The Breakthrough
Redwood City, Ca.-based company Impossible Foods has raised $108 million in its latest round of investor funding, led by UBS and Viking Investors Group. They join an earlier group of investors that include Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Khosla Ventures, and Horizon Ventures. They reportedly raised $75 billion in a previous round of financing.
Impossible Foods was founded by Patrick Brown, a former biochemistry professor. After spending 25 years teaching at Stanford University, he went on to co-found a company called Kite Hill, which specializes in nut-milk products.
With Impossible Foods, Brown is looking to develop a new generation of meats and cheeses that are made entirely from plants, and will start with a plant-based cheeseburger that tastes just as good as regular cheeseburgers.
The Implications
Impossible Foods seeks to feed an ever-increasing population of people on Earth, which will have gone from 3 billion in 1940 to what current forecasts estimate will be 9.5 billion by the year 2050. Plant-based foods would present a more sustainable way to feed that population, and with a plant-based cheeseburger, Impossible Foods is setting their sights on providing it to a mass market.
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