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Impossible Foods, the six-year-old, Redwood City, Ca.-based company known for its "juicy" meatless burgers, quietly announced $75 million in funding late last week, led by Temasek, with participation from Open Philanthropy, as well as earlier investors Bill Gates, Khosla Ventures and Horizon Ventures.
The company says it isn't providing further financial details but the round brings Impossible's funding to nearly $300 million, including earlier rounds that have included GV, Viking Global Investors and UBS.
Impossible's burgers are made with soy leghemoglobin, a protein that carries heme, an iron-containing molecule that occurs naturally in every animal and plant.
The company has said it wants to replace a number of animal products with goods engineered from plants, but for now, it seems squarely focused on getting more of its burgers into the world. Part of that strategy involved opening a factory in Oakland, Ca., in May, where it expects to be producing 1 million pounds of ground "plant meat" each month.
Thought the race was on to have us eat insects.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by richtopia on Friday August 04 2017, @08:20PM (2 children)
Does the meat substitute need to taste equivalent to beef? Don't get me wrong, animal products are delicious, and they are the competition for vegetarian products. But I would be thrilled if a whole new flavour profile arises from a vegetarian selection that I prefer over meat alternatives.
I'm curious about price. I favor vegetarian options at restaurants: I know a steak is delicious but to really doll up a plant sandwich is a culinary challenge. However day to day it is tough to find appealing choices that are cheaper than the competing meat product and easy to make. Typically the meat replacements like in the article are actually more expensive than hamburger, so justification for the vegetarian purchase stems from your particular morals.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Friday August 04 2017, @09:23PM
I think some of the marketing for Beyond Burger is directed towards carnivores who want to substitute more plant protein for the meat protein in their current diet.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 05 2017, @03:22AM
The main point of meat substitutes is that they resemble meat. In the US, vegetarians and vegans make up a fraction of a percent of the total population. In other countries where vegetarianism and veganism are more common, they don't use meat substitutes because it's not something they're interested in. Plus, the substitutes are usually expensive.