Meati foodsthat the Eat Meati brand of protein made from mushroom root is developing, is poised to begin shipping its plant-based meat product later this year after closing $150 million in new Series C financing.
The round, which will bring the company $278.6 million in total funding according to Crunchbase data, was led by Revolution Growth, with participation from existing and new investors, including CPP Investments, Grosvenor, Wellington Management and the new venture capital fund of Chipotle Mexican Grill. , Cultivate Next . Meati is one of Cultivate’s first cohort of investments.
Founded in 2017, Meati makes meats that consist of 95% mushroom roots and contain a whopping 17 grams of protein, 12 grams of dietary fiber and a healthy dose of zinc and vitamin B12.
The company is among a handful of startups that are using mycelium, the structural fibers of fungi, to create healthier protein options than traditional animal products. Fellow companies include Perfect Day, MyForest Foods and fabled foods.
We profiled Meati in 2021, when the company announced $46 million in investments in both equity and debt. At the time, co-founder and CEO Tyler Huggins, who started Meati with Justin Whiteley, had 30 employees and started a pilot plant.
Today, it employs 150 people and made its retail debut this month in restaurants across Colorado and Arizona after selling mostly online. Meati has had “several months of record sales” online, and the company has plans to expand its national presence in the US by 2023, Huggins said.
The new financing will allow the company to complete its 100,000-square-foot Mega Ranch facility in Colorado. Once up and running, the facility will be able to produce more than 45 million pounds of product. In addition, the company is also breaking new ground with its first Giga Ranch, a facility it will replicate around the world, with plans to produce hundreds of millions of pounds annually.
“At that point, we will be one of the largest single ‘beef’ producers in the United States,” Huggins told ukbusinessupdates.com. “We will set the gold standard for how to produce in a clean, nutritious, delicious and sustainable way.”
Huggins plans to get Meati to “10,000 doors” by the end of 2023, aiming to reach $1 billion in revenue by 2025. For now, “it’s more of a problem for us to move supply and demand as fast as we can,” he added.
Indeed, how companies in the plant-based and farm-raised meat sectors are scaling to meet consumer demand has long been a burning question, especially as companies like Meati and UPSIDE Foods bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in funding.
For example, Meatable, a Dutch company in the cultured meat sector, unveiled its first pork sausage product this week, but told my colleague Paul Sawers that it will wait another three years before it is commercially launched.
That’s why it’s promising to finally see companies like Meati and UPSIDE Foods announce how closer they are to wider commercialization of their products.
“The investigation is done,” Huggins said. “Now is the time to scale. We continue to finish our production facility with the Mega Ranch and lay the foundation for the Giga brands. We want to have the workforce support mechanisms to ensure we can sustain this rapid growth.”
