Lever VC raises $80 million to back alternative protein companies | 2021-09-15

NEW YORK — Alternative protein venture capital fund Lever VC reached a final close on its Lever VC Fund I with $80 million raised to back early-stage plant-based and cultivated meat and dairy companies.

The fund already has built a portfolio of 19 alternative protein startups, including cell-based milk company Turtle Tree Labs, plant-based cheesemaker Good Planet Foods and The Better Meat Co., a supplier of plant protein formulas to meat companies. Other companies in Lever VC’s portfolio include Avant, THIS, Mission Barns, Bond Pet Foods, Blackbird Foods, The New Butchers, Bluu, A Dozen Cousins, Welldone, Marvelous Foods, The Good Spoon, Grounded, CellX, NoMoo, Mozza and Heura.

Lever VC’s backers include several of the world’s largest meat, ingredient and food commodities, fermentation and AgriFeed companies, along with family offices of the largest retail groups in several countries and a range of additional family offices.

“We’re pleased with the strong growth in value, sales and technology of our current portfolio, and we’ll continue to invest in more stellar companies over the next year,” said Nick Cooney, managing partner of Lever VC. “We’re grateful to be partnered with some of the biggest food companies from the US, Europe, China and Southeast Asia, as well as value-add family offices.”

The venture capital fund tracks more than 2,000 alternative protein companies globally, with team members in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Brazil and Israel. Prior to launching the Lever VC Fund, partners Nick Cooney and Lawrence Chu made family office investments into leading alternative protein companies including Impossible Foods, Beyond Meat, JUST, Upside Foods (formerly Memphis Meats), Mosa Meats, Aleph Farms, Miyoko’s and Kite Hill Foods.