Silicon Valley sets sights on disrupting meat industry
Bill Gates-backed start-up secures national US distribution for its veggie burgers.
By Chloe Cornish
Impossible Foods, a company backed by Bill Gates that promises to make veggie burgers palatable for carnivores, has secured distribution from top US restaurant suppliers in deals that will test the ambitions of Silicon Valley start-ups to disrupt America’s meat industry.
Venture capitalists have embraced California-based food tech start-ups, like Beyond Meat and Memphis Meats. Impossible Foods alone has raised $273.5m from investors including Google’s venture capital arm, Khosla Ventures and Temasek Holdings.
Commercial distributors including multinational restaurant supplier Sysco, a $28bn market cap food service company, have recently begun offering Impossible Foods’ soy and wheat-protein burger.
“We see the demand for plant-based proteins coming from the rising flexitarian segment,” said Stacie Sopinka, vice-president of innovation and product development at US Foods, which serves some 250,000 restaurants and is also carrying Impossible products. A “flexitarian” tries to reduce their meat consumption.
