Investor interest continues to grow as a sustainable solution amid public health and environmental crises
by Bruna Corsato and Vinícius Gallon for GFI Brazil
The Good Food Institute has just released data proving that 2021 was a year of record investment in the ecosystem of companies offering alternatives to animal products. This sector includes not only plant-based protein companies, but also those producing Cultivated meat and fermentation. Since 2010, almost US$11,1 billion has been invested in the sector, with US$8 billion (73%) coming after the start of the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting disruption of global markets.
In a context where the world is focused on finding solutions to mitigate the climate crisis, deal with land and water use issues, and prevent the next pandemic, alternative proteins emerge as an investment that goes beyond quick returns, being sustainable for the planet in the long term.
The investment analysis was carried out using the PitchBook Data platform, and showed that 740 global companies in the sector, including three Brazilian companies, received US$5 billion in investments in 2021. This number is 60% higher than the US$3,1 billion recorded in the previous year and five times more than the US$1 billion invested in the sector in 2019. “The methodology uses public investment announcements as a basis, however, there are many other agreements that are still private or confidential. Therefore, the study is not sufficient to define how investments performed in Brazil last year. However, these numbers are an important sign of investor optimism about this market globally, which is undoubtedly being reflected here,” says Raquel Casselli, corporate engagement manager at GFI Brazil.
- Cultivated meat and seafood companies secured $1,4 billion in investment in 2021—the most capital raised in any year in the industry’s history and more than three times the $400 million raised in 2020. Cultivated meat companies have received $1,9 billion in investment since the industry’s first reported investment in 2016, and more than 70% of that was raised in 2021 alone. This feat included Future Meat Technology’s $347 million Series B, Aleph Farms’ $100 million Series B, and BlueNalu’s $60 million convertible debt raise. While 2020 saw the first Cultivated meat company raise a Series B round of funding, 2021 brought eight more growth-stage rounds—Series B or higher—to the tally. In 2021, the sector's investor base grew by 62% compared to the previous year, bringing the total number of unique investors to 458.
It is worth mentioning that in 2021, JBS announced an investment of US$100 million in this new area, consolidating the market analysis work that began three years ago, with the support of GFI Brazil. With this funding, JBS signed an agreement to acquire control of the Spanish company BioTech Foods, providing for the investment in the construction of a new manufacturing unit in Spain, in addition to the implementation of the first Research & Development (R&D) Center for Biotechnology and Cultured Protein in Brazil. Since it was not registered with PitchBool Data Inc., this investment was not accounted for in the study.
- Alternative protein fermentation companies secured $1,7 billion in investment in 2021, nearly three times the $600 million raised in 2020. Fermentation companies have raised $2,8 billion in investment capital since GFI first tracked the sector in 2013, with 60% of that in 2021 alone. This includes Nature Fynd’s $350 million Series C, The EVERY Company’s $175 million Series D, and 434 unique investors.
- Plant-based meat, seafood, egg, and dairy companies raised $1,9 billion in investment in 2021, which is on par with the $2,1 billion raised in 2020 and nearly three times the $693 million raised in 2019. These companies have raised $6,3 billion in investment since 2010, with 30% of that in 2021 alone. These include Impossible Foods’ $500 million funding round, which adds to the company’s record $700 million in funding raised in 2020; NotCo’s $235 million Series D; v110food’s $2 million Series B; and Next Gen Foods’ record $30 million seed round, which is nearly three times the size of the second-largest seed round raised by an alternative protein company. In 2021, the sector's investor base grew 40% compared to the previous year, bringing the total number of unique investors to 1.903.
Investor confidence in alternative protein companies is driven by a number of market factors, and the public health and environmental crises that have gripped the world throughout 2020 and 2021 have highlighted the risks associated with business-as-usual portfolios and practices. In this context, the prospect of meat produced without the risk of contributing to zoonotic disease transmission and with dramatically lower emissions than conventional meat is even more relevant.
While investments in alternative proteins have grown at an impressive rate, they remain a tiny fraction of the trillions of dollars that have been invested globally in climate technology companies as a whole. In 2021 alone, private equity in early-stage climate technology companies totaled $47 billion. “With more and more investors recognizing that climate risk is an investment risk, alternative proteins offer a scalable solution that brings the world closer to a more secure, carbon-neutral food system. Managing climate risk is impossible without addressing food, and agriculture and alternative proteins offer us a tool to do so,” explains Sharyn Murray, Corporate Engagement Specialist at GFI-USA.
Despite the positive momentum, the process of diversifying investment types and sources in the sector is only just beginning, as alternative proteins are not yet seen as a key solution in the sustainability equation. “Given the scale of emissions reductions that would occur with a shift to alternative proteins, this is a critical time to invest in technologies and innovations that can move our food system to net zero and quickly,” says Caroline Bushnell, vice president of corporate engagement at GFI-USA. Investments in the sector are considerably lower compared to other industries such as renewable energy and electric cars, for example. “Increasing investments in sustainable alternative proteins will allow companies to fund R&D, scale production and reduce costs to effectively compete with conventionally produced animal protein and, ultimately, bring alternative proteins to more plates,” she concludes.
Exclusive
To quantify this investment activity, GFI used its own company database tool to create a customized global list of meat, egg, fish, plant-based milk and dairy, Cultivated meat, and fermentation-based food companies tracked by PitchBook Data Inc. This generated a list of over 740 companies, including 3 Brazilian companies: Fazenda Futuro, The New, and Vida Veg. The numbers published in this version may differ from previous numbers published by GFI as we continuously improve our dataset. For the purposes of this release, “investment,” “investment capital,” and “invested capital” are used interchangeably to refer to deals that include accelerator or incubator funding, angel funding, seed funding, capital or product crowdfunding, early-stage venture capital, late-stage venture capital, private equity growth/expansion, capitalization, corporate venture, joint venture, convertible debt, and general debt (but excludes mergers, acquisitions, reverse mergers, leveraged buyouts, IPOs, follow-on equity offerings, and private investment in public equity). The 2021 data pertains to the 52-week period ending December 31, 2021. This data has not been reviewed by PitchBook analysts.
Check out our latest releases
18/12/25
