July 15, 2022

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Happy Friday!

Pro is back this week with an updated Deal Tracker and Report on the continued rise of plant-based protein alternatives and the move towards sustainable food alternatives across various markets.

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Plant-Based Food Alternatives Continue to Gain Popularity

Design: Alex Brooks

Plant-based foods aren’t new. From plant-based burgers to chicken nuggets, a wide spectrum of well-established brands have spent significant amounts of R&D on developing new products, as well as engaging in partnerships with and acquiring various meat alternative companies. 

The scale of these investments is significant. According to the Good Food Institute, $5.9 billion of capital was invested into alternative meat and protein companies between 2010 and 2020. 

These alternative protein companies include plant-based, fermentation, cultivated, or cell-based proteins — all of which provide consumers with viable alternatives to traditional proteins. 

Food Dive has identified that retail sales in the plant-based vertical have shown continued growth. In 2020, plant-based meat had $1.4 billion in sales and made up 2.7% of all U.S. retail packaged meat sales.

Additionally, sales of plant-based protein and meat alternatives are projected to continue growing to $85 billion by 2030, according to a study done by investment firm UBS. 

Then there’s adoption: Consumers are increasingly demonstrating a willingness to try and a propensity to buy plant-based alternatives.

According to a study by the International Food Information Council, almost two-thirds of respondents indicated that they had eaten at least one plant-based meat product in the previous year. Of those respondents, 20% indicated that they consumed plant-based meats weekly, and 22% indicated that they consumed them daily. 

While plant-based proteins are currently gaining traction, plant-based milk leads the way when it comes to dollar sales. It now represents 16% of the entire milk category, and the study found it is leading growth and innovation in the milk category as a whole. Plant-based meat had flat growth but now represents 1.4% of the entire meat category.

Plant-based cheese, yogurt, creamer, butter, and ice cream all saw more growth than their animal-based counterparts, with plant-based creamer seeing a 33% jump in sales.

Want to learn more? Check out the full report here.

ICYMI: Last week, we published a new Heat Check on the growth of Pickleball. You can access that report and our entire catalog of research at Pro HQ.

Deal Tracker

Deal Tracker

This week’s Pro Deal Tracker highlights: 

  • HGGC, a private equity firm based in Palo Alto, California, and co-led by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Young, raised a new $2.5 billion fund.
  • Walla, developer of a studio management platform designed to transform and simplify studio operations, raised $8 million of Series A venture funding in a deal led by Industry Ventures.
  • Edge, developer of an artificial intelligence-driven eSports gaming software designed to enhance gamers’ cognitive and mental skills, raised $30 million of Series A venture funding in a deal led by Corner Ventures. 
  • Planetarium Labs, developer of an open-source blockchain platform designed to transform the game’s life cycle and revenue model, raised $32 million of Series A venture funding in a deal led by Animoca Brands.
  • The Cool Down, Operator of a content platform intended to help more Americans feel invested in and educated about the cleaner, cooler future and run by former Bleacher Report founder Dave Finocchio, raised $5.72 million through a combination of Seed-1 and Seed-2 funding from Revolution/ROTR, Upfront Ventures, and other undisclosed investors.   

Try out the full Deal Tracker.

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Written by Liam Killingstad

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