ImpactAlpha, September 16 — The alternative meat market will grow by 28% a year and reach $85 billion by 2030, UBS forecasts. Plant-based dairy could be worth $37.5 billion by 2025.
Lever VC Fund I received commitments from undisclosed food companies and family offices from the U.S., Europe and Asia. The fund will invest in global early stage plant-based meat and dairy companies.
New York-based Lever VC’s founders, Nick Cooney and Lawrence Chu, worked with family offices that made early investments in alternative protein companies, including Impossible Foods, Beyond Meat, Mosa Meat and others.
The venture firm will start raising capital for Lever Fund II early next year, due to having already secured “large pre-commitments from existing LPs and strong interest from institutional investors,” said Cooney.
Portfolio companies
The Lever VC fund has already backed 19 companies from the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America. It invested in Singapore’s cells-based milk producer TurtleTree Labs, China’s cell-based dairy producer Marvelous Foods Sacramento-based Better Meat Co, which makes plant-based ingredients meat and seafood companies.
