UK-based Allplants scores £38M in series B funding to boost plant-based food accessibility
19 Oct 2021 --- Allplants has secured a £38 million (US$52 million) series B funding round. The round is also the biggest ever series B raise by a plant-based food company in Europe and follows record-breaking crowdfund and series A rounds, the company reveals.
“This is an exciting investment for Draper Esprit. Allplants is uniquely positioned at the intersection of some of the fastest-growing areas in food consumption today: high-quality, plant-based meals that deliver on taste, sustainability and nutrition in a convenient way for consumers,” says Nicola McClafferty, partner at Draper Esprit.
“Plant-curious” appeal
Allplants has “real potential” to scale its DTC business while expanding into new channels both in the UK and beyond, she outlines. “We believe it can be a global brand, bringing nutrition, taste and convenience to the ‘plant-curious’ consumer, and we are delighted to be supporting the team as they grow and thrive.”
The company’s continued growth is the result of serving the rapidly growing “plant-curious” or flexitarian consumer market already worth an annual £100 billion (US$137 billion) in developed markets and £10 billion (US13.7 billion) in the UK alone, says Allplants.
Two-thirds of Allplants customers aren’t vegan or vegetarian but just looking for ways to enjoy more plants.Founded by Jonathan Petrides and his brother Alex, Allplants’ revenues have doubled every year since launching in 2017.
According to Innova Market Insights, with personal health and global sustainability proving to be strong drivers of consumer choice, plant-based R&D has refocused from mimicking meat, fish and dairy to optimizing and diversifying options. The market researcher recently unveiled its Top Ten Trends for 2022, citing “Plant-Based: The Canvas for Innovation” as its number two trend.
Consumers consider plant-based alternatives to be healthier and better for the planet. The desire for diet variation is further boosting interest in plant-based beyond the traditional vegan and vegetarian sectors, leading to a 59% increase in launches of new plant-based products in the year to August 2021.
Building scalable capacity
Allplants will use the latest investment to increase its plant-based kitchen in Walthamstow, North London, to six times its current size, enabling it to meet an exploding direct-to-consumer UK market. It will also build scalable capacity for rapid distribution into other channels.
In addition, the funding round will enable a significant expansion of Allplants’ team to bring in talent across the entire stack of the business, from additional culinary-school-trained chefs through to operations, innovation, marketing and technology.
The raise will also allow Allplants to innovate to new levels, creating a wider selection of meals to meet all tastes and preferences among a growing customer base, as well as developing a broader range of product categories.
The funding round was led by Draper Esprit, backers of Revolut, Cazoo and Trustpilot.
Other new investors in the round include purpose-driven CPG fund The Craftory, Silicon Valley-based TriplePoint Capital, international England footballers Chris Smalling and Kieran Gibbs, and Cassandra Stavrou MBE, who founded the UK independent snack company PROPER Snacks.
Existing investors Felix Capital, the venture fund behind Oatly, Deliveroo and Peloton, and Octopus Ventures, early backers of Cazoo, Zoopla and Depop, also participated.
Tapping into accessibility
Draper Esprit led the round, which included the backers of Oatly, Deliveroo and Zoopla, and former England international footballers Chris Smalling and Kieran Gibbs.
Allplants’ plant-based meals are hand-made 24 hours a day by 140 chefs in the company’s kitchen – Europe’s biggest plant-based kitchen running on 100% renewable energy – and delivered across Great Britain.
The model combines convenience with delicious, healthy food and a way for environmentally aware customers to easily reduce their impact on the world through small adjustments to their eating habits, the company highlights.
Allplants’ range of meals results from the experimentation and innovation of its chefs and test kitchen and response to requests and recommendations from its community of customers.
Reducing environmental footprint
According to the company, introducing more plant-based meals into diets is the most impactful way to reduce their environmental footprint. Just one additional day of plant-based eating per week reduces the average UK consumer’s total annual food carbon footprint by more than 10%, notes Allplants.
“In the five years that we have been cooking, we’ve seen the demand for plant-based food explode. We’ve got plans to bring the movement to even more people’s kitchens, and this investment will allow us to do just that,” says Jonathan Petrides, Allplant’s founder and CEO.
“Food choices are deeply personal, so quality and taste will always come first for us – it’s the driver of everything we do and what makes it so easy for our customers to include more plants in their diets without the compromise,” he explains.
“We can now imagine, create and serve up many more recipes and products to ultimately accelerate the transformative impact that plant-based living will have on the future of our planet.”
Edited by Elizabeth Green
