“Beyond Meat” Shares Rose Rapidly as Investors Bet On the Growing Popularity of Plant-Based Food

Shares of vegan burger maker "Beyond Meat" grew by a whopping 160% on its Wall Street debut

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Beyond Meat Shares Rapidly Rose as Investors Bet On the Growing Popularity of Plant-Based Food

Plant-based meat substitutes have been recently gaining a lot in popularity since people are focusing on the environmental hazards of industrial ranching. The Vegan burger maker Beyond Meat Inc. has attracted among its investors personalities like Microsoft founder Bill Gates and actor Leonardo DiCaprio. The California-based company creates substitutes for meat by using ingredients such as proteins from peas, fava beans, and soy.

About 70% of the Beyond Meat revenues are generated by its flagship Beyond Burger patties, as well as its imitation sausages and vegan ground beef. The company has also started selling products in the UK. Moreover, the company announced early this year that they were rolling out their plant-based burger at fast-food chain Carl’s Jr.

Beyond Meat started trading on the Nasdaq on Thursday with the symbol. On Wednesday, the company priced its initial public stock offering at $25 per share, but touched $72 during the trading before closing at $65.75. The stock closed up to 163% on the first day of trading, valuing the company at close to $3.8bn. Money from the listing will give the California company enough firepower to compete with its other rivals, like Silicon Valley start-up Impossible Foods.

Ethan Brown, Beyond Meat founder and chief executive stated at the stock market launch on the Nasdaq exchange that plant-based meat is an “enormous opportunity for economic growth in rural America and throughout the world.” He added: “We understand the composition of meat, we understand the architecture and year after year we collapse the gaps between our product and animal protein.”

Source: bbc.com