycelium from different fungi species impact mouthfeel?”

“These aren’t minor questions. They represent the crucial difference between ‘interesting technology’ and food people actively desire,” he said. “Because food isn’t just a science problem. It’s a behavior problem.”

flint’s focus reflects a broader shift in the alternative protein space. Although price remains a primary barrier to mass adoption, industry observers have increasingly pointed out that cost parity alone may not guarantee success. Consumer surveys and market data show that issues like taste, texture and perceived health benefits are significant factors influencing whether consumers are willing to switch from conventional animal products to alternatives.

flint is currently in what Quintero describes as “early-stage, full-discovery mode”, and the company is actively seeking collaborators in the alternative protein industry. Quintero made a public appeal for introductions to people working in food formulation for alternative proteins, suggesting that partnerships and co-development could be key to flint’s approach.

“We’re here to accelerate the parts of food innovation that get deprioritized: texture, flavor, behavior, and nutritional value,” he said.

While flint has not yet disclosed funding details or specific product offerings, its launch adds to a growing wave of startups leveraging machine learning and data-driven methods to solve persistent challenges in food science. By focusing on the nuanced factors that drive consumer preference, Quintero and Watts are betting that the next frontier in alternative proteins will be defined not only by economics but also by the ability to delight consumers’ senses and meet their health expectations.

As Quintero put it, “Fixing that might be the most high-leverage lever we have for the planet.”