Peakbridge intends to invest in between 16 and 20 companies, investing around $10 million in each company. It has made eight investments so far.
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Mushrooms continue to be a big area for alternative proteins. Canada-based Maia Farms recently raised $1.7 million to develop a blend of mushroom and plant-based protein using biomass fermentation. There’s also MyForest Foods and Fable Food.
Then there’s Meati Foods, which claims it’s like no other alternative protein. The company makes cutlets and steaks from mycelium, or mushroom root.
“It’s truly a next generation revolutionary protein,” CEO Phil Graves told TechCrunch. “It’s a product that’s rooted in nature. It’s not genetically modified. We just take something from nature, channel it, give it the nutrients and minerals that it needs to flourish. We then get the equivalent of hundreds of cows worth of protein in four or five days time.”
Perhaps that’s why Meati continues to secure some big funding.
Meati Foods’ Carne Asada Steaks product. (Image credit: Meati Foods)
On Wednesday, the Boulder, Colo.-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-time food and ag investing, having previously backed companies like AgriWebb and The Every Co.
This big rounds adds to the significant amount of venture capital Meati Foods raised in the past two years. An initial $150 million was announced in July 2022, and that round took in another $22 million in January 2023 before ultimately closing a Series C of over $200 million later on in 2023.
Much of the company’s investments were funneled into the 100,000-square-foot “Mega Ranch” facility that enables 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 funding 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 transition into the role of chief innovation officer. That’s when Graves, the company’s chief financial officer at the time, took the helm.
Following this latest round, Huggins, who started the company with Justin Whiteley, will transition to an advisory role.
In addition to the funding, Meati Foods is adding 2,000 retail locations that carry its products and will now be in Kroger’s family of stores by April. Three products in the Eat Meati line will be available, including the Classic cutlet as well as 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 in Super Target, Whole Foods Market, Sprouts Farmers Market, Meijer and Wegmans.
The company is usually pretty mum about its growth, and this time was no different. Graves did say that the Mega Ranch facility was fully operational. Last year, Huggins told TechCrunch that at full capacity, the facility would be able to make 45 million pounds of product annually.
“The capital basically turbocharges that growth trajectory,” Graves said. “We’ll continue that break-neck pace of growth. We’re thrilled that despite all the headwinds that our growth is still on pace. And our investors understand that. The product is best-in-class and the growth is there. We need to marry the capital to the business to continue the momentum.”
As part of the new investment, Mark Cupta from Prelude Ventures and Katrin Burt from Grosvenor Food & AgTech have joined the company as new board members.
As the world’s population continues to grow, the need to be able to feed everyone is something a number of entities are working on. Paris-based Edonia, is one of the startups working on creating protein ingredients using microalgae.
Edonia joins companies like Bevel, AlgaeCore Technologies, Algenuity and NewFish that are all tapping into the global market for commercial algae expected to be valued at $25.4 billion by 2033.
Now armed with €2 million ($2.1 million), the company is moving forward with producing plant-based ingredients from microalgae biomass generated from spirulina or chlorella that Valentin claims is more nutritious than meat, Edonia CEO Hugo Valentin told TechCrunch.
Edonia is Valentin’s second company. He was also co-founder of Ammi, a company that was also working on spirulina consumption. Prior to that he was an account director for consulting firm Uzik. He said while at Ammi he was convinced that mycology (the study of fungi) would play an important role in the current protein transition.
Edonia makes the protein via a unique microalgae transformation process called “edonization.” This transforms the microalgae biomass into a textured super ingredient with numerous taste, odor, texture, nutritional and environmental qualities.
“We want to solve the organoleptic (sense organs) aspects of mycology,” Valentin said. “Today, it’s mainly known as a green powder with a bitter taste. The goal of the technologies is to solve this problem.”
The edonization technique changes the color from green to a darker richer-looking brown. It converts the texture to “meaty-like tender grains” with aromatics similar to one that smoking or grilling would produce, Valentin said.
Edonia’s microalgae product replaces ground meat, like meatballs. (Image credit: Lilie Bedos + Edonia)
Edo-1 is the startup’s first product, which Valentin said offered an umami-like flavor and texture closer to ground meat than that of soy proteins. Therefore, it’s a good plant-based replacement for ground meat, he said.
In addition, the minimally processed Edo-1 is 30% protein, comprised of essential amino acids, and contains other minerals and vitamins. That’s a bit higher percentage of protein than, for instance, ground beef, which can be around 20% (a large percentage of beef is water).
At a time when 34% of greenhouse gas emissions are generated by our food, Valentin also wanted to show that microalgae could reduce emissions. Edonia worked with university institution AgroParisTech to develop a Life Cycle Assessment that shows Edonia’s product could emit 40 times less carbon dioxide than its ground meat equivalent, and three times less than its textured soy equivalent.
Edonia is already able to produce a few kilograms of Edo-1. Valentin’s next goal is to scale the technology so it can deliver thousands of tons of the product to the market. Valentin expects to have a full-scale factory in about two years.
The company is also working with food manufacturer beta testers to develope recipes and food products using Edonia’s ingredients.
“We plan to go to the market by the end of this year with commercial proofs of concepts,” he said.
Edonia isn’t subject to the “Novel Food” category regulations, so it does not need French or European Union authorization to go to market. This will enable it to commercialize its production more rapidly. The official launch will be European, and then the startup aims to quickly expand to other continents, like Asia and the United States, through strategic partnerships, Valentin said.
The €2 million investment was led by French venture capital firm Asterion Ventures, which recently invested in another “green” company Diamfab. BPI also participated. The capital will enable the company to finance a pilot plant and extend its R&D, Valentin said.
The quality of Edonia’s product has already been tested and approved by French R&D chef Laurent Sicre, whose culinary creation and development expertise is recognized by food industry professionals and restaurateurs.
In addition to meat alternatives, Valentin said Edo-1 can improve nutrition for other products, including bread, cakes, cream and cereal bars, without impairing the eating experience.
Edonia is now setting up its industrial demonstrator and Valentin expects to be able to execute at an industrial scale beginning this summer. The next step is to secure additional letters of intent for food makers to go to market with a product containing Edo-1.
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