- Eat Just announced it raised a $200 million round of funding. These are the details.
Eat Just — a company that develops and markets plant-based alternatives to conventionally-produced eggs — announced recently that it has raised $200 million in a new round of funding. This round of funding was led by the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the sovereign wealth fund of the State of Qatar; joined by private investment firm Charlesbank Capital Partners and Vulcan Capital, the investment arm of the estate of Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Paul G. Allen.
The company has raised over $650 million since it was founded in 2011. And the startup will add QIA and Charlesbank to its Board of Directors. East Just is already in over 20,000 retail points of distribution and 1,000 foodservice locations. And the company is poised to bring its refrigerated and frozen formats to millions more around the globe. So far, Eat Just has sold the plant-based equivalent of 100 million eggs and one million U.S. households have made JUST Egg #1 in loyalty within branded eggs.
The first months of 2021 brought record-breaking retail sales for JUST Egg’s 12-ounce pourable format that is perfect for scrambles, omelets, quiches, stir-fries, and baking applications. JUST Egg’s fluffy, pre-baked folded format — which is ideal on top of toast or in a breakfast sandwich, has flown off shelves since its April 2020 debut. This quickly became the #1 selling frozen breakfast item at a top-five U.S. supermarket and the #1 frozen breakfast entrée in the natural channel.
East Just is already in over 20,000 retail points of distribution and 1,000 foodservice locations. And the company is poised to bring its refrigerated and frozen formats to millions more around the globe. So far, Eat Just has sold the plant-based equivalent of 100 million eggs and one million U.S. households have made JUST Egg #1 in loyalty within branded eggs.
In the first months of 2021 brought record-breaking retail sales for JUST Egg’s 12-ounce pourable format that is perfect for scrambles, omelets, quiches, stir-fries and baking applications. And JUST Egg’s fluffy, pre-baked folded format — which is ideal on top of toast or in a breakfast sandwich, has flown off shelves since its April 2020 debut. As a result, this quickly became the #1 selling frozen breakfast item at a top five U.S. supermarket and the #1 frozen breakfast entrée in the natural channel.
Earlier this year, Dicos, one of China’s leading fast-food chains, added JUST Egg to its menu – marking the first time a major quick-service restaurant swapped an animal-based product with a plant-based one across multiple regular menu offerings. And Eat Just also announced a partnership to manufacture JUST Egg Sous Vide products as part of an agreement with Cuisine Solutions, the world’s leading manufacturer and distributor of sous vide foods.
In March, Peet’s Coffee had partnered with Eat Just on the nationwide launch of a new JUST Egg sandwich featuring all plant-based ingredients. And the Everything Plant-Based Breakfast Sandwich has already far exceeded Peet’s initial forecast. Plus Canada also became the latest country in JUST Egg’s expansion with news that its folded product would be stocked in more than 1,000 grocery stores by April and would be widely available to restaurants and other foodservice operators.
And Eat Just celebrated another important milestone in late 2020 by securing the first-in-the-world regulatory approval for real high-quality meat created, directly from animal cells for human consumption and weeks later made history when its GOOD Meat-branded cultured chicken was served and sold to guests for the first time at a restaurant. And these breakthroughs for the global food system were heralded as the beginning of a new food revolution by top industry executives, world-renowned scientists and academics, leading media organizations, and others.
Going forward, the company is going to continue its leadership in the field by dramatically reducing cultured meat production costs; scaling commercial manufacturing operations; and advancing its work on other types of meat. And cultured meat could become a $13 billion market by 2030 and GOOD Meat Cultured Chicken is on a path to price competitiveness with conventional chicken by that time, according to modeling conducted in February by a leading management consulting firm retained by Eat Just.
KEY QUOTES:
“We are very excited to work with our investors to build a healthier, safer and more sustainable food system. Their knowledge and experience partnering with companies that are transforming numerous industries were fundamental in our decision to partner with them.”
— Josh Tetrick, co-founder and CEO of Eat Just
