Meat of plants to a thousand: Farm Future receives contribution of R $ 115 million

The startup Fazenda Futuro, leader in plant-based meatin Brazil, received a contribution of 115 million reais on Tuesday, raising its market value to 715 million reais.
The investment was led by BTG Pactual (from the same group that controls Exame), ENFINI Investments (PWR Capital Group) and first-round investors Monashees and Go4it Capital.
It is the second contribution received by the company created last year by entrepreneurs Marcos Leta and Alfredo Strechinsky, founders of Sucos do Bem, sold to Ambev in 2016.
In July last year the company had received US$8 million from monashees and go4it funds — at a market value of R$ 400 million. The resources, at the time, were used to expand the company's factory, located in Volta Redonda, in the interior of Rio, from 115 to 600 tons per month. Now the idea is to boost growth in the United States and Europe.
"We now have the opportunity to be a global player in plant based. Now let's speed up," says Leta. "We are closing contracts with distributors and already hiring the commercial marketing team there. In Brazil, we will continue to increase the technological level and increase the product portfolio."
With a greater presence in the United States, the company is studying a new contribution, this 100% dollar, next year.
Outside, the company adopts the Future Farm brand, and has as its main competitor the American Beyond Meat, which is already worth 8 billion dollars in the stock exchange, and recently announced a 195% increase in sales amid the pandemic of the new coronavirus.
Burgers, meatballs, ground beef and sausage from The Future Farm are already sold in the Netherlands, and are also entering Germany, the UK, Australia and the Middle East. In July the company obtained authorization from the FDA, the U.S. anvisa, to start selling in the country.
One of the main competitive advantages of Fazenda Futuro is a verticalized production structure, which allows you to sell your products for up to half the price of the main competitors in the developed markets. Still, Leta says her company achieves a gross margin of 44%, up from Beyond Meat's 34%.
Leta's main goal is to make her company fight equally not with vegan brands, but with the big traditional meat fridges. In Brazil, it is a business of 222 billion reais.
New "meats", such as chicken and fish, are on the radar —now, turbocharged by the new contribution, the company can make the future closer.