Mushrooms remain an important area for alternative proteins. Canada-based Maia Farms recently raised 1.7 million dollars develop a mixture of proteins of plant and fungal origin through biomass fermentation. There’s also Food My Forest and fable food.
Then there is meat foods, which claims it is unlike any other alternative protein. The company makes cutlets and fillets from mushroom mycelium or root.
“It’s truly a revolutionary next-generation protein,” CEO Phil Graves told TechCrunch. “It is a product that has its roots in nature. It is not genetically modified. We simply take something from nature, channel it, give it the nutrients and minerals it needs to flourish. “Then we get the equivalent of hundreds of cows worth of protein in four or five days.”
Maybe that’s why Meati continues to raise big funds.
Carne Asada Steaks product from Meati Foods. (Image credit: Meati Foods)
On Wednesday, the Boulder, Colorado-based company announced an additional $100 million in a C-1 round. Existing investor Grosvenor Food & AgTech led the round and was joined by other existing investors including Prelude Ventures, BOND, Revolution Growth and Congruent. Grosvenor is a big investment in food and agriculture, and has previously backed companies such as AgriWeb and The every co.
These large rounds add to the significant amount of venture capital Meati Foods raised over the past two years. an initial $150 million was announced in July 2022, and that round had another $22 million in January 2023 before finally closing a $200+ million Series C later in 2023.
Much of the company’s investments were funneled into the 100,000-square-foot “Mega Ranch” facility that allows Meati to produce an annual rate of tens of millions of pounds of its protein.
However, not everything has been rosy for the company. This new financing comes three months after Meati Foods laid off 13% of its employees. At the same time, company co-founder Tyler Huggins stepped down as CEO to take on the role of chief innovation officer. That’s when Graves, the company’s chief financial officer at the time, took over.
After this latest round, Huggins, who started the company with Justin Whiteley, will move into an advisory role.
In addition to the financing, Meati Foods is adding 2,000 retail locations selling its products and will now be in the Kroger family of stores in April. Three products from the Eat Meati line will be available, including the Classic chop and the Classic and Carne Asada steaks.
In just over a year, the company grew from six retail locations to nearly 7,000 stores nationwide. It is also available at Super Target, Whole Foods Market, Sprouts Farmers Market, Meijer and Wegmans.
The company is usually silent about its growth, and this time was no different. Graves said the Mega Ranch facility was fully operational. Last year, Huggins told TechCrunch that at full capacity, the facility could produce 45 million pounds of product annually.
“Capital basically accelerates that growth trajectory,” Graves said. “We will continue with this dizzying pace of growth. We are delighted that, despite all the obstacles, our growth continues at a good pace. And our investors understand this. The product is the best in its class and the growth is there. “We need to add capital to the business to continue the momentum.”
As part of the new investment, Mark Cupta of Prelude Ventures and Katrin Burt of Grosvenor Food & AgTech have joined the company as new members of the board of directors.