Alex Andrews has been appointed CEO of Sydney-based cultured meat startup Vow, replacing founder George Peppou who has moved into an executive director role.
Andrews comes into the CEO role having previously served as Chief of Staff at Vow since January this year.
She is the former co-founder and COO of Verve Super, a first-of-its-kind ethical super fund for women which was acquired by Future Group in 2023.
Founded in 2019, Vow has been developing lab-grown cell-based animal products that are being served in restaurants in Singapore and Australia. The biotech startup closed a US$49.2 million Series A in 2022, led by Blackbird.
Vow received approval to sell its products in Australia and New Zealand last year and has launched its first brand Forged to sell its cultured Japanese quail. The company is founded on the goals of changing the behaviour of people who love eating meat by making foods that are better than what already exists.
Australia and New Zealand join a small number of jurisdictions globally that now permit the sale of culture meats.
“We’re at the point where years of technical advancement have become products people can actually buy,” Andrew told Women’s Agenda on her new role at Vow.
“Helping lead that next chapter was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”
Andrews said the transition from her time in the financial services sector to the biotech industry has been reasonably straightforward because the work continues to be about solving a real problem.
“Whether it’s a product or a service, it needs to solve a real problem,” Andrews said.
“From that perspective, the transition has been straightforward. The biggest difference is that a factory is at the heart of the business and it brings a rhythm to the workplace that I really enjoy.”
Peppou has stepped out of the CEO role to focus on a new startup looking to grow opportunities outside of food. It comes after a breakthrough on production scale and economics, as he told Forbes.
Looking ahead to her leadership as CEO at Vow, Andrews says it’s the groundbreaking tech and great people that drew her interest.
“The technology is world class but it was the ambition and the people that really sold me.”