Meati Foods produces whole‑cut meat alternatives—cutlets and steaks—made from mycelium, which the company says is non‑GMO and derived from nature. The company has rapidly expanded retail distribution to nearly 7,000 U.S. stores in just over a year, adding 2,000 locations and planning entry into Kroger family stores by April, with placements at Super Target, Whole Foods Market, Sprouts, Meijer and Wegmans. Production is centered on a 100,000‑square‑foot “Mega Ranch” facility that is fully operational and capable of producing at a rate of tens of millions of pounds annually, with an estimated full capacity of about 45 million pounds per year. Meati has funneled much of its investment into scaling that facility to support continuing rapid growth. Leadership has shifted recently: co‑founder Tyler Huggins stepped down as CEO to transition into an innovation/advisory role, and former CFO Phil Graves is now CEO. The company also reduced headcount by about 13% amid these changes. Meati Foods manufactures whole-food protein using the structural fibers of mushrooms (mycelium) and sells under its Eat Meati product line. Its Mega Ranch is a 100,000-square-foot facility in Colorado that grows, harvests and processes mycelium under one roof. The site is expected to produce an annual rate of tens of millions of pounds by late 2023 and more than 45 million pounds when fully ramped. Current SKUs include Classic Cutlet, Crispy Cutlet, Classic Steak and Carne Asada Steak, sold through retail and foodservice partners such as Sprouts Farmers Market, Sweetgreen and Birdcall, plus direct online drops. Meati says its pipeline is largely pre-sold and plans to be in 7,000 doors by year-end; management projects tens of millions in revenue this year and hundreds of millions in 2024, targeting a $1 billion run rate by 2025. The company is also scouting a larger "Giga Ranch" flagship facility to scale production into the hundreds of millions of pounds annually. Meati produces whole-cut meat alternatives made from mycelium (mushroom root) sold under the Eat Meati brand. Its products are ~95% mushroom root and contain up to 17 grams of protein, 12 grams of dietary fiber, plus zinc and vitamin B12. The company has moved from mostly online sales to a retail debut in restaurants across Colorado and Arizona and reports multiple months of record online sellouts. Headcount has grown from about 30 employees in 2021 to roughly 150 today. Meati is completing a >100,000-square-foot "Mega Ranch" in Colorado that will be capable of producing over 45 million pounds of product and is breaking ground on a larger "Giga Ranch" designed to produce hundreds of millions of pounds annually. Management aims for placement in 10,000 retail doors by the end of 2023 and a $1 billion revenue run rate by 2025. Meati Foods develops whole-cut alternative meats using mycelium — the muscular root structure of fungi — as its single main ingredient. The company has a proprietary process to cultivate its mycelium strain and form naturally fibrous textures into products without chemicals or heavy processing. Meati is developing whole-cut items including chicken breasts, steak and jerky (in final stages) and plans future products such as pork tenderloin and deli meats. Leadership includes CEO Tyler Huggins and CTO Justin Whiteley. The company touts production-scale efficiencies, saying its process can yield the meat equivalent of 4,500 cows every 24 hours while using less than one percent of the water and land of conventional industrial meat. Meati is scaling production capacity via its nearly 80,000 sq. ft. “Urban Ranch” facility, which it said could produce millions of pounds by 2022. The company plans to use recent funding to accelerate scaling, launch products nationally, and more than double its team. Meati converts mycelium (the structural fibers of fungi) into whole-cut steak and chicken replacements and is launching a mycelium jerky as its first commercial product. Co-founders Tyler Huggins and Justin Whiteley lead a team of about 30 people as the company prepares samples for select restaurants and plans to turn on a pilot plant this summer. The company highlights nutritional benefits — claiming about 2 ounces provides 50% of protein, 50% of fiber, and half of daily zinc — and positions its products as better-for-you alternatives to conventional meat. Meati intends to target everyday and quick-serve meat cuts rather than high-end steaks and says its future products will be cost-competitive with beef and chicken. Financially, Meati has raised equity and secured debt capacity to scale production, and cites culinary investors and partners as strategic supporters. The founders trace the pivot to food back to a grant for a mycelium-based electrode that revealed the material’s edible potential.

Total raised

$396M

Funding rounds

7

Latest round

Series C

Latest activity

May 2024