NEW TECH FOODS

Dutch food-tech company Rival Foods has raised €10m in Series B growth financing, supporting the scale-up of its plant-based whole cut meat alternatives.

The round was led by pension investor APG, on behalf of APG, with participation from Pymymic and ROM Utrecht Region, with follow-on investment from existing shareholder PeakBridge.

Rival Foods was founded in 2019 as a spin-off from Wageningen University & Research. Its proprietary platform produces whole cut meat alternatives – products that closely mimic the structure, flavour and mouthfeel of animal-derived meat cuts while being fully plant-based, clean label and minimally processed.

The products are free from artificial additives and are designed to meet high culinary standards in the industry, developed specifically for foodservice, retail and brands.

This latest funding round will enable Rival Foods to double its production capacity at its facility in Geldrop, the Netherlands. According to the start-up, it will also allow for further optimisation of production costs to achieve competitive pricing to animal meat, without compromising on taste, texture or nutritional value.

Birgit Dekkers, CEO and founder of Rival Foods, said: “This investment marks a major milestone in our mission to make high-quality plant-based meat mainstream”.

“With the backing of world-class investors, we’re ready to scale fast and reshape the future of protein. We’re called Rival for a reason – we’re here to be one.”

Rival takes a B2B-first approach, working with chefs, retailers and food brands across Europe. In addition to scaling its operations, the Series B funding will support team expansion and international growth, as well as new foodservice and retail partnerships.

Lodewijk Meens, senior portfolio manager at APG, said: “Rival Foods have built something special: a scalable process to turn standard plant proteins into exciting fibrous, meat-like structures”.

“With this investment, our client ABP seeks to achieve strong financial returns while simultaneously reducing the environmental footprint of food consumption. We are proud to support Birgit and her excellent team as they continue to add manufacturing capacity and expand market presence.”

Images: © Rival Foods