Imitation meat maker and marketer Impossible Foods has raised an additional $200 million in its latest funding round. The privately-held Redwood City, California-headquartered company, said to currently be valued at more than $4 billion, has attracted approximately $1.5 billion in investment capital since its founding in 2011.
Part of the newly acquired cash infusion will be used to expand research and development programs, accelerate the scale-up of manufacturing, increase retail presence and availability in key international markets, and accelerate commercialization and development of next-generation, plant-based products including faux pork, steak and other foods.
The company’s previous investment round in mid-March, which was oversubscribed, generated $500 million in funding. In addition to blue-chip institutional investors, Impossible Foods’ existing individual investors include Jay Brown, Common, Kirk Cousins, Paul George, Peter Jackson, Jay-Z, Mindy Kaling, Trevor Noah, Alexis Ohanian, Kal Penn, Katy Perry, Questlove, Ruby Rose, Phil Rosenthal, Jaden Smith, Serena Williams, will.i.am and Zedd.
The latest round in August (Series G) followed the launch of Impossible Sausage, the first product extension since the debut of the Impossible Burger in 2016. After being unveiled at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show in January, Impossible Sausage became available in more than 22,000 restaurants in just six months. In June Burger King was the first QSR chain to feature the faux sausage in its Impossible Crossan’wich menu item at 7,500 outlets in the United States. Shortly thereafter, Starbucks began menuing the Impossible Breakfast Sandwich at 15,000 locations nationwide. Impossible Sausage also went on sale elsewhere via major foodservice distributors.
Retail Sales Surge
Meanwhile, strong demand in grocery stores continues as Americans have radically shifted their food-purchasing behavior due to Covid-19 health crisis that broke out in central China late last year and has since swept the nation and the world.
In March, when government-imposed lockdowns began in the United States in an effort to slow the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, the Impossible Burger was on store shelves in only 150 grocery stores nationwide. It is now available at more than 8,000 grocery stores across all 50 states, a more than 60-fold increase in six months. Furthermore, an e-commerce site began operations in June, promising consumers direct delivery within two days order placement.
