US vegan food producer Beyond Meat is considering a $ 1 billion valuation

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BEYOND MEAT

The American meat producer, Beyond Meat, raises funds by issuing shares that will value the company more than $ 1 billion in its debut on the stock market.

The company, which was launched in the United Kingdom in November, plans to offer 8.75 million shares priced between $ 19 and $ 21 each.

In the higher price range, the IPO would give the company a value of $ 1.2 billion.

Beyond meat says it wants to take advantage of the growing popularity of veganism and hope to boost research and development and expand manufacturing facilities.

The company, backed by investors such as US meat grower Tyson and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, is expecting to receive a gross proceeds of about $ 175 million from this offer.

Its valuation makes it a so-called "unicorn business".

The term, coined by venture capital investor Aileen Lee, refers to private technology startups valued at $ 1bn (£ 686m) or more.

Originally named after the mythical creatures, because they were so rare, their numbers quickly grew and included the taxi Uber app, the carpool start-up and the online scrapbooking company Pinterest.

Beyond Meat's Beyond Burger was originally scheduled to be introduced in 350 Tesco stores last August, but was delayed by three months due to supply issues.

It has entered a crowded British market and more and more suppliers are moving into supermarkets, some of which produce their own vegan foods.

Beyond the meat, one can read on his website: "Why do you need an animal to create meat? Why can not you build meat directly from plants?" it turns out that you can, that's what we did. "

Vegalism is gaining popularity in Britain. According to a study conducted by the Vegan Society in 2016, there are approximately 540,000 vegans in the country, up from around 150,000 in 2006.

In the United Kingdom, supermarket chains offer new plant options. Waitrose opened a section dedicated to vegans in more than 130 stores last year and Iceland announced that sales of its plant-based foods would increase by 10% in one year.