The round also featured as backers food-focused venture capital firm Blue Horizon Corporation, which led it, along with equity firm Trustbridge Partners, investment group EQT and other unnamed existing backers. The company had launched with $200m from Blue Horizon and another 10 to 15 participants including its founders, undisclosed entrepreneurs and family offices. Blue Horizon had committed capital to it in October 2018 before the company unified with other brands.
Livekindly Collective operates a diversified plant-based food offering that includes an online media platform under the Livekindly brand, in addition to plant-based food brands Fry Family, Oumph and Like Meat. The company is focused on offering poultry alternatives.
Livekindly Collective is part of the larger food and beverages space in the consumer sector, which is being disrupted by companies developing meat alternatives, among other things. Corporate venture investors have naturally not been indifferent to this area and have participated in more than 60 deals each year over the latter part of last decade, as the GCV Analytics bar chart illustrates. We are yet what boost will be given to this space in consumers’ perception in the post-pandemic world and how that may be reflected in valuations.