Fazenda Futuro raises R$300 million and targets the USA

The vegetable meat producer Future Farm announced this Wednesday (3) that it received an investment equivalent to approximately R$ 300 million, resources that it will use to expand its operations to the largest market in the world, the USA, which moves US$ 5 billion to US$ 6 billion per year in the sector.

With the series C round, the value of the company reached R$2.2 billion, the company’s founder and president, Marcos Leta, told Reuters. In the previous funding, which took place about a year ago, the company had raised BRL 110 million, with an assessment of BRL 715 million, said the executive.

“We entered the United States about a month ago. We are in the pre-operational period, closing contracts with distributors and retailers to start selling next year”, stated Leta.

Fazenda Futuro, which in the US will work with the “Future Farm” brand against rivals such as Beyond Foods and Impossible Foods, was created in 2019 and reached the Europe at the end of 2020 in markets including France, Italy, Netherlands and Germany.

In England, the company distributes its products through Sainsbury’s, the second largest retailer in the country. The company, which claims to sell non-transgenic soy, pea and beet products, also arrived in Canada through the stores of the retailer Whole Foods, controlled by Amazon.

According to Leta, meat substitute products do not only serve vegan or vegetarian consumers. many who eat meat of animal origin are often interested in reducing this consumption, a trend that motivated large slaughterhouses such as JBS, Marfrig and BRF to launch rival products in Brazil.

Fazenda Futuro’s latest funding round involved previous investors – Monashees, Go4it Capital, BTG, Turin MFO and Enfini Ventures – and included XP and the European foodtech fund Rage Capital, the company said.

All of the company’s production comes from a factory in the state of Rio de Janeiro, with current capacity of 600 to 700 tons per month. With new investments, the company will be able to expand it to 1,200 to 1,300 tons per month, said Leta.

“This capacity supports our growth in the next two years, but the United States, accelerating, will probably need another factory to guarantee our production”, said the executive, adding that “for now the idea” is that the new factory be built in Brazil .

Asked about Asia, Leta stated that Fazenda Futuro is already in discussions with a distributor at China, “but our main focus in the coming years will be the USA, Europe and Brazil”.