Beyond the meat against Impossible Foods: the fight for a market share of meatless food technologies



[ad_1]

Make sure you see a summary PitchBook's Emerging Tech Research report on food technologies.

If meatless burgers are not already on your favorite fast food menu, they may be on the menu soon.

One of the highlights of Beyond Meat's remarkable public debut – a staggering 163% gain from the first day – is that the vegetarian alternative food category is booming. And now begins the frantic race for market share, with Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods (which raised nearly $ 500 million in debt and equity) in a prime position to benefit from swift and radical changes in our diet.

"As demand grows, we expect a flood of new entrants in search of an expanding market opportunity," said Alex Frederick, an analyst at PitchBook Emerging Tech. In his recently published report on food technologiesFrederick pointed out how capitalization companies poured $ 7.5 billion into startups in the foodservice sector in 2018, a record.

Here is a sample of fast food chains featuring meatless products, either in collaboration with Beyond Meat / Impossible Foods or through their own exclusive offers:

• McDonald's recently started selling a vegan burger in Germany called Big Vegan TS

• In April, Nestlé announced the launch of its own meatless burger, named Incredible Burger in Europe (with a launch in the US later this year called Awesome Burger).

• Burger King announced that Impossible Whopper will be available throughout the United States by the end of the year.

• White Castle has launched and subsequently extended the availability of its Impossible slider

• Del Taco sells Beyond Taco since March

• Carl's Jr. started selling Beyond Burgers in January

• Taco Bell expands its new vegetarian menu (but no alternative vegetarian products)

Big names + big moves = good news for investors who are banking on the adoption of the mass market.

"While high initial R & D costs could initially deter competitors, high-performance products could quickly become commodities, as these could de-bone manufactured foods," said Frederick.

Private investors have long been aware of the opportunities offered by the category of vegetarian alternatives. Kleiner Perkins, for example, became the big winner of the Beyond Meat IPO, with a 15.9% stake before the IPO, after initially supporting the company in early 2012. Other Notable investors include Venture Ventures and DNS Capital.

The big names in the industry are also heavily invested in space, although Tyson Foods (via its Tyson Ventures risk arm) may lament the sale of its stake in Beyond Meat just before the introduction. on the stock market because it would have its own meatless products.

Another parallel opportunity to meatless alternatives is lab-grown or "cultured" meat, an emerging field in which venture capitalists have committed more than $ 42 million. For example, the laboratory-based fish farmer, Finless Foods, plans to market a bluefin tuna product in the second half of the year. Although they are not vegetarian, these products can meet the needs of consumers because of concerns of the food industry such as carbon emissions and the ethical treatment of animals.

Government action is an area to watch. For example, the US Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration announced earlier this year that it was considering collaborating to put in place a common regulatory framework for meat in the laboratory .

In India, the Good Food Institute and the Mumbai Institute of Chemical Technology announced a plan to create the world's first government research center to help develop laboratory-produced meat. In addition, the Indian Ministry of Biotechnology has awarded $ 640,000 to two Indian institutions specializing in laboratory meat. The government sees this as an opportunity to help solve health and environmental problems.

While this type of public funding is already lagging behind the millions of private and established industry giants, it is only good news for this segment of the global agribusiness sector.

Image selected with permission of Beyond Meat.

Download a summary from our foodtech report from PitchBook Emerging Tech Research.

If you have questions or comments about the research, we encourage you to send an email to [email protected].

PitchBook customers can get more information on premium search by contacting [email protected].

[ad_2]

Source link