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mushroom-shaped cloud continue to be a big area for alternative protein . Canada - based Maia Farms recentlyraised $ 1.7 millionto germinate a portmanteau of mushroom and plant - base protein using biomass fermentation . There ’s alsoMyForest FoodsandFable Food .
Then there’sMeati Foods , which claims it ’s like no other alternative protein . The company micturate cutlets and steak from mycelium , or mushroom cloud root .
“ It ’s in truth a next generation revolutionary protein , ” CEO Phil Graves assure TechCrunch . “ It ’s a mathematical product that ’s rooted in nature . It ’s not genetically modified . We just take something from nature , channel it , give it the food and minerals that it needs to flourish . We then get the equivalent of hundreds of cows ’ worth of protein in four or five days clock time . ”
Perhaps that ’s why Meati continues to fix some handsome funding .
On Wednesday , the Boulder , Colorado - based troupe announced an extra $ 100 million in a C-1 round . Existing investor Grosvenor Food & AgTech moderate the round and was joined by other existing investor , including Prelude Ventures , BOND , Revolution Growth and Congruent . Grosvenor is a big - metre food and ag investor , having antecedently backed companies likeAgriWebbandThe Every Co.
This big round adds to the significant amount of speculation capital Meati Foods raised in the retiring two years . An initial$150 millionwas announced in July 2022 , and that round carry in another$22 millionin January 2023 before ultimately close 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 ” readiness that enables Meati to raise an one-year rate of ten of millions of pounds of its protein .
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However , not everything has been rosy for the company . This new funding comes three months after Meati Foodslaid off 13 % of its employees . At the same sentence , society co - laminitis Tyler Huggins stepped down as CEO to transition into the use of main innovation police officer . That ’s when Graves , the company ’s primary fiscal policeman at the prison term , took the helm .
In increase to the funding , Meati Foods is add 2,000 retail locations that bear its ware and will now be in Kroger ’s family of stores by April . Three products in the Eat Meati personal line of credit will be uncommitted , include the Classic cutlet as well as Classic and Carne Asada steaks .
In just over a year , the society grew from six retail locations to nearly 7,000 storehouse across the nation . It is also uncommitted in Super Target , Whole Foods Market , Sprouts Farmers Market , Meijer and Wegmans .
The party is usually pretty mum about its growth , and this time was no dissimilar . Steffi Graf did say that the Mega Ranch facility was fully functional . Last yr , Huggins recite TechCrunch that at full capacity , the deftness would be able-bodied to make 45 million lb of product annually .
“ The capital basically turbocharges that growth trajectory , ” Graves said . “ We ’ll continue that break - neck pace of growing . We ’re thrilled that despite all the headwinds that our outgrowth is still on pace . And our investor understand that . The product is best - in - course of instruction and the increment is there . We require to hook up with the Washington to the business to continue the impulse . ”
As part of the unexampled investment , Mark Cupta from Prelude Ventures and Katrin Burt from Grosvenor Food & AgTech have unite the company as new gameboard members .
