October 18, 2017

Plant-based meat alternative producer Beyond Meat announced the addition of Leonardo DiCaprio as an investor in the company and as an advocate.

DiCaprio joins an impressive list of existing investors including Bill Gates, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, the Humane Society of the United States, and Biz Stone and Evan Williams – the two co-founders of Twitter. However maybe the most surprising investor in Beyond Meat (and maybe the one that indicates what a disruptor of the meat industry Beyond Meat truly is) is Tyson Foods.

In October of last year, Tyson Foods – the company whose very name is synonymous with the meat industry –  became the first key meat company to invest in a meat alternative startup that is aiming to reduce meat production and consumption with plant-based alternatives.

Tyson announced on October 10 that it had acquired a five percent stake in the California-based, plant-based protein company for an undisclosed amount as part of a financing round that included previous Beyond Meat investor, the Humane Society of the United States.

Based in Los Angeles, California, Beyond Meat’s mission is to produce commercial scale solutions that “perfectly replace animal protein with plant protein” – a step that Leonardo DiCaprio sees as key to addressing and mitigating climate change. 

“Livestock production is a major contributor to carbon emissions. Shifting from animal meat to the plant-based meats developed by Beyond Meat is one of the most powerful measures someone can take to reduce their impact on our climate,” said DiCaprio.

Seven-fold

This summer the company announced that distribution of its cornerstone product, the Beyond Burger, increased seven-fold, with the burgers now available in more than 2,000 grocery stores across the U.S. including Albertsons and Kroger, the two largest national chains.

“Today’s consumer is looking for alternative proteins to enjoy,” said John Beretta, GVP Meat & Seafood, Albertsons Companies, in an August 2017 press release announcing the development. “Adding the Beyond Burgers to our great selection of other ground meats like grass fed & organic beef, bison, lamb and poultry gives our customers one more great option.”

The Beyond Burger is also breaking ground and appearing on the menus of a range of top burger restaurants. BurgerFi, announced that beginning September 4 it would launch the Beyond Burger at all of its 101 restaurants, while Chicago-based Epic Burger also began selling the Beyond Burger at all of its eight locations, selling 10,000 burgers in the first two months. The Beyond Burger is also being sold at Veggie Grill locations and other outlets across the U.S., according to the company.

Global protein consumption is expected to climb at a CAGR of 1.7 percent, reaching 943 million tons by 2054, according to Lux Research. Over this same time period, alternative protein sources are forecast to command up to a third of the protein market as they fill the void created by slowing growth in meat and seafood production. Indeed, U.S.-based plant-based food and beverages businesses including Beyond Meat, Califia Farms, and Heidi Ho saw sales of $4.9 billion in the twelve months through June 2016 and have been growing at a faster rate than traditional food segments, reports the New York Times.

Consumers are not the only ones pushing for this sea change in consumption. At the end of September 2016, a coalition of 40 institutional investors with a combined valuation of $1.25 trillion called for greater adoption of alternative protein sources including plants, insects, algae, nuts, seeds and grains, and lab-cultured meats. In the treatise, The Future of Food: The Investment Case for a Protein Shake Up” published by the Farm Animal Investment Risk and Return (FAIRR) initiative, the group claims that over-reliance on livestock production to feed a growing global population would be unsustainable and would “lead a financial, social, and environmental crisis.”

It is the potential inherent in Beyond Meat’s business to alleviate the impact and to lessen the stresses that livestock production places on the land and water that drives the company’s team and has drawn the attention investors such as of DiCaprio. It is also attracting consumers. U.S. sales of meat alternatives through documented channels increased by 6.1 percent to a value of $554.6 million during the year to August 12, 2017, according to Nielsen data compiled for the Plant Based Foods Association and The Food Food Institute, reports Food Navigator. 

“Today we welcomed Leonardo DiCaprio to the Beyond Meat family as an official investor and advocate,” stated the company on its website. “Our relationship with Leo began a few years back when he first visited our research center and subsequently provided feedback on early iterations of The Beyond Burger. Leo shares our vision that we can positively impact climate change by bringing satiating, appealing, plant-based meats to the center of the plate, and we are thrilled to have his partnership.”

-Lynda Kiernan