Participated · Series B · Oct 2020

v2Food produces plant-based ground beef, patties, sausages and a ready-made Bolognese sauce and emphasizes products made without GMOs, preservatives, colors or flavorings. The company’s products can be manufactured in standard meat production facilities, which it says aids rapid scaling and partnership with incumbent meat producers. v2Food has seen strong uptake in Australia and lists becoming No. 1 in its home market as a near-term goal under CEO and founder Nick Hazell. It is pursuing international expansion into Asia—where partner Burger King has launched a Whopper with v2Food’s patty—and into Europe, where its non-GMO, minimal-ingredient positioning is seen as an advantage. The company will use recent funding to increase manufacturing capacity, double R&D spend to accelerate new products and improvements, and explore building a local manufacturing facility in Australia to reduce import reliance and costs. No revenue or user metrics were disclosed in the article. v2food develops plant-based meat products using protein extracted from legumes to create mince and burgers that mimic conventional meat in taste and cooking. The company was founded in 2019 with support from CSIRO, Main Sequence Ventures and Competitive Foods Australia. Its products are available at thousands of outlets across Australia and through partners including Hungry Jack’s (Rebel Whopper), Burger King New Zealand, Drakes supermarkets, Woolworths (v2mince and v2burgers), Marley Spoon, Dinnerly, Soul Burger and Burger Urge. The business is scaling manufacturing and aims to complete a production facility in Wodonga to support growth. v2food plans to grow its team and continue launching products into new markets, including Asia and Europe. The company has raised a total of $113 million to date. v2food is an Australian plant-based meat startup developing products that look, cook and taste like meat. The company worked with Australia’s national science agency CSIRO to create its product formulations. Led by founder and CEO Nick Hazell, v2food is launching a range of plant-based meat products to be rolled out in outlets across Australia in the next few months. Its first product will be released in partnership with Hungry Jack’s Australia as the Rebel Whopper. The company raised $35m in a Series A to expand R&D efforts, including building a new research and production facility. That facility is planned to begin operation in regional Australia in 2020.

Led · Equity · Mar 2012

Gradwell provides internet communications to UK SMEs, including internet telephony (VoIP), business broadband, website hosting and email management among other services. Founded in 1998 by Dr Peter Gradwell and based in Bath, the company serves 12,000 UK small businesses. It reports a turnover of £5m and employs a team of 60. Gradwell raised £1.15m from regional equity fund Altitude Partners LLP and intends to use the capital to scale its technology and expand its customer base. The company is hiring to support growth. Its core product suite centers on VoIP telephony and business internet services for SMEs.