March 29, 2021

By Lynda Kiernan, Global AgInvesting Media

It was one year ago, in March 2020, that GAI News first shared news about LIVEKINDLY Collective, a new plant-based food platform launched by a consortium of founders, entrepreneurs, and global industry leaders with a mission to transform the global food system. 

Now, LIVEKINDLY announced it has raised $200 million in new funding led by The Rise Fund, the global impact investing platform managed by TPG and including Rabo Corporate Investments, S2G Ventures, and other unnamed existing and aligned participants.

This round, which includes $135 million in capital converted from a prior round, brings total funding raised in the 12 months of LIVEKINDLY’s existence to $535 million, making the Collective one of the top three highest-funded and fastest growing plant-based businesses in the world. 

The leadership team at the helm of this new platform includes chairman and CEO Kees Kruythoff, who was the former president of Unilever North America and Global Home Care Division; founder and board member Roger Lienhard, who is the founder of food tech investment firm Blue Horizon Corporation; and CEO and founder of LIVEKINDLY Media, Jodi Monelle.

Other food industry veterans on the management team are chief marketing officer Mick Van Ettinger, who was formerly with Unilever as advertising manager and executive vice president of tea; and COO and chief R&D officer Aldo Uva, formerly with Nestlé, Firmenich, and Ferrero.

“We are building a global pureplay in plant-based alternatives – which we believe is the future of food,” said Roger Lienhard, founder and executive chairman of Blue Horizon Group and founder of LIVEKINDLY Collective. “In just one year, we have raised a significant amount of capital, which testifies to the urgency of our mission and the enormous investment opportunity it represents. We believe the momentum behind plant-based living will continue to grow in both the private and public markets.”

Last year when the platform was launched with a $200 million founders’ funding round, initial acquisitions made by the company aligned with LIVEKINDLY’s goal of accelerating plant-based chicken. These include The Fry Family Food Co, – one of the world’s pioneering vegan companies, founded in 1991; and LikeMeat, the fastest growing meat alternative brand in Germany with distribution across 10 EU countries.

“The LIVEKINDLY Co.’s approach offers a path forward for transforming the global food industry,” said Lienhard at the time. “Our team has built a new formula for success by bringing innovation, experience, resources, and scale throughout the plant-based chicken value chain.”

Today, LIVEKINDLY, which has five companies under its umbrella including the brands Oumph!, The Fry Family Food Co., LikeMeat, and No Meat,  and 470 global employees,  plans to use this newly-raised capital to accelerate its expansion into growth geographies such as the U.S. and China, and to provide fuel to drive acquisitions, key partnerships, and its investments in plant-based innovation. 

“Our mission is to make plant-based living the new norm, creating a healthier, more sustainable global food system through our international portfolio that meets local tastes,” said David Knopf, CFO of LIVEKINDLY Collective. “With the close of this funding round, we are ideally positioned to rapidly scale our model and lead the global consumer shift toward healthy, delicious and sustainable plant-based alternatives.”

This investment in LIVEKINDLY is the second major investment made in the global plant-based ecosystem for The Rise Fund, which works with growth-stage, high-potential, mission-driven companies working to generate meaningful returns while achieving progress toward mastering the UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

Additionally, the company announced it has named Steve Ellis, co-managing partner of The Rise Fund, to its Board of Directors effective March 1, along with six additional new directors: business leaders Suzy Amis Cameron; Barbara Kux; Gaby Sulzberger; investor Shujun Li, former CEO of Unilever; Paul Polman; and former co-CEO of Whole Foods, Walter Robb.

“We are excited to work with LIVEKINDLY Collective and its ecosystem of innovative companies and world-class leaders to meet the growing global demand for healthy, plant-based, clean-label options,” said Ellis. “The company’s unique, mission-driven model operates across the entire value chain, from seed to fork, to drive worldwide adoption of plant-based alternatives and create a healthier planet for all.”

– Lynda Kiernan is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, and HighQuest Group’s Oilseed & Grain News. She is also a contributor to the GAI Gazette. She can be reached at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.