Meatless Farm is giving consumers an opportunity to invest in the brand with a £5 million crowdfunding campaign to support its Field to Fork efforts.
Plant-based meat giant Meatless Farm has launched a crowdfunding campaign worth £5 million, giving its customers a chance to invest in the company.
This is Meatless Farm’s first time offering retail investors a chance to put funding in, with a starting stake of £10 on Crowdcube. The campaign will kick off on June 22.
The Leeds-based brand witnessed a 150% sales rise in 2020 and is expecting revenues of up to £30 million this year. It uses pea protein for its plant-based meat alternatives, which include burgers, sausages and mince, and aims to build a more sustainable food system globally.
The investments will take the form of convertible notes, which will turn into shares offered at a discounted price during the brand’s next corporate equity round of up to £75 million, which is scheduled at the end of this year.
The brand will use the investment for product development, innovation and expansion, including work towards “complete vertical integration as part of a commitment to regenerative business growth”. The plans involve investment at every stage of the supply chain, including working with farmers on crop selection and traceability to produce high-quality, sustainable ingredients, advancing plant-protein technology and enable environmentally efficient manufacturing.
The UK could see an 8% decline in its total emissions if people ate just one meatless meal per week, according to the company’s founder, Morten Toft Bech. “We want to help accelerate this through the retail and foodservice relationships we have, the countries we operate in and the range of products we offer. Innovation is critical to the category, with taste-, texture- and price-parity with meat the key to unlocking the full potential of the market,” he said.
“We are therefore investing heavily in the entire supply chain, ‘from farm to fork’, working with farmers to get the best crops, setting up state-of-the-art plant protein facilities to produce even better ingredients and recruiting top food development chefs and nutritionists to evolve and improve our products even further and come up with exciting new plant-based options.”
Toft Bech added that the sustainability-focused brand is committed to regenerative business growth and is working towards B Corp status. “Our consumers are central to Meatless Farm, so by opening up to individual investors at this stage, we can offer the investment opportunity at a time when we have demonstrable momentum and the chance to provide funding, which will help drive both Meatless Farm and the category forward, recognising that big change is only possible when we all work together.”
