The market for plant-based food is estimated to grow by 17% to $4.2B (about €3.58B) in 2021. This is due to the increasing awareness of the health and environmental benefits of cutting down on meat. Meatless Farm – a meat alternatives brand plans to ride this growth wave and has ambitious plans to expand in all its key markets and to grow its product range.
Raises awareness & €26.4M
The UK-based meat alternatives brand, Meatless Farm, has raised $31M (approx €26.4M) in a fresh round of funding from an undisclosed group of new and existing private & family office investors.
The funding round follows a previous round of $17M (approx €14.5M) raised by the company. The $31M (approx €26.4M), has come from a mixture of existing and new private and family office investors, all of whom have a commitment to sustainable investing.
The round was managed by recently appointed Meatless Farm director, Leopoldo Zambeletti, who has over 20 years of investment banking experience at firms including JP Morgan and Credit Suisse.
The raised capital will be used to expand and further establish the brand in existing markets and new regions (The U.K., Europe, U.S., and Asia), as well as expand its product lines, and further build out the manufacturing operations in Canada.
The meat of the matter
Founded in 2016 by Morten Toft Bech, Meatless Farm spent over two years blending, researching, experimenting, and trialling different recipes and ingredients to create its range before launching in 2018.
It is now on sale in all four major UK supermarket chains, in Whole Foods in the US, and in many other countries. Sales are growing at nearly 180% per annum on a like-for-like basis in the UK and it has become a serious contender in the global plant-based market, alongside US groups Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat.
“Our aim is to continue to expand our global operations organically while also looking to participate in M&A activities around the consolidation of smaller plant-based companies,” says Toft Bech.
The company has four offices worldwide – Leeds, Amsterdam, New York, and Singapore – and is set to continue its double-digit sales growth.
Earlier this year, the company ran a nationwide UK advertising campaign: ‘M… F…’.
“We felt the nation needed a bit of a lift as it’s been a tough time for everyone, so more than ever we wanted to create something light-hearted and fun that consumers would remember when they are looking for alternatives to meat,” says Michael Hunter, chief growth officer at Meatless Farm.
The campaign included traditional print advertising, branded electric cars driving through London, billboards and bus signs, and a Meatless drive-through restaurant as well as radio and TV adverts.
Image credit: Meatless Farm
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