Visits: 5
Source: Impossible Foods
Impossible Foods said Monday it has raised $300 million in its latest funding round.
The company’s announcement follows the initial public offering of Beyond Meat. Its rival’s stock has surged 173% since its debut May 2.
Impossible Foods has raised more than $750 million, with help from investors like Bill Gates, Google Ventures and Serena Williams.
Sales of plant-based products grew by more than 17% last year, according to Nielsen, while other grocery products only grew by 2%.
While the FDA only approved its key ingredient to sell its uncooked Impossible Burgers on grocery shelves this year, it has been in restaurants since 2016. Recently, Restaurant Brands International announced plans to take its Impossible Whopper — Burger King’s signature sandwich made with the bleeding vegan patty — nationwide after testing it in April.
Burger King’s biggest competitor, McDonald’s, does not offer a veggie burger in its U.S. stores, although its German locations started serving Nestle’s plant-based option last month.
“We’ll tell them to take a number and … you know we’re not going to blow off customers. First things first, we have to deliver for our existing customers,” Impossible Foods CEO Pat Brown said when asked what will happen if McDonald’s comes knocking.
Impossible Foods, which has struggled to meet demand, said Monday it is increasing the number of hours and employees at its Oakland, California, plant.
Despite Beyond Meat’s success in the stock market, Brown said the company is in no rush to go public.
“I can tell you in all honesty at this point we’re not thinking of an IPO at all,” he said. “We have plenty of money to do the things that we want to do right now. And we want to really focus on just scaling our production, pushing ahead on further on R&D and so forth.”
However, Brown did say that being acquired would “almost certainly” be a terrible idea because of Impossible’s commitment its mission.