Impossible Foods, which specializes in non-meat-based alternative foods, has closed a funding round and come away with $200 million, according to a press release.
The Series G round was led by Coatue, a new investor. Existing investors Mirae Asset Global Investments and Temasek, as well as new investor XN, also contributed, the release stated.
The money will go toward the company’s research, scaling up manufacturing and increasing its retail presence, including more availability in key markets. There will also be more focus on developing new products like Impossible Pork Made from Plants, milk, steak and other foods, the release stated.
Impossible Founds founder and CEO, Dr. Patrick O. Brown, said the funding round showed promise toward the company’s goal of replacing animal-derived food.
“The use of animals to make food is the most destructive technology on Earth, a leading driver of climate change and the primary cause of a catastrophic global collapse of wildlife populations and biodiversity,” he said, according to the release. “Impossible Foods’ mission is to replace that archaic system by making the most delicious, nutritious and sustainable meats in the world, directly from plants.”
To do so, he said in the release that the company needs to keep up its growth and invest in research and development. Luckily for him, he said, investors believe in the project and “recognize an extraordinary economic opportunity.”
Impossible Foods, and its flagship product the Impossible Burger, have seen a surge in growth amid the pandemic, with the product expanding from 150 stores nationwide in March to over 8,000 now, with products for sale in Walmart, Kroger, Trader Joe’s and others, the release stated.
Impossible Foods Chief Financial Officer David Lee said in the release that the company plans “to create plant-based upgrades for every major category of animal-derived food products,” and the new money from the funding round will help achieve that goal.
Lee told PYMNTS in May that the success of the Impossible Burger had come from HEME, a so-called “magic molecule” which the company theorizes is the additive in many meat products that makes them desirable.
