Rising Meatless Protein Investment by Food Industry Indicating Accelerating Plant-Based Demand

A new report from Bloomberg Intelligence is predicting that the global market for plant-based foods could see a fivefold growth by 2030. As the demand for plant-based dairy and meat alternatives continues to climb, the food industry is also seeing rising investment in new products and production methods, coming from a variety of ingredient and CPG manufacturers, including newly-public Nepra Foods, as well as established food industry giants such as Bunge Limited, Conagra Brands, Inc., Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc., and Archer-Daniels-Midland Company...

Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. Announces Strategic Investment in New Egg Products Manufacturing Company

Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. today announced the Company’s Board of Directors has approved a strategic investment that will specialize in high value commercial product solutions targeting specific needs in the food
industry. The initial focus will include hard-cooked and extended shelf-life egg product lines. The new entity, located in Neosho, Missouri, will operate as MeadowCreek Foods, LLC (“MeadowCreek”).

Cal-Maine Foods will capitalize MeadowCreek with up to $18.5 million in debt and equity to purchase property and equipment and to fund...

Benson Hill to Acquire Soy Crushing Facility to Scale Production of Soybean Ingredient Portfolio

Benson Hill, Inc. a food tech company unlocking the natural genetic diversity of plants with its cutting-edge food innovation engine, today announced the expansion of its ingredients infrastructure by entering into a definitive agreement to purchase a soybean crushing facility from Seymour, Indiana-based Rose Acre Farms. This investment represents a significant milestone in the execution of the Company's growth plan, and will be funded through the expansion of Benson Hill's debt facility with Western Technology Investment.

Benson Hill's integrated supply chain strategy combines improved...

Amazon Expands Hampton Roads Investment with a Career Center and Two New Delivery Stations

Amazon continues its investment in the Hampton Roads area with the launch of a Career Center and two delivery stations. The Amazon Career Center, located at 1989 S. Military Highway in Chesapeake will serve as a hiring and orientation hub for the company’s operations facilities in Chesapeake, Suffolk, Norfolk, Hampton, and Virginia Beach. Additionally, the company is excited to announce the opening of two delivery stations in the Hampton Roads area, a 165,000 square foot facility at 1400 Sewells Point Road in Norfolk and a 111,600...

Actual Veggies Raises $2.3M from Investors to Expand Veggie-Only CPG Startup

Actual Veggies announced that it has closed a $2.3M round of funding from Electric Feel Ventures, the venture arm of Post Malone's management team, run by Austin Rosen, Big Idea Ventures, Rose Street Capital, pro-soccer player, and three-time FA Cup champion defender, Kieran Gibbs, and other strategic investors. Combined with its previous funding round from Big Idea Ventures and angel contributions, Actual Veggies has secured $2.8M in funding to date.

“Since we launched the company, it’s been an incredible whirlwind and despite the challenges of...

Papa John's Announces New Hiring, Referral and Appreciation Bonuses for Front-line Workers

Papa John’s International announced new hiring, referral and appreciation bonuses for its approximately 14,000 front-line team members in the company’s corporate restaurants and supply chain, recognizing again their essential role in the company’s record growth and industry outperformance. Papa John’s also plans to make additional investments in its full-time staff in its higher volume company-owned stores to support continued growth. The company expects to invest approximately $2.5 million in these initiatives during the remainder of 2021.

“The incredible hard work and commitment of our team members, which powered Papa John’s tremendous performance and transformation over the past 18 months, is just as important to...

United States and Taiwan Hold Dialogue on Trade and Investment Priorities

The United States and Taiwan held the eleventh Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) Council meeting yesterday under the auspices of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO). Assistant United States Trade Representative Terry McCartin and Jen-ni Yang, Deputy Trade Representative from Taiwan’s Office of Trade Negotiations, co-led the discussions, which were held virtually and focused on enhancing the longstanding trade and investment relationship between the United States and Taiwan. Other U.S. participants and contributors included AIT and the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Health and Human Services, Labor, State and Treasury.

