Faux meat is in and Drake wants parts!
As the faux meat industry continues to boom, Daring Foods Inc., has managed to raise $40 million from investors just a little over a year after its plant-based chicken debuted last year, reports Bloomberg Green.
The series B funding round was led by D1 Capital Partners along with existing investors such as Palm Tree Crew and Maveron.
Amongst the investors includes Drake, who has mentioned that he’s a vegetarian adding him to the list of growing celebs that are backing faux meat like fellow rapper Jay-Z and tennis superstar Serena Williams.
Daring plans to use the new funds to triple its retail distribution, which already includes products on shelves in stores like Kroger and Costco, to more than 4,500 U.S. stores this year.
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“The first wave of plant-based was really focused on taste and texture, but then you had the sacrifice of other elements, like health,” said Ross Mackay, a co-founder who serves as Daring’s chief executive officer. “Unlike other plant-based meats, Daring highlights its low calories and short ingredient list.”
Mackay anticipates that Daring’s foodservice footprint of about 400 locations could soon grow tenfold within the same period of expansion.
Chicken is the most popular meat in the U.S. making it the key target for plant-based manufacturers despite the fact that faux beef has demanded much of the attention within the imitation meat category.
According to an estimate, the global plant-based chicken category is expected to reach $8 billion by 2030.
Based in Los Angeles, Daring was created with a mission to remove chicken from the global food system as a whole noting that the industry’s unethical treatment of animals has a negative impact on the environment.
With an expansion into a crowded field, Daring’s competition includes Kellogg’s new Incogmeato line which just debuted two “Chik’n Tenders” products and Nestle’s Sweet Earth brand which includes multiple faux chicken items with distribution in more than 26,000 stores and more.
