Meati Foods, a producer of mycelium-based meat alternatives, has closed a $50 million Series B funding round to accelerate its production scale-up.

Based in Colorado, US, Meati produces high-protein and high-fibre whole-cut meat alternatives using mycelium – the muscular root structure of fungi – as the main ingredient.

The company has developed a proprietary process to cultivate its ‘unique’ strain of fast-growing mycelium and form the naturally fibrous texture into whole-cut products, without the use of chemicals.

The company’s latest funding round was co-led by new investor Bond and longstanding Meati backer Acre Venture Partners, with participation from Prelude Ventures, Congruent Ventures and Tao Capital.

Meati has an expanding cohort of investor-advisers active in the movement to create more sustainable food systems, many of which provided either new or upsized investments in this latest round. Names include John Foraker, Once Upon a Farm CEO and former CEO of Annie’s Organic, and Nicolas Jammet and Jonathan Neman, co-founders of Sweetgreen.

The new funds will allow Meati to more than double the size of its team and accelerate its efforts to scale production capacity and launch its products at a national scale next year.

The capital builds on the $18 million in debt financing that Meati announced earlier this year to support the establishment of a new production site. Covering nearly 80,000 square feet, the planned facility is expected to have the capacity to produce millions of pounds of Meati by 2022.

“Meati’s growing momentum and unprecedented product is attracting a diverse and talented group of people and partners focused on solving one of the food system’s toughest challenges: feeding everyone nutritious protein without compromising taste, nutrition and human, animal or environmental welfare,” said Meati Foods co-founder and CEO, Tyler Huggins.

“We are thrilled to continue welcoming world-class visionaries and investors who are taking Meati’s mission to the next level.”

Acre Venture Partners co-founder and managing partner, Lucas Mann, added: “The pace of progress at Meati, in terms of both product and business development, has exceeded our expectations.

“We are not aware of any other product on the market that can match the nutrition, texture and price versatility of Meati. Meati is creating a new category of food.”

The Series B announcement comes eight months after Meati Foods revealed that it had raised $28 million in a Series A funding round to scale up production.

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