Meati bucks trends and gets $100 million funding boost

Dive Brief:

• Meati Foods closed a $100 million C-1 funding round led by Grosvenor Food & AgTech, according to a press release sent to Food Dive. The money will be used to help the mycelium-based meat maker “meet the growing demand for its products.” The board and lead investors have decided to not disclose the C-1 valuation, CEO Phil Graves said in a statement to Food Dive.
• In addition to the funding boost, Meati announced the expansion of its products into 2,000 Kroger Family Stores, including Kroger, Ralphs, Mariano’s, among others. 
• Following the company’s funding round, Meati co-Founder and chief innovation officer Tyler Huggins will transition to an advisory role to support the company’s continued growth. Huggins was replaced as CEO in February. 

Dive Insight:

While the mycelium alternative meat maker has gone through some major reshuffling over the last year, it still has its eyes on expansion. With its latest round of funding of $100 million, the Boulder-based company may get closer to its goal of becoming a household name and getting its products in 10,000 stores nationwide.

In July 2022, Meati received $150 million to “help expand the production and accessibility of the company’s popular products” — its biggest funding round to date.

Then, in February 2024, former Patagonia and Wild Idea Buffalo exec Graves took the reins from founder and former CEO Huggins after he was promoted from CFO  following only a few weeks at the role.

Under Graves’ leadership, Meati Foods has planned to continue to “right-size its workforce” and accelerate profits. The company engaged in a series of layoffs in 2023 and early 2024.

While it’s been a tough investment market for everyone, said Graves, “Meati doesn’t fit into the plant-based category and hasn’t struggled with the same issues of that industry.”

Graves said that looking ahead, Meati is “very foucsed on expanding our retail footprint and continuing to scale our Meati products to locations across the US.” The company is also actively pursuing new opportunities to bring its MushroomRoot products to market.

At the start of 2023, Meati Foods opened what the company called a “mega ranch” in Thornton, Colorado. The large-scale manufacturing facility has a target of producing 45 million pounds of its mushroom meat product annually. 

Also during that time, the Boulder, Colorado-based company laid off 13% of its workforce. 

Meati’s Classic cutlet, as well as its Classic and Carne Asada steaks, are now available in Kroger’s Family of Companies stores, as the company continues its mission to “make MushroomRoot the undisputed leader,” in the alternative protein category. 

Kroger joins a growing list of retailers where Meati products are already available, including Target, Whole Foods Market, Sprouts Farmers Market, Meijer and Wegmans.