A funding round from Impossible Foods rounded up $500 million, and the vegan-based food maker said it will use part of that amount to help with the global coronavirus pandemic.
Impossible Foods, which specializes in vegan alternatives to popular foods like beef patties, said it hadn’t experienced any adverse effects from the virus, according to chief financial officer David Lee. The company’s burgers can be found everywhere from Hong Kong to Macau, and Lee did not confirm whether the company had seen a rise in grocery store sales as people hoard food in anticipation of being shut indoors.
Lee said he wanted to reassure customers that Impossible Food had the fortitude to stand up amid the virus outbreak and could continue to operate, due to the help from investors. Impossible Food was founded eight years ago and now has a total value of $1.3 billion.
The investors include a wide array, from South Korean-based Mirae Asset Global Investments, which led this funding round, and others like Khosla, Horizons Ventures and Temasek.
Celebrity names, such as actress Mindy Kaling, director Peter Jackson, sports star Serena Williams and rapper Jay-Z, have also contributed to Impossible Foods.
Before the coronavirus, Impossible Foods was ready to expand to more international waters, buoyed by a spike in interest in their products as people tend towards alternatives to animal-based food. Lee said the new funds would be spread across a wide number of causes to help boost the company in the long-term.
The company didn’t specify the exact terms of the deal. Last fall, the company was estimating a turnout of around $300 or $400 million, which would’ve doubled its then-market value of $2 billion. If that had happened, the resulting $4 billion valuation would’ve been almost neck-and-neck with rival Beyond Meat.
Beyond Meat at that time was almost at its $4.5 billion market cap.
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