Meatless Farm Has Raised £24m Investment To Expand Globally

Meatless Farm has announced closing a £24 million funding round and plans to grow in Europe, US and Asia.

The investment comes from existing and new private and family office investors. The company will use the money to expand in existing markets and access new regions, develop new products and further scale manufacturing in Canada. 

Meatless Farm representative told Food Manufacture: "Consumer demand for plant-based options is growing exponentially. We have a very exciting NPD​ [new product development] plan in place, but importantly we won't rush innovation to market. The category is at a tipping point and getting it right is much more important than being first if we want to really convert meat eaters.​"Our core range delivers on family staples; mince, sausages and burgers but we will be broadening our portfolio to look at other meat equivalents. We want to make it easy for consumers to swap out meat and range is critical to achieving that goal. Different eating cultures across the world are also playing a role in how we develop products. Our core range serves many markets but there are local nuances that provide lots of opportunity for us to develop new ideas."​ 

Meatless Farm has offices in Leeds, Amsterdam, New York and Singapore. The company expects to double the sales growth in the coming years. 

This summer Meatless Farm launched a large marketing campaign targeted at meat eaters and focusing on the more meaty taste and texture of its new plant-based meat products. The campaign included TV and radio ads and a Meatless drive-through restaurant.

"We are seeing strong demand for our plant-based burgers, sausages and mince across all markets and fantastic opportunities to grow the Meatless Farm brand rapidly as people look to eat more healthily and sustainably post COVID-19,"​ said Morten Toft Bech, founder of Meatless Farm." Our ambition is to continue to expand our global operations organically whilst also looking to participate in M&A [merger and acquisition] activities around the consolidation of smaller plant-based companies." 

​The Leeds-based company was founded in 2016. It spent over two years developing different formulas and ingredients to create its meat-free range before launching in 2018. The products range includes plant-based mince, burgers and sausages. 

The brand reported sales growing at nearly 180% a year and is one of the biggest players on the global market.