US-based synthetic animal protein developer The Every Company raised $175m in a series C round, which included Prosus Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of internet holding group Prosus. The round brought the company’s its overall funding to $233m. McWin Food Ecosystem Fund, a vehicle formed by restaurant group AmRest founder Henry McGovern, co-led the round with venture capital firm Rage Capital, investing together with Wheatsheaf Group, SOSV, TO Ventures and the Singaporean government-owned Temasek.
Founded in 2014 as Clara Foods, the company rebranded to The Every Company in October this year and is developing animal-free replacement proteins using its microorganism-based fermentation technology.
The Every is part of the broader food and beverage space, which has enjoyed much interest from corporate venture investors, as the GCV Analytics chart below illustrates. The number of corporate-backed deals in emerging businesses from this space has been growing over the latter half of the past decade. However, both the number of deals and the total estimated capital in them took off throughout 2021, reaching 174 rounds and $12.65bn in estimated total capital versus 110 transactions and $4.96bn in 2020. There has clearly been upward pressure on valuations and more deals being done over the past year in this space.