The TIFA establishes TIFA Council meetings as the key mechanism for trade and investment dialogue between the U.S. and Taiwan authorities, and covers a broad range of issues...

Walmart Invests in DroneUp, the Nationwide On-Demand Drone Delivery Provider

In Walmart's ongoing effort to get customers the items they want, and fast, the companys knows it will take a well-coordinated network of delivery solutions that span the streets, sidewalks and skies. Some of these solutions are still emerging, but they’re already showing encouraging results.

Last year, Walmart partnered with DroneUp, a nationwide drone services provider, to launch trial deliveries of at-home COVID-19 self-collection kits. The trial demonstrated we could offer customers delivery in minutes versus hours. Now, after safely completing hundreds of drone deliveries from Walmart stores, it is...

JBS USA Invests in U.S. Beef Capacity and Permanently Increased Wages

JBS USA announced it is investing more than $130 million in the U.S. beef industry to increase production capacity and more than $150 million in annualized pay increases to workers across its nine beef plants. The investments are part of the company’s long-term strategic commitment to the success and future growth of the U.S. beef industry.

JBS USA has invested $130 million to increase production capacities at two of its major beef processing facilities in Grand Island and Omaha, Neb. The company is on schedule to complete a significant expansion of its Grand Island beef production facility, including the construction of a new harvest floor and enhanced animal welfare facilities, in late summer. JBS USA is also expanding cooler capacity and upgrading...

Wingstop Announces Minority Investment in Wingstop UK Franchisee 

Wingstop announced a minority investment in the UK business, which is operated by its UK franchisee, Lemon Pepper Holdings Ltd. This investment follows strong performance in the UK and underscores the brand's confidence in the market as a key growth lever for global expansion.

"We are thrilled to partner with the Lemon Pepper team as they grow their brand presence in the UK, a market with tremendous long-term potential," said Wingstop CFO Michael Skipworth. "We believe this strategic use of our capital will strengthen the development pipeline in that market and I am excited to...

GOOD Meat, a Division of Eat Just, Secures $170 Million to Scale Cell Cultured Meat 

Eat Just announced that its GOOD Meat division has secured $170 million in new funding. With this transaction, GOOD Meat, the world’s first-to-market meat made from animal cells instead of slaughtered livestock, becomes a subsidiary of Eat Just, which announced a $200 million fundraise in March.

The latest investment from funds managed by UBS O’Connor, a hedge fund manager within UBS Asset Management, Graphene Ventures, K3 Ventures and others, will be used to increase capacity and...

Hungry Planet Closes $25 Million Series A Funding Round

Hungry Planet a leading plant-based meat company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, announced that it closed an oversubscribed $25 million Series A financing round. This round of funding will be used to build capacity for Hungry Planet’s breakthrough plant-based meats, and accelerate growth across retail, foodservice and e-commerce channels, both domestically and internationally.

Post Holdings led the round, joined by Singaporean investment group TRIREC, and included other leading plant-forward investors. With the market value of plant-based meat expected to reach $35.4 billion by 2027, Hungry Planet determined that now is the time to...

Walmart Invests in Cruise, an All-Electric Self-Driving Company

The following statement was made by John Furner, President and CEO, Walmart U.S.

Over the years we’ve been doing a lot to learn more about the role autonomous vehicles can play in retail, and we’ve seen enough to know it’s no longer a question of if they’ll be scaled, but when.

We’re taking the next step in our work with autonomous vehicles by making an investment in Cruise, the San Francisco-based company enabling a self-driving future through their all-electric fleet of self-driving cars. The investment will aid our work toward developing a last mile delivery ecosystem that’s...

LIVEKINDLY Collective Raises $335 Million in Latest Funding Round 

LIVEKINDLY Collective, a collection of heritage and start-up brands on track to become one of the world’s largest plant-based food companies, announced a successful capital raise led by The Rise Fund, the global impact investing platform managed by TPG. This round was joined by existing investor Rabo Corporate Investments, the investment arm of Rabobank, S2G Ventures, and other existing and additional mission-aligned investors.

