With the release of the ‘Game Changers’ documentary recently on Netflix, there is a lot of topical talk on eating more plant-based meals.
It’s clearly more than just talk though, with the demand for plant-based meat shown by v2food’s capital raise.
v2food is the newest plant-based meat startup, and it has just completed the largest Series A investment round in the plant-based meat sector to date – raising $35 million in funding.
This, of course, indicates a significant interest and demand in the market.
The raise was led by Main Sequence Ventures, manager of CSIRO’s Innovation Fund, and Horizons Ventures.
The round also includes Fairfax Family investment fund Marinya Capital & leading venture capital firm Sequoia Capital China. These new investors will add significant scale and build an impressive partnership alongside existing seed investors Main Sequence Ventures, CSIRO and Jack Cowin’s Competitive Foods Australia.
V2food only officially launched in October and released its first product in partnership with none other than Hungry Jack’s Australia – the Rebel Whopper. The company worked with Australia’s national science agency CSIRO to create products that look like meat, cook like meat and taste like meat.
The funding will be used to further their Research and Development efforts, which includes building a new research and production facility. The plan is to begin operation in regional Australia in 2020.
Co-founded by former Masterfoods and PepsiCo Research Director, Nick Hazell, v2food’s mission is to develop delicious food that is good for people and good for the planet, revolutionising the way we produce and consume food.
“This is an important step towards v2food’s goal of transforming the way the world produces food. There is a big shortfall between the amount of meat we produce today and the amount needed to feed the growing global population,” said Nick Hazell v2food Founder and CEO.
“There will be nearly 10 billion people on Earth by 2050. Our mission is clear — to provide everyday people with plant-based meat that tastes great and is good for the environment.
“It’s imperative that we scale quickly because these global issues need immediate solutions and we are fortunate to have secured these outstanding global partners to help propel us forward.”
As demand is currently outstripping supply, v2food also plans to use the funds to expand its footprint in Australia and develop a supply chain that is highly scalable enabling accelerated growth.
“Main Sequence Ventures’ mission is to help transform inspiring Australian research into epic global companies. v2food is an outstanding example of an innovative startup committed to solving a global problem. The team has demonstrated what can be achieved when science and industry collaborate,” said Phil Morle, Partner of Main Sequence Ventures.
With an oversubscribed round, the investors were selected due to their global networks, and their support will help the company to expand its sales and marketing efforts offshore.
Leveraging the global ties of Horizons Ventures and Sequoia Capital will enable v2food to enter the next phase of growth throughout the Asia-Pacific region with the support of investors with long histories of backing sector-defining businesses.
“The v2food team has created a truly world-class product in an area that is seeing massive growth and demand. We’re incredibly excited to back this home-grown startup to help bring v2food not only to consumers across Australia but the world,” said Nicholas Fairfax, Managing Director of Marinya Capital.
v2food plans to continue to launch new products in outlets across Australia in the next few months.
