Impossible Foods, a US-based meat and dairy substitute developer backed by internet and technology conglomerate Alphabet, completed a $75m funding round led by Singaporean state-owned investment firm Temasek today.
Temasek was joined in the round by entrepreneur Bill Gates and venture capital firms Khosla Ventures and Horizon Ventures, all of which took part as existing investors, and charitable foundation Open Philanthropy Project.
Impossible Foods is developing plant-based foods that can simulate the taste and texture of meat and dairy foodstuffs. It estimates its burgers use 95% less land and 75% less water, and create 87% fewer greenhouse gases than the average ground beef burger.
The company has not revealed precisely how it plans to spend its latest funding, but it intends to open a production facility in California by the end of 2017 that will be able to create some 4 million burgers each month.
Pat Brown, Impossible Foods’ CEO, told the Guardian in an interview in May this year that the company had raised more than $200m in funding. It had only publicly revealed $183m of that financing prior to the latest round.
GV, the Alphabet subsidiary then known as Google Ventures, participated in a $75m round for the company in 2014 that was announced as it emerged from stealth, investing alongside Khosla Ventures, Horizon Ventures and Gates.
The latter three retuned for Impossible Foods’ $108m series D round in late 2015, which was led by financial services firm UBS and backed by hedge fund Viking Global Investors.
– Image courtesy of Impossible Foods Inc.