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Impossible Foods eyes $7B valuation for ‘inevitable’ IPO

Plant-based protein titan Impossible Foods is reportedly looking to go public on the U.S. stock exchange through an IPO or SPAC listing, Forbes reported. Although there is currently no date set for the filing, the California company is in talks to raise $500 million at a valuation of $7 billion, according to Bloomberg.

While Impossible Foods has been handsomely funded by venture firms and billionaires like Khosla Ventures, Li Ka-Shing's Horizons Ventures, Qatar Investment Authority, billionaire Bill Gates, singer Katy Perry and tennis star Serena Williams, Founder and CEO Pat Brown told Forbes that going public would allow more people to support the company’s mission of creating a healthier environment through food.

"There's a couple of reasons why it's inevitable. You have easier access to capital to support growth, but more importantly to me, there are millions of non-billionaires out there who are very, very supportive of our mission but they don't have a chance to share in our success. They would love to support the future of their planet and their kids and grandkids' future, but they can't invest in Impossible Foods. I don't like that," he told Forbes.

Since Brown founded the company seven years ago, Impossible has raised $1.5 billion and was valued at approximately $4 billion at its last public valuation. However, when the company closes its latest funding round, its valuation is set to exceed that of its rival Beyond Meat, which has a valuation of roughly $6.2 billion.

While there is still uncertainty surrounding the timing of a possible IPO, this is not the first time that reports have circulated about the company going public. This past April, Reuters reported that the plant-based meat company was preparing to go public with a valuation at $10 billion or more. Although this report never came to fruition, Brown’s confirmation that going public is in the cards for this food tech giant means that it is now just a matter of when.

In recent months, Impossible Foods has accelerated its expansion efforts. At the beginning of 2020, only 150 U.S. grocery stores carried Impossible Burgers, but by early 2021 the brand was at more than 20,000 stores selling both sausage and chicken nugget products in addition to its flagship burger. Nor is Impossible only focusing on expansion in its home country. Just this month, Impossible entered Australia and New Zealand markets following its recent debut in the UAE. The brand also sells its products in Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore.

While an IPO is clearly in the future for Impossible, recent instances of food companies going public have turned sour. Since Beyond Meat took the pioneering step of going public in 2019, there have been 16 food and beverage companies that have gone public. The majority of these have become money-losing ventures.