Where Are Investors Putting Their Money? This Report Says Plant-Based Foods

In the past decade, the food space has undergone a massive transformation. According to recent studies, about one-third of Americans are choosing to leave meat off their plates more frequently. Dairy, too, has steadily been falling out of favor with consumers. In the U.S., milk consumption has been declining by about 25 percent, per capita, since the mid-1970s. How else is the way that we eat evolving? Well, it looks like people are overwhelmingly replacing meat and dairy with plant-based alternatives.

In 2016, a report by global market research firm Mintel identified meat and dairy alternatives as one of the 12 key trends set to impact the global food and drink market that year. And according to a recent report released by CB Insights, plant-based food and beverages are indeed helping lead the change. Out of the

Out of the 15 top venture capital-backed food and beverage startups, CB Insights identified that five of them are companies that focus explicitly on replacing animal-based products with plant-based options: Hampton Creek, Impossible Foods, Califia Farms, Ripple Foods, and Beyond Meat. But when we look at the entire list of companies, there are even more plant-based companies at the top of the list. ALOHA, a nutrition company, that makes plant-based protein powders, bars, and superfoods has made the list. Soylent, another company that makes entirely plant-based meal replacers. We also see two cold-pressed juice companies, Suja Life and Juicero (the company whose “juicer” was revealed to be practically useless by Bloomberg), açaí-based food company Sambozan, and more.

Collectively, these 15 venture capital-backed food and beverage companies have collected a massive $1.49 billion in aggregate funding. What does this tell us? Traditionally, venture capital funds have been more focused on technology than food. But increasingly, plant-based startups are integrating technology into their method of production … and really, food is becoming the future of technology. For example, both Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat have caught the attention of large companies with their realistic plant-based burgers, the Impossible Burger and the Beyond Burger. Hampton Creek, another company on the list, created a plant-based mayonnaise that sparked a lawsuit with the makers of Hellmann’s Mayonnaise. And Netherlands-based food project Plant Meat Matters, which is not on the list, but still backed by big conglomerates such as Unilever, is using they call “shear-cell technology” in order to create a plant-based steak that is similar to the real thing.

CB Insights’ report shows reveals that not only are food and technology increasingly becoming integrated but also that more companies than ever before understand that the future of food is, without a doubt, plant-based.

Lead image source: Fall Spiced Sweet Potato Burger