Nature’s Fynd, a startup producing microbe-based protein alternatives, has secured USD 350 million in a Series C funding round led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 with new participants: Blackstone Strategic Partners, Balyasny Asset Management, Hillhouse Investment, EDBI, SK Inc., and several existing investors. This round is the company’s largest to date, bringing its total funding up to USD 508 million; while the startup reached unicorn status.

Nature’s Fynd plans to utilize the funding to expand its production capacity, develop new partnerships, expand its product offering and prepare for global expansion. It hopes to launch its products in select retailers in late 2021 and be widely available across the US by 2022. The startup plans to focus especially on the Asian market, due to the substantial demand for sustainable protein.

The funding round follows the successful launch of “Fy Breakfast Bundle” in February 2021 which contained “Original Meatless Breakfast Patties” and “Dairy-free Cream Cheese”; the products were sold out in 24 hours. The startup's hero ingredient “Fy” is produced by growing nutritional fungi protein using fermentation technology. The fungi were first discovered by Nature’s Fynd in the geothermal springs of Yellowstone National Park’s ancient volcano. Nature’s Fynd states that it is able to produce Fy at a commercial scale at its new facility in Chicago, leveraging robotics and automation.

Analyst Quicktake: 

• Nature’s Fynd’s funding round sets a new record for Series C funding for a plant-based meat company and is the second-largest funding round after the USD 500 million raised by Impossible Foods in its Series F funding round in March 2020. 

• The company is part of a niche segment of producers that use microbial fermentation to produce alternative meat with greater scalability and sustainability compared to high extrusion cooking and plant ingredients (such as soy, pea, and wheat) used by the majority of startups in the space. 

• This niche segment has seen high investor interest in 2021. Motif Foodwork also raised USD 226 million in a Series B funding round. Combined with this latest round from Natures Fynd, these two funding rounds now together accounting for 15% of total funding raised so far in the plant-based meat industry year-to-date. The remaining startups we cover from the same niche segment—MycoTechnology, Mushlabs, and The Protein Brewery—have yet to raise funds in 2021.