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Another year gone, and the plant-based industry has come up against its share of challenges. In 2025, we continued to see start-ups struggle to secure funding, with several in this space unable to remain operational and sadly closing their doors. But in many cases, new opportunities arose as we saw a number of major acquisitions and successful funding rounds closed.
Labelling remained a point of contention this year, and a potential EU-wide ban on the use of meat-related names for plant-based alternative products could still be on the cards for 2026.
But despite these hurdles, innovation and industry collaboration has been strong. As always, The Plant Base team has been proud to report on the progress of this dynamic sector, with the appetite for sustainable and tasty plant-based food continuing to fuel high-quality product development and meaningful initiatives.
Join us as we reflect on the last 12 months, and read on to discover the 15 most-read news stories of 2025 on The Plant Base.
Meati Foods to be sold for $4m amid financial challenges
In May, it was revealed that US-based mycelium meat alternative producer Meati was preparing for a distress sale valued at just $4 million.
This came on the heels of a significant financial crisis that had shaken the company, which had previously raised a total of $450 million in funding. The Meati brand and its assets have since been purchased by Yasir Abdul, CEO of tech company InvenTel.
Meati's sale was disclosed in court filings to the Adams County District Court in Colorado on 2 May, revealing that CEO Phil Graves had assigned the firm’s assets to attorney Aaron Garber.
Read more here.
Beyond Meat sees revenue increase for Q4 2024, plans to suspend China operations and cut jobs
In February, Beyond Meat published its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2024, revealing plans to suspend its operations in China and cut 64 jobs as part of a strategy to reduce operating costs.
The alt-meat maker posted its second consecutive quarter of year-on-year net revenue growth after several years of falling sales, reaching net revenues of $76.7 million in Q4 – a 4% increase on the year-ago period.
Aiming to position the company for run-rate EBITDA-positive operations by the end of 2026, Beyond shared plans to implement organisational changes and cost reduction measures intending to support its long-term goals, including the job cuts and suspension of its China business.
Read more here.
Bunge acquires IFF's soy and lecithin business
Bunge Global acquired IFF's soy and lecithin business in August, enhancing its product portfolio and strengthen its position in the F&B sector.
The agreement involved the purchase of nearly all assets related to IFF's lecithin, soy protein concentrate and crush operations, which generated approximately $240 million in revenue in 2024.
This deal aligned with Bunge's recent growth trajectory, including its $8.2 billion merger with Viterra earlier in 2025.
Read more here.
UK plant milk company Mighty Drinks appoints administrators amid market headwinds
This summer, British plant milk company Mighty Drinks appointed administrators from Interpath. This came as trading headwinds and funding challenges continued to impact many companies across the plant-based food and beverage category.
A month later, the company's brand and some of its assets were acquired by unrelated alternative protein company The Mighty Kitchen.
According to Interpath, rising costs and the impact of ‘fragile’ consumer confidence had impacted Mighty Drinks' ability to scale and achieve profitability, despite building a successful brand.
Read more here.
Time-Travelling Milkman raises €2m to support launch of Oleocream solution
Dutch start-up Time-Travelling Milkman recently secured €2 million in Pre-Series A funding to accelerate the commercialisation of its Oleocream solution – an ingredient designed to enhance creaminess in plant-based and hybrid dairy products.
The food-tech company, founded in 2020 and based in Wageningen, has received backing from Sparkalis – the venture arm of Puratos – to support global expansion in premium bakery and patisserie categories, and Evercurious, a venture capital fund backing European early-stage deep-tech start-ups.
With production scaled to 1,000 tonnes per year, TTM will use the capital to scale the commercial roll-out of Oleocream in the dairy and dairy alternatives market.
Read more here.
Miyoko’s Creamery buyer revealed to be Prosperity Organic Foods, owner of Melt Organic brand
Prosperity Organic Foods, the private company behind vegan butter brand Melt Organic, announced its acquisition of dairy alternatives brand Miyoko’s Creamery last month.
Miyoko's was founded by Miyoko Schinner, who recently put forward an unsuccessful bid to take back ownership of the brand after learning it was up for sale following initiation of an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors process.
However, she revealed that she had been unsuccessful and that the company “went to someone with a higher bid,” though this bidder was unidentified at the time.
Prosperity Organic Foods was then confirmed as the new owner. Schinner shared a post on social media, appearing to show a dispute via text with Prosperity's CEO, Scott Fischer, after he asked Schinner to become a brand ambassador. Fischer responded with a public apology to Schinner over his words in the messages, which referred to the Miyoko's Creamery founder as "cagey" and "a failed businessperson".
Read more here.
Danone completes acquisition of plant-based nutrition company Kate Farms
Danone completed its acquisition of Kate Farms, a US provider of plant-based clinical nutrition, from Novo Holdings in July.
Founded in 2012, Kate Farms develops plant-based, organic nutritional formulas for patients with medical conditions and individuals needing daily nutritional support. Its products are used in more than 1,400 hospitals across the US and are known for being allergen-free and clinically supported.
