Eat Just

Eat Just was founded in 2011 by Josh Balk and Josh Tetrick. The company, based in San Francisco, employs more than 150 people (by January 2021), including 5 chefs of Michelin's restaurants. The company specializes in the production of eggs and meat from mung beans.

The startup has more than 50 patents that allow the use of protein of plant origin for the production of analogues of other products, for example, an analogue of chicken meat.

History

2021

Attracting $97 million in investments

At the end of September 2021, Eat Just announced the attraction of $97 million in investments, as a result of which the total amount of financing in that round reached $267 million. In the plant meat market, this amount has become a record. UBS O'Connor, Graphene Ventures, K3 Ventures, Resistance Reserve and businessman Fernando Chico Pardo invested in the startup.

The company also joined its governing bodies with two dignitaries: former Secretary agriculture USA Dan Glickman was on the advisory board of Eat Just, former executive vice president of the company DuPont Jim Borel, joined the board of directors of Good Meat.

Eat Just raised $97 million

The company shows tangible progress in the sector, which until March 2021 was known as a concept that is being improved in R&D and inaccessible to consumers. Therefore, it is logical that investors are ready to invest in the company to expand its offers. Many investors and industry observers are monitoring Eat Just's efforts to get its cultivated meat on plates in the United States.

Thanks to the new investment, the total amount of funds received by Eat Just and its subsidiaries in 2021 alone reached $370 million. In March 2021, the company received $200 million, which it planned to use to increase capacity, accelerate R&D and develop brands in international markets. Eat Just also produces a Just Egg substitute based on mung beans, which is sold in retail to trade and catering facilities around the world.

From the beginning of June 2021, Eat Just expanded its team, technology and production infrastructure in Singapore and was preparing to enter the US market. The company is ready for rapid scaling, both in North America and Asia, through investments in facilities in the United States and Singapore, and also assesses opportunities for cooperation and acquisition.

In August 2021, at a virtual forum on cell meat, Eat Just CEO Josh Tetrick said that the company is working closely with US regulators and is ready for the time when the regulatory system will allow cell meat to be sold to consumers. Meat cultivation, this is not only a technical revolution, but also a possible economic and social revolution that can undermine the traditional meat sector, the company said.^[1]

Raising $3.5 million from Red Lions Capital

In January 2021, the Russian alternative investment platform Red Lions Capital closed a deal to invest in Eat Just. $3.5 million was invested in a food startup, according to the Russian Venture Telegram channel. Red Lions Capital  confirmed this amount to TAdviser, but did not disclose the estimate of Eat Just.

Russian Red Lions Capital invested in food tech company Eat Just

Eat Just operates in the United States, Canada and Europe. In January 2021, it became known that the company agreed to supply its products to Dicos fast food restaurants in China (competitor McDonald's and KFC). Under the terms of the agreement, Eat Just will add plant-based eggs to breakfast dishes in more than 500 restaurants. Eggs are obtained from mung beans, which have long been a popular ingredient for soups, noodles and desserts in the Middle Kingdom.

The main ingredient of egg substitutes is mash, or rather, its protein isolate; according to the assurances of Eat Just, he helps to get a consistency similar to a real chicken egg. In addition to mash protein, there are many other ingredients in the composition of "just eggs," including water, turmeric, carrot extract for color, nisin as a preservative, as well as rapeseed oil, dried onions and natural flavors.^[2]

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