‘The investment will allow us to continue to develop and commercialize the technology that will enable that transformation’

Impossible Foods has secured an additional $200 million in a Series G round barely 5 months after its $500 million Series F round.

With the latest funding round led by hedge fund Coatue Management LLC, the total investment raised by the company is estimated to be nearly $1.5 billion since its founding in 2011.

In a statement, the food-tech start-up said it would use the money to expand research, develop new products and for internal functions. New products in the pipeline reportedly include a broader launch of Impossible Pork, a new plant-based milk product and plant-based steak.

‘Global food system transformation’

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the food landscape. While disrupting the meat supply chain it has also raised issues about the safety of consuming animal products and prompted an increased demand for plant-based alternatives leading to companies like Impossible Foods to aggressively push into supermarkets and other major retailers.

“The use of animals to make food is the most destructive technology on Earth, a leading driver of climate change and the primary cause of a catastrophic global collapse of wildlife populations and biodiversity,” Dr. Patrick O. Brown, M.D., Ph.D., CEO and Founder of Impossible Foods said in a statement.

 “Impossible Foods’ mission is to replace that archaic system by making the most delicious, nutritious and sustainable meats in the world, directly from plants.

“To do that, Impossible Foods needs to sustain our exponential growth in production and sales, and invest significantly in R&D. Our investors believe in our mission to transform the global food system — and they recognize an extraordinary economic opportunity.”

‘Explosive retail growth’

Last month, the Impossible Burger launched in nearly 2,100 Walmart locations. Grocery chain Trader Joe’s also started selling the plant-based Impossible Burger grounds in all of its 503 stores nationwide.

The 12-ounce package of plant-based meat is now available at over 8,000 stores compared to 150 at the start of 2020 and the company aims to further increase its presence by 50 times by the end of the year.

In June, Impossible Foods debuted its direct-to-consumer online store in order to sell its vegan burger meat directly to consumers.

“2020 has been a year of explosive growth for us, but this is just the beginning,” David Lee, Impossible Foods’ CFO, said.

In an earlier interview he said: “Our growth in retail has certainly been a big part of the story.

“For us, throughout this current [pandemic] period, we’ve just tried to adjust the way the meat-eater is increasingly purchasing the product.”

He added that the company intends to “create plant-based upgrades for every major category of animal-derived food products,”  to keep the plant-based movement on track and the investment  “will allow us to continue to develop and commercialize the technology that will enable that transformation.”

• Read: Vegan Impossible Burger is now available at all 503 Trader Joe’s stores

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Mohsina Dodhiya

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