Impossible Foods completes $500m funding round

Alternative proteins company Impossible Foods has completed a $500 million funding round led by existing investor Mirae Global Investments.

The round takes the California-based start-up’s total funding since inception in 2011 close to $2 billion, according to a statement.

Impossible foods was one of the highest-funded agtech companies in 2020, after it raised $500 million in a round led by Mirae Global Investments in March, with participation from Khosla Ventures, Horizons Ventures and Temasek.

The company raised a further $200 million in August last year in a Series G round led by new investor Coatue, with continued participation from Temasek and Mirae Global Investments.

The start-up is widely known for its plant-based ‘Impossible Burger’, which uses a combination of ingredients including soy protein, coconut oil, potato protein, yeast extract and heme, which is the ingredient that gives its products the taste of meat. Heme is a hemoglobin that gives blood its flavour and can be extracted from plant-based sources such as yeast.

Impossible Foods has launched several new products this year, including sausages, meatballs, chicken nuggets and pork. The company has also added four new international markets over the past 14 months in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates.

According to IRI research cited by Impossible Foods, the company has outpaced “the next 10 leading plant-based meat companies combined, [when] analysing US dollar sales for the most recent 13-week period compared to one year ago”.

Impossible Foods’ chief financial officer David Borecky said: “We’re fortunate to have great investors who believe in our long-term mission. The latest round of funding allows us to further accelerate our product innovation and global expansion efforts as we continue to leverage the power of the food system to satisfy consumers and fight climate change.”

Mirae Asset Global Investments president Thomas Park added: “Mirae Asset is excited to double down on the team at Impossible Foods as they continue transforming the global food system. It is important to us to partner with true innovators like Impossible Foods’ CEO Pat Brown and support the entire Impossible Foods team as they work to solve one of the most critical challenges facing our planet – climate change.”