ImpactAlpha, October 18 — Consumers are demanding locally-grown and climate-friendly food options. Brooklyn-based Smallhold is growing organic mushrooms in local warehouses for nearby restaurants and grocery stores, to demonstrate the fungi’s potential to feed the world.
Investors in the Series A round include Astanor Ventures, Energy Impact Partners, Almanac Insights, Wheatsheaf Group and AlleyCorp. “These guys are ahead of the gun,” said Almanac’s David Barber, who recently joined Astanor. “We are leveraging the strongest parts of deploying dollars into a future food system, but with a team of people who can do that faster.”
Smallhold manages warehouses in Texas and in Brooklyn and is looking to launch in Los Angeles next year and “to build these farms all over the place,” says Smallhold’s Andrew Carter.
Alternative food
The market for plant-based meat alternatives is projected to reach $74 billion by 2030, up from around $4.2 billion today. Companies growing mushrooms and other fungi, currently a small fraction of alternative proteins, are expected to become a larger part of the market due to consumer demand.