This investment closes a growth funding round of $335 million, including $135 million converted from a prior round, bringing the total funds raised by LIVEKINDLY Collective in its first year to $535 million. With this latest investment, LIVEKINDLY Collective has become one of the top three...

Eat Beyond Adds Plant Power to Its Portfolio and Extends Marketing Agreement

Eat Beyond Global Holdings Inc., an investment issuer focused on the global plant-based and alternative food sector, is making an investment in, and adding Plant Power Restaurant Group, LLC ("Plant Power") to its portfolio.

California-based Plant Power Fast Food is known as an innovator in the Quick Service Restaurant ("QSR") field with its 100% plant-based offerings and biodegradable packaging. Plant Power features a menu that ranges from burgers, fries, shakes and 'chicken' tenders - to wraps, salads, juices, raw items and...

Eat Beyond Adds Zoglo's Incredible Food to Its Portfolio

Eat Beyond Global Holdings Inc., an investment issuer focused on the global plant-based and alternative food sector, is announcing that it has completed an investment in Zoglo's Incredible Food Corp. ("Zoglo's"), by joining its recent seed round. Zoglo's has plans to become publicly traded via reverse take over in the coming months. At the present time, Eat Beyond anticipates further increasing its interest in Zoglo's by participating in its next financing - the "go public" round.

Zoglo's has been a leading company offering kosher, plant-based products for over 25 years and is now ready to enter the mainstream market. It has a product selection of over...

Olymel Announces Investment to Increase Production Capacity at Ange-Gardien Pork Processing Plant

Olymel management today announced an investment of $9 million to set up a second shift at its Ange-Gardien (formerly F.Ménard) hog slaughtering, cutting and deboning plant in Montérégie-Est, Quebec. This investment and the new evening shift will create more than 250 new jobs and should be in operation by next September. The plant, which already employs a total of 680 people, will see that number grow to more than 900, making it one of the largest employers in the region.

“This announcement is in line with Olymel’s development strategy and growth objectives. Olymel is capitalizing on synergies from the January 2020 acquisition of F.Ménard, one of the leaders of the Quebec pork industry. With this investment...

KIND Snacks Founder Daniel Lubetzky Invests in Quevos Following Shark Tank Deal

KIND Snacks Founder Daniel Lubetzky has invested in Quevos, a brand of fun and flavorful snacks whose first ingredient is egg whites. As announced on ABC's Shark Tank, Lubetzky will partner with budding entrepreneurs, Quevos Founders Nick Hamburger and Zack Schreier, to help more people discover their introductory line of high protein, high fiber, low carb snacks in bold flavors including Honey Mustard, Cheddar, Sour Cream & Onion, Sweet Barbecue, Quevos Rancheros, Dill Pickle, and Mesquite BBQ.

Lubetzky's investment is a vote of confidence for both Quevos' snacks and co-founders Hamburger and Schreier, who impressed Lubetzky with their entrepreneurial spirit and life-long friendship turned partnership. Leveraging his experience growing KIND from...

Eat Beyond Adds Above Food to Its Portfolio

Eat Beyond Global Holdings Inc., an investment issuer focused on the global plant-based and alternative food sector, is announcing that it has completed an investment in Above Food Inc.

Above Food develops and distributes premium, whole plant alternatives to meat and dairy by creating nutrient-dense consumer products and branded ingredients. It uses a proprietary blend of plant proteins created from heirloom pulses and gluten free grains. Above Food brings its products to market by...

Rabobank’s Food and Agri Innovation Fund Invests in Chickpea Protein Foodtech Company InnovoPro

InnovoPro, the plant-based ingredients innovator specialising in innovative chickpea proteins, has secured $18m from investors including Rabobank as part of a second funding round.

The Rabo Food & Agri Innovation Fund, part of Rabobank’s investment arm Rabo Corporate Investments, joined InnovoPro's B round funding as the global food ecosystem continues to evolve in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The deal, which was led by Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), Israels leading VC fund and also included in its second closing ICOS Capital, collaborative venture capital firm...