V2’s whopping $35m raise

The Sydney company behind Hungry Jack’s ‘Rebel Whopper’ is capitalising on the meat-free meat craze to go global.

Main Sequence Ventures partner Phil Morle, and V2food founder and CEO Nick Hazell. Picture: Jane Dempster

The Sydney-based start-up behind Hungry Jack’s “Rebel Whopper” has landed a whopping $35m Series A funding round, thought to be the largest of any meat-free meat start-up worldwide.

V2food is gearing up for what it says is a major international push, after having proved itself already in Hungry Jack’s stores nationwide.

It’s a company that Main Sequence Ventures partner Phil Morle told The Australian started with the existential problem of needing to feed 10 billion people by 2050.

“The work we did within CSIRO illuminated very quickly that it’s just not going to be possible doing the things we do today,” he said. “We had a terrific pool of decades of deep knowledge that would allow us to get into the plant-based meat space, and we knew we could come a long way very quickly.

“We know this can be a very significant company with a huge impact on the global food system.”

CSIRO provided research and development resources to v2food on a research-for-equity arrangement.

Mr Morle said the meat-free meat sector was “on fire” and that the company’s Series A round would give the company the boost it needed to grow to markets such as Asia.

V2 has already sold more than half a million Rebel Whoppers, after a nationwide deal with Jack Cowin’s Competitive Foods Australia, and demand is outstripping supply for meat-free meat.

The Hungry Jack’s Rebel Whopper.

V2 founder and CEO Nick ­Hazell, a former PepsiCo and Masterfoods executive, told The Australian his company was not targeting vegans but meat-eaters who loved the taste of meat.

“That’s the bulk of the problem we’re tackling,” he said. “It will mean people don’t have to change their eating habits too much. Normally, people change their habits over generations, but we’ve been extremely well received very quickly. Our ambition is to be a big Australian brand.”

Mr Hazell said v2 was a one-man-team at the beginning, but he also had access to hundreds of the best scientific minds to help perfect the product. The team is now quickly growing.

The blockbuster oversubscribed $35m funding round was led by CSIRO’s innovation fund Main Sequence Ventures and Horizons Ventures, with additional backing from Fairfax family investment fund Marinya Capital and Sequoia Capital China.

Horizons Ventures is the private investment arm of Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-shing, who has backed companies including Spotify, Siri, Zoom and fellow meat-free meat start-up Impossible Foods.

The funding will be used to expand to Asia, but also on R&D ­efforts, including building a new research and production facility with plans to begin operation in regional Australia next year.

Mr Morle said Main Sequence saw v2 as an opportunity for Australia to begin growing a new food production industry, at a time when Australia’s traditional agriculture and manufacturing industries were under threat.

“We have all the raw materials, the science and the farmers to build a fabulous new industry,” he said. “And I’m very keen to see that happen in Australia. The Rebel Whopper is first, but in parallel we’ve been developing other beef products, and other burgers for other chains will be rolled out very soon. We’re also investigating retail, given many times more beef burgers are sold in retail versus fast food in Australia.

“Asia has a massive existential problem with pork so we’re prototyping pork products, too. We also want to be clear this is not a threat to farmers whatsoever. We’re engaging as much as possible with them and being clear to them that there is money to be had for farmers in this space.”

Marinya Capital managing director Nicholas Fairfax said the backing marked another of Marinya’s investments into sector-defining businesses.

“The v2 team has created a truly world class product in an area that is seeing massive growth and demand,” Mr Fairfax said.

“We’re incredibly excited to back this home-grown start-up to bring v2 not only to consumers across Australia but the world.”