Plant-based brand collective The Livekindly Co has closed a funding round for $335m (£242.5m) as it seeks to accelerate its meat-free innovation and embark on more acquisitions.
The new round, which includes $135m converted from a round in October last year, takes the investment in the New York and Zurich-headquartered group to $535m (£387.2m) in its first 12 months.
With this latest round, Livekindly said it had become one of the top three highest-funded and fastest-growing plant-based food companies in the world.
Investing platform The Rise Fund led the latest fundraising, with existing investors Rabo Corporate Investments, the investment arm of Rabobank, S2G Ventures and others also joining.
“Our mission is to make plant-based living the new norm, creating a healthier, more sustainable global food system through our international portfolio that meets local tastes,” said Livekindly CFO David Knopf.
“With the close of this funding round, we are ideally positioned to rapidly scale our model and lead the global consumer shift toward healthy, delicious and sustainable plant-based alternatives.”
The funding will be used to accelerate the colective’s expansion into growth geographies, such as the US and China, and fuel its acquisitions, partnerships and investments in plant-based innovation.
Livekindly’s portfolio of brands includes The Fry Family Food Co, LikeMeat and Oumph, which are currently available in a number of markets across Europe, Africa and Australia.
In the UK, Oumph is available at Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Ocado and Whole Foods Market. LikeMeat is available in Tesco, with a number of different products including smoked pea protein-based sausage and schnitzel. Fry’s products are available in Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Holland & Barrett and Morrisons.
Livekindly also acquired Iceland’s No Meat plant-based brand earlier this year.
“We are building a global pureplay in plant-based alternatives – which we believe is the future of food,” Livekindly founder and executive chairman Roger Lienhard added.
“In just one year, we have raised a significant amount of capital, which testifies to the urgency of our mission and the enormous investment opportunity it represents. We believe the momentum behind plant-based living will continue to grow in both the private and public markets.”
The collective launched in March 2020 and adopted the name of the LiveKindly vegan news website it also bought last year.
It’s parent company is Blue Horizon Corporation, a food technology-focused venture capital fund founded in 2018.
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