Can plant-based meat grow from a $1 billion industry to a $20 billion industry?
As investment continues, about 30% of American consumers now say that they’re reducing their meat consumption, and 32% consider themselves flexitarian.
It’s a good time to be in the plant-based meat business. Today, Impossible Foods, known for its very beef-like plant-based burger, announced that it closed a new $300 million funding round, bringing total venture investment in the company to more than three-quarters of a billion dollars. On April 29, Burger King said that it planned to start serving Impossible Whoppers nationwide. (The burger is already sold in more than 7,000 other restaurants–up from 70 just two years ago–and will be in retail stores later this year.) McDonald’s is serving a new vegan burger in Germany and a vegan Happy Meal in the U.K. Nestlé plans to start selling its own “Incredible Burger,” another realistic plant-based burger designed to be cooked from a raw patty, in Europe this spring, followed by the U.S. this fall. When Beyond Meat went public on May 2, its stock quickly soared.