New Wave Foods, A US-based provider of plant-based shellfish substitutes, closed an $18m series A round backed by Tyson Ventures, the investment arm of meat producer Tyson Foods, on Wednesday.
Venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates led the round, which included Evolution VC Partners and new and existing investors. It increased the company’s total funding to $26m, CEO Mary McGovern told Crunchbase News.
Founded in 2015, New Wave produces plant-based substitutes for prawns it claims are almost indistinguishable from real prawns when considering taste and texture. It plans to expand its offering to meat-free lobster, scallops and crab products in the future.
The company will use the funding to scale its production activities, speed up its plans for new products and expand its sales and marketing capabilities. Tyson Ventures had provided an undisclosed amount of funding for New Wave in September 2019.
New Wave’s other investors include Gaingels, Unovis Asset Management, Plug & Play and One World Training & Investments, according to their respective websites. It graduated from venture capital firm SOSV’s biotechnology accelerator, IndieBio in 2015.