Hyper-realistic plant-based meat company THIS™ raises £4.7m

by Startacus Admin

Investment news announced for one of the leading companies in the meat-alternative market

THIS™, arguably the world's most realistic meat alternative company has just revealed that it has raised £4.7m in ‘Seed Plus’ investment, led by London-based fund Backed. The other venture capital firms involved in the round are Five Seasons Ventures, Idinvest Partners, Seedcamp and Manta Ray Ventures. Since 2018, the company has raised £5.6m in total from 12 angel investors and the above funds.

The latest investment will be used for manufacturing capabilities, a new R&D centre and key hires, all key for the business to keep up with growing demand.

THIS™ is quickly becoming a leader in the meat-alternative market, which has emerged as the UK’s fastest-growing food category, worth over £400m. Following rapid growth, they are one of the fastest growing food businesses in the UK and they’ve experienced a compound growth rate of 35% month-on-month.

Andy Shovel, co-founder of THIS™ commented:

"We’ve been able to leverage our strong first few months to obtain this fantastic investment from strong partners. It allows us to massively boost our manufacturing capacity and crucially – to create a formidable innovation engine within the company, by establishing an internal R&D centre."

Having only launched in mid-June 2019, as of December 31st 2019, they have an annualised revenue of c£3m. Their meteoric rise has seen them place their products in over 1200 outlets across the UK.

Alex Brunicki and Andre de Haes, partners at Backed commented:

"Food sustainability is a topic we care a great deal about at Backed and is a major tailwind to be investing into. Andy and Pete have created a number of best-in-class products, nurtured a passionate community of customers and executed on an ambitious distribution strategy in lightning quick time. We are thrilled to be backing the team at THIS’"

Carlos Espinal, Seedcamp Managing Partner, commented:

"Investing in the future isn't just about investing in hard-tech companies; it's also about investing in the future of our consumption and the sustainability of food sources and their long-term ecological impact. We first invested in Pete and Andy and their incredible vision for THIS a few years back and are proud investors and customers of their delicious products which not only address increased consumer demand for meat-free alternatives but also help contribute towards building a more diverse and sustainable food supply-chain that has already attracted
the interest of many top retail brands."

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• #food

Published on: 11th March 2020