Vegan unicorn Beyond Meat to aim for $1.2 bln valuation in IPO

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Uber's IPO is set to grab the headlines next month as it looks for a valuation of 91.5 billion U.S. dollars, with investors ready to pump cash into what they see as the future of transport.

But among the tech companies and e-commerce platforms looking to go public in the next few weeks, a vegan unicorn stands out as it looks to completely change the future of food.

Beyond Meat, a California-based company that produces plant-based meat substitutes which it claims have the same flavors and textures as real meat, is looking to raise as much as 184 million U.S. dollars later this week after filing for an IPO with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The public listing could value the company at 1.2 billion U.S. dollars, with Beyond Meat representing a new generation of food producers combining tech with growing public awareness of issues like obesity, food safety and the environment.

Beyond Meat, which has already been backed by investors like Leonardo DiCaprio and Bill Gates, claims its plant products can boost human health, address restraints on global resources and improve animal welfare.

Citing research by WorldWatch, Beyond Meat claims that livestock rearing and processing accounts for 51 percent of global greenhouse emissions.

Impossible Foods, a rival to Beyond Meat in the vegan food products industry, recently launched a range of plant-based patties at Burger King. /VCG Photo

Earlier this month, Burger King announced it would be collaborating with Impossible Foods to launch plant-based vegan burgers at restaurants in the U.S. as part of a trial run, a move that highlighted growing demand and wider acceptance of meat substitutes.

A survey of consumers in the U.S., Brazil, the Netherlands and Vietnam conducted by Cargill earlier this month saw 93 percent of respondents say “they care about our ability to feed the world sustainably,” with 84 percent saying that impacts the way they purchase food.

Around 80 percent of those surveyed said that they were interested in plant-based products or alternative sources of protein.

Talking to Quartz in 2018, Impossible Food's CEO Patrick Brown said “What consumers value about meat has nothing to do with how it's made. I mean, animals have just been the technology we have used up until now to produce meat.”

The meat substitute industry is already worth an estimated 4.6 billion U.S. dollars, according to Markets and Markets, a research firm which sees the sector growing to 6.4 billion U.S. dollars by 2023.

Asia is set to be the primary driver of that growth, with companies like Beyond Meat looking to focus on China.

Beyond Meat plans to launch in the Chinese mainland later this year, after witnessing its Hong Kong sales jump by 300 percent in 2018.