AgFunder Announces $20m Alternative Protein Fund and Releases Investor Whitepaper

AgFunder has released a whitepaper surveying the alternative protein industry as it announces a $20m fund to invest in the next generation of startups in this burgeoning foodtech category.

AgFunder today announced a new $20 million alternative protein fund to give investors an opportunity to invest in the next generation of startups creating animal-free products for food and other industries. In conjunction, AgFunder has also published a free industry whitepaper that surveys the alternative protein market.


The fund will invest in startups across the alternative protein landscape including plant-based meats and dairy, cultivated meat, and startups creating picks and shovels for the industry. Investment is open to Accredited Investors, family offices, and institutions.

"An investor who put $1 million into Beyond Meat's Series A selling today could realize a 316x return; and Impossible Foods is poised to follow a similar trajectory," said founding partner Rob Leclerc. "But in a $2.17 trillion market for animal products, we believe there are still many new opportunities to create new multi-billion dollar companies."

Key stats from the white paper include:

- More than half the world's population is now considered middle class or wealthier and will increase to â…” of the population by 2030. Middle classes typically eat more meat and protein.

- To provide enough meat to the world at the current U.S. consumption levels of 99.5kg/capital this would require 88% more farmland than is available today.

- Even if current global consumption of 44kg/capital remains static, 100% of global farmland would need to be directed to animal agriculture in coming years.

- Animal-derived products were worth $2.17 trillion in 2018 and we estimate it will grow 4.7% CAGR to nearly $3 trillion by 2025.

- By 2025, 10% of meat supply could be plant-based and by 2040, as much as 60% of meat supply will be alternatives (35% cultivated meat and 25% plant-based) making conventional meat a nice market.

- 66% of cultured meat startups have at least one female founder, compared to just 17% across venture industries, and 10% of cultured meat startups were founded exclusively by women.

To learn about investing in the fund, AgFunder's investment thesis, or to download the free 41-page whitepaper for an in-depth look at the industry's macro drivers visit:

https://agfunder.com/invest/protein-fund/

About AgFunder

Founded in 2013 and based in San Francisco, AgFunder is one of the most active foodtech and agtech VC firms globally.

Featured Product

NORD MAXXDRIVE Industrial Gear Units - Ideal for Heavy Duty Applications

NORD MAXXDRIVE Industrial Gear Units - Ideal for Heavy Duty Applications

Extremely high output torques, quiet running and a long service life: These are the excellent features of industrial gear units from NORD DRIVESYSTEMS. NORD MAXXDRIVE® industrial gear units provide high output torques from 132,000 lb-in to 2,495,900 lb-in and are perfect for use in heavy duty applications such as bucket elevators, agitators, conveyor belt drives, mixers, mills, drums or crushers. Industrial gear units are available as parallel helical gear units or bevel gear units. They are constructed, according to the UNICASE design principle that was developed by NORD. NORD is the industrial gear unit manufacturer with the world's largest UNICASE gear product.