Beyond Meat plans to go public with $100m public offering

US meat alternative company Beyond Meat plans to go public with an IPO worth $100 million as it aims to accelerate breakneck growth.

The company filed the IPO with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) late last week. It claims its success so far, based on the likeness of its products to real meat, has allowed it “to compete directly in the $1.4 trillion global meat industry” and wants the public offering to accelerate that.

Its flagship product, the Beyond Burger, contains pea protein, potato starch and even beetroot juice to ‘bleed’ like real meat when cooking. The company is betting on the health market above anything, estimating that as many as 70% of its consumers are ‘meat eaters’, and has attracted interest from within the mainstream meat market including investment from Tyson Foods.

It has also announced plans to extend availability to 50 new markets around the world, and has opened a a second manufacturing facility in Colombia, Missouri to help it sustain growth.

But the California-based outfit is still loss-making: $30 million last year, from net revenue of $32.6 million, and $22.4 million for the first nine months of 2018.

“Instead of marketing and merchandising The Beyond Burger to vegans and vegetarians (who represent less than 5% of the U.S. population), we request that the product be sold in the meat case at grocery retailers, where meat-loving consumers are accustomed to shopping for center-of-plate proteins. We believe merchandising in the meat case in the retail channel has helped drive greater brand awareness with our end consumers,” Beyond Meat said in the filing.

“The successes of The Beyond Burger and Beyond Sausage products have confirmed our belief that there is significant demand for additional plant-based meat products. We intend to strengthen our product offering by improving the formulations for our existing portfolio of products, and by creating new products that expand the portfolio. We are continuously refining our products to improve their taste, texture and aroma.

“In addition, we are committed to increasing our investment in research and development to continue to innovate within our core plant-based platforms of beef, pork and poultry to create exciting new product lines and improve the formulations for our existing portfolio of products.”