V2Food, an Australia-based developer of meat-free food products, closed a A$77m ($55m) series B round today featuring fresh food distributor Esenagro.

Main Sequence Ventures, the deep technology fund manager of national research agency CSIRO, also took part in the round, as did ABC World Asia, Altitude Partners, China Renaissance, Horizons Ventures, Marinya Capital, Novel Investments, Sequoia Capital China and Temasek.

Founded in May 2019, V2Food extracts proteins from legumes and produces plant-based mince that looks, tastes and cooks similar to meat.

The startup was co-founded by CSIRO, Main Sequence Ventures and Competitive Foods Australia, the operator of the Australian franchise for Burger King, known locally as Hungry Jack’s – initially to develop a vegetarian version of the latter’s Whopper burger.

V2Food now supplies Burger King in New Zealand and other fast-food restaurants in Australia as well. It also sells its products in more than 600 outlets of supermarket chain Woolworths as well as through meal kit services.

The capital has been allocated to completing the production facility V2Food is building in the state of Victoria, in addition to recruitment and an expansion into additional markets including Asia. V2Food said it has now raised A$113m ($79.6m at current exchange rates) altogether.

Main Sequence Ventures led the company’s $23.8m series A round in November 2019, with participation from Sequoia Capital China and Marinya Capital. It came a month after Competitive Foods Australia had supplied an undisclosed amount of seed financing.

Image courtesy of V2Food Pty Ltd. The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.

V2Food, an Australia-based meat-free food products developer, closed a A$77m ($55m) series B round today featuring Main Sequence Ventures, the deeptech fund manager of national research agency CSIRO.
Fresh food distributor Esenagro also took part in the round, as did ABC World Asia, Altitude Partners, China Renaissance, Horizons Ventures, Marinya Capital, Novel Investments, Sequoia Capital China and Temasek.
Founded in May 2019, V2Food extracts proteins from legumes and produces plant-based mince that looks, tastes and cooks the same as meat.
The spinout was co-founded by CSIRO, Main Sequence Ventures and Competitive Foods Australia, which operates the Burger King franchise in Australia, initially to develop a vegetarian version of the latter’s Whopper burger.
V2Food now also supplies Burger King in New Zealand and other fast-food restaurants in Australia. It also sells its products in more than 600 outlets of supermarket chain Woolworths as well as through meal kit services.
The money has been allocated to completing V2Food’s production facility in the state of Victoria, recruitment and an expansion into additional markets, including Asia.
V2Food has now raised A$113m ($79.6m at current exchange rates) altogether, it said. Main Sequence Ventures led a $23.8m series A round in November 2019, with participation from Sequoia Capital China and Marinya Capital.
Competitive Foods Australia had supplied an undisclosed amount of seed financing in October 2019.
Phil Morle, a partner at Main Sequence Ventures, said: “V2 has gone from strength to strength, and we are delighted to continue to help Nick and the team take on the global challenge of producing Australian-made plant-based meat that is delicious and environmentally sustainable.
“In this round, we are pleased to be joined by an assembly of world-class investors to support the company’s international export ambitions.”
– Feature image courtesy of V2Food. GUV will publish a Leadership Series interview with Mike Zimmerman, a partner at Main Sequence Ventures, with more insight into V2Food’s journey in a few weeks.