Impossible Foods closes a record-breaking $300 million fundraising round
“Plant-based meat has arrived.”
So says GFI Executive Director Bruce Friedrich on the topic of Impossible Foods’ $300 million funding round. Yep, it is that many millions—an all-time high for the plant-based meat industry.
Impossible Foods announced this gargantuan investment round (which brings their total funding to $750 million and market valuation to $2 billion) within a week of Beyond Meat’s record-smashing public offering. Bruce said in a press statement, “With these two companies now valued in the billions of dollars, it’s clear that the plant-based meat market is both hot and here to stay.”
Impossible Foods’ new funding came with some sparkly names too: Serena Williams, Jay-Z, Trevor Noah, will.i.am, Jaden Smith, and Katy Perry are now on the list of backers, alongside Bill Gates, Google Ventures, Khosla Ventures, and more.
Consumers can find Impossible products in more than 7,000 restaurants nationwide, from White Castle to Qdoba, and that number is set to increase sharply over the next few months. Following the success of the Impossible Whopper test run in St. Louis, Burger King will be adding the Impossible Whopper to all 7,000+ locations by the end of 2019.
This is emblematic of the sharp upswing in demand, distribution, and investment the entire plant-based market is seeing. Plant-based meat U.S. retail sales grew by 23 percent last year. GFI’s recently released State of the Industry report for U.S. plant-based meat, eggs, and dairy shows a stark acceleration of investor interest in the past two years. Total investment since 2009 for plant-based meat, eggs, and dairy has passed $16 billion—and $13 billion was invested in 2017 and 2018 alone.
And, Bruce points out, the momentum doesn’t seem to be slowing down: “Last year, Impossible Foods shattered VC fundraising records for plant-based meat when it raked in $189 million. Now, Impossible Foods has just brought in the largest fundraising round for a plant-based meat company in history.”
Read our press statement here.
Author
Mary Allen
Mary Allen is a science writer, creative strategist, and GFI alum focused on the intersection of sustainability and emerging technology. Find more of her work at mary-allen.com.
