Is it just us or does it feel like every other day companies in the food tech sector are receiving incredible amounts of funding? Since we are so excited to see this industry grow and get the attention it deserves, we put together a short list of a few of the brands that stood out with their funding rounds and crowdfunding campaigns.
Funding rounds
GOOD MEAT
GOOD Meat is a division of Eat Just, a company that focuses on the alternative protein space. Indeed, Eat Just started with the plant-based egg Just Egg, and now offers a range of egg-substitute-based products.
The startup GOOD MEAT became the first in the world to get regulatory approval and sell cell-cultured meat in 2020. Truly, they produce chicken nuggets grown in a lab environment through cellular agriculture, without harming any animal. The company recently closed a $170 million funding round to invest in the expansion of their chicken cultured meat. Eventually, aiming to move on to beef and pork production.
DARING
You might have seen some talk about the plant-based chicken alternative Daring, since it is being backed by celebrities such as Drake. In their latest funding round the alternative protein brand raised $40 million. This investment will go towards expanding the team, scale their rapid retail and foodservice growth, and support new product development. Daring’s products are sold in more than 1,000 retail locations in the US.
VLY
Vly is a Berlin-based startup creating alternative protein milk from peas and is the sixth biggest plant milk brand in Germany. The product has very similar nutrients, taste, and functionality to cow’s milk, but with a much better environmental footprint. In a Series A funding round led by Five Seasons Ventures they raised EUR€6.1M. This fund will help to scale their R&D and drive growth across the DACH region (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland). In addition, they plan to enter new European markets, including the United Kingdom. Plus, enter new product categories like chocolate drink and fermented products scheduled to launch this year.
Crowdfunding campaigns
BETTER NATURE
Better Nature creates meat substitutes from the nutrition-filled protein tempeh. Earlier this year, the startup launched its private crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs. Within an impressive three hours from the launch, it had achieved its initial target of £1,350,000.
After going public on March 29, Better Nature closed its stretch crowdfunding target of £1.6 million within just two days. This made them one of the fastest funded plant-based crowdfunders in Seedrs’ history.
Better Nature will use the income to invest in a nationwide marketing campaign, launch in major supermarkets, develop new products, and present a whole new range of meat alternatives in June 2021.
THIS
THIS, a plant-based meat company from London, has recently closed a very successful crowdfunding campaign. It was publicly live for just 2 and a half days before reaching its £4 million overfunding target. This campaign was also launched on Seedrs and broke records as the fastest campaign to ever hit a £1.5 million target. Also, as the fastest FMCG business to ever hit a target, and attracting the highest number of investors in a week.
THIS will use the capital to set up a London-based innovation center to house its team of food scientists, engineers, and flavourists plus its processing equipment. Their ambitious goal is to launch 10 products per year for the next three years across a number of categories.
HEURA
Another promising startup about to join the crowdfunding trend is Heura, a Barcelona-based vegetable meat startup. The already well-known brand launched its first round of investment open to the public in early June through equity crowdfunding. This allowed the entry of many more investors with small amounts. The results were mind-blowing, raising €4 million within 24 hours, far surpassing its target of €1 million.
This latest enormous success just proves that investors, big or small, are betting on alternative protein brands.
We are witnessing immense growth in the alternative protein sector. Plus, an increase in demand for more products and different options from the consumer side. The amounts invested into these startups in these funding rounds and crowdfunding prove the importance of this field. We are very excited to see what the rest of 2021 will bring.