A Start-up That Wants to Tip the Beef Industry, One Cow at a Time
*By Madison Alworth*
The butchery start-up Crowd Cow wants to revolutionize the way Americans buy meat. The company sells beef from "craft beef purveyors," also known as small farmers.
"They are doing it the right way and raising cattle with flavors that are unique to that particular farm," said Joe Heitzberg, co-founder and CEO of Crowd Cow. "The environment they're on, the soil, the many kinds of grasses, and of course, the over 300 breeds of cattle that exist," it all affects how the beef tastes.
Craft Cow offers a wide variety of natural beef for customers to choose from on its website, including 100 percent grass-fed, grass-finished, grain-finished, and A5 Wagyu from Japan.
Customers choose the cow and the cut they want. After an entire cow has been accounted for, Crowd Cow ships the beef directly from the ranch to customers. Packages of beef around 6 lbs. start at $89 and reach as high as $120.
Crowd Cow has raised $8 million in Series A funding, led by Madrona Ventures. Some of the Series A investment also came from the actor Ashton Kutcher. Heitzeberg said that Kutcher reached out in an email.
"He said something like 'I'm aware of you guys. I'm interested in what you're doing. I don't know if you know, but I'm an Iowa farm boy and I worked at a butcher shop at one point. And I just really dig it and we should talk," Heitzberg recalled.
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/getting-a-crowd-together-to-buy-a-cow).
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