Riding a wave of growth in the plant-based food and seafood analog market, Gathered Foods’ Good Catch brand has secured USD 26.35 million (EUR 22 million) in its most recent funding round. Major investors include fish feed and agricultural goods giant Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC), Unovis Asset Management, and Big Idea Ventures.
"We are excited to have this important investment by LDC, a well-respected leader in the agricultural, food and ingredients space, to help fuel growth and expansion of our company," Gathered Foods CEO Christine Mei said in a press release. "Partnering with proven companies who are innovators in their own right can only sharpen our ability to positively disrupt a nascent industry with our innovative portfolio of Good Catch products.”
As demand for plant-based seafood analogs continues to rise, Gathered Foods is looking forward to collaborating with LDC “to create breakthrough opportunities,” Mei said.
Gathered Foods will use the new round of funding to ramp up product innovation and “dramatically increase the number of Good Catch products on the market,” the company said.
The supplier will also extend its international retail footprint, beginning in Europe, with further expansion planned for later this year. Gathered Foods is working with key European distributors to bring Good Catch products to more consumers through strategic retail and foodservice partnerships.
Last year, the company secured USD 36.8 million (EUR 31 million) in funding and opened a plant-based production facility in Heath, Ohio.
Good Catch products are available across the U.S., in the U.K. through a partnership with Tesco, in Canada through partnerships with Loblaws and Sobeys, and in Europe throughout retailers in the Netherlands and Spain.
Good Catch’s large funding haul comes as investors rush into the fast- plant-based food market in the U.S. and globally. U.S. plant-based food analog retail sales soared 27 percent to USD 7 billion (EUR 5.9 billion) in 2020, according to new SPINS data released the Good Food Institute and the Plant Based Foods Association (PBFA).
Plant-based meat analog sales spiked 45 percent to USD 1.4 billion (EUR 1.4 billion in sales, and now make up 2.7 percent of all U.S. retail packaged meat sales, according to SPINS. Refrigerated plant-based meat analog sales soared 75 percent in 2020.
The plant-based protein market is projected to be worth USD 21.23 billion (EUR 17.8 billion) globally by 2027, according to Meticulous Research.
Photo courtesy of Gathered Foods