The acquisition, first announced in May, saw Brett Matthews – who has led Kate Farms since 2015 – become chairman and CEO of Danone North America Medical Nutrition.
Read more here.
Green Spot Technologies secures €5m to scale ingredient production
French start-up Green Spot Technologies recently raised €5 million to expand its industrial operations and introduce Milatea, a new brand of fermented ingredients designed for bakers, pastry chefs and chocolatiers.
Operating from its facility in Carpentras, France, Green Spot Technologies upcycles plant-based by-products into premium ingredients, supporting a circular and low-carbon food system. It uses sidestreams of fruits, vegetables and cereals, such as apples, fava and grapes, enabling it to reduce food waste and aligning with circular production principles.
The funding round was led by Team for the Planet, with additional support from the European Innovation Council, EIT Food and new angel investors.
Read more here.
Phytolon and Ginkgo Bioworks announce natural food colour production milestone
In May, biotech start-ups Phytolon and Ginkgo Bioworks announced the successful completion of the second development milestone in their multi-product collaboration to produce natural food colours.
Phytolon and Ginkgo achieved the first development milestone in their partnership early last year, unlocking the entire purple-to-yellow spectrum.
Ginkgo leveraged its AI modeling expertise and high-throughput screening platform to deliver yeast strains with nearly three times higher production efficiency, enabling Phytolon to develop formulations that successfully addressed the desired colouring standards in multiple food categories including baked goods, snacks, seasonings, toppings and icings, confectionery, yogurts, ice creams and frozen novelties.
Read more here.
Lallemand opens new food cultures R&D laboratory in France
Lallemand Specialty Cultures recently inaugurated a new application research and development laboratory in Rennes, France, relocating its operations from La Ferté-sous-Jouarre to a newly built 400 square-metre facility.
The business unit, founded in 2012 and focused on food cultures for dairy, meat and plant-based products, said the move strengthens its capacity for innovation and collaboration with partners.
The new site includes 200 square metres of laboratories for the formulation and testing of microorganism-based solutions and for evaluating their performance in conditions similar to industrial production.
Read more here.
European Parliament votes to ban terms like ‘burger’ and ‘sausage’ for plant-based products
On 8 October, Members of the European Parliament voted to restrict the labelling of plant-based products with meaty words such as ‘burger’ and ‘sausage’.
The plenary session saw a majority vote – 355 votes for, 247 against, and 30 abstentions – for the introduction of new labelling restrictions, which would see the meaty words reserved exclusively for products that contain animal meat.
If the ban goes ahead following ongoing talks with the Council of the European Union, set to continue in early 2026, both plant-based and cell-cultured products (meat grown in bioreactors using real animal cells) will be prohibited from using such words.
Read more here.
Thai animal-free dairy start-up Muu celebrates funding milestone
Muu, an animal-free dairy start-up based in Bangkok, Thailand, secured strategic investment from A2D Ventures, Leave a Nest Japan and several other firms this spring.
The company uses precision fermentation to produce bioidentical milk proteins that replicate the taste and nutritional value of cow’s milk, without animal involvement. Muu’s technology is built on a four-stage process: strain development, fermentation, purification and formulation.
In addition to A2D Ventures and Leave a Nest, it has also been supported by investment firms Glocalink Singapore, Brinc, and an unnamed Japanese food conglomerate.
Read more here.
European Patent Office reinstates Impossible Foods’ heme protein patent
At the beginning of the year, The European Patent Office (EPO) reinstated meat alternatives company Impossible Foods’ EU patent, relating to the key ingredients used to make its ‘bleeding’ plant-based beef burger.
First granted to Impossible in 2017, the patent was revoked by the EPO in 2022 after an opponent challenged its validity.
The patent relates to Impossible’s key ingredients in its burgers – a heme protein made in a process that involves using genetically engineered yeast to produce soy leghemoglobin, and specific flavour precursors used to enhance taste.
Read more here.
Dutch food regulator issues warning to companies using ‘plant-based mince’ labelling
In October, The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) issued a warning to several companies, asking them to remove the word ‘mince’ in the labelling of their plant-based products.
The action came in response to the NVWA reviewing plant-based brands’ labelling due to a law that came into effect in 1998, the Commodities Act Decree. This law reserves the term 'minced meat’ for meat products.
In a statement shared on LinkedIn, Dutch alt-meat brand The Vegetarian Butcher's founder, Rutger Rozendaal, said the NVWA had ”unexpectedly” ordered both The Vegetarian Butcher and its parent brand Vivera to change their long-established names for their mince alternative products.
Read more here.
Vegan Food Group and Eat Just announce partnership backed by £11.25m investment
In April, Vegan Food Group (VFG) announced a new partnership with US food-tech company Eat Just, creator of the Just Egg product.
Under the agreement, VFG has secured the exclusive rights to manufacture and supply Eat Just’s mung bean plant-based egg alternative across European markets, making it the sole producer in the region.
Through the partnership, the Just Egg product since made its debut in the UK in the summer, celebrating with an exclusive launch party attended by The Plant Base.
Read more here.
