Bangkok Just a year ago, the vegan entrepreneur Timo Recker served the first plant-based imitation chicken from his new start-up in Singapore. Now the 35-year-old is getting prominent support for international expansion: the former Beatles singer and self-confessed vegetarian Paul McCartney is taking a stake in Recker’s Southeast Asia-based meat substitute company Next Gen Foods. Recker wants to use the cash injection to gain a foothold in the US market.
The investment by McCartney’s investment company MPL Ventures is part of a financing round in which the start-up, which was founded in 2020, raised a total of 100 million dollars, as Next Gen Foods announced on Tuesday. According to the company, this is the largest amount that venture capitalists have ever invested in a Series A round in a manufacturer of plant-based meat substitutes.
“We have shown that we can scale very quickly,” says the founder, who comes from Lower Saxony. The business model is a very interesting package for investors. The declared goal is to become the world market leader in plant-based imitation chicken.
Southeast Asian venture capitalist Alpha JWC is among the new investors in the start-up. Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek and other investors who had previously provided seed funding of $30 million are further expanding their investments.
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With regard to the famous artist behind the new shareholder MPL, Recker is cautious. He only speaks of a “very well-known personality” with whom he can identify.
More details are apparently not provided in the official communication strategy. “We always follow the wishes of the investor,” says Recker. “I cannot confirm whether Paul McCartney tried the product.” A spokesman for McCartney’s company declined to comment on the investment when asked.
MPL’s first investment in the food sector
According to the British company register, the musician founded MPL Ventures in London in November 2020 and is listed there as director and beneficial owner. To date, MPL has taken stakes in three music industry start-ups – Audoo and Yoto from the UK and Yousician from Finland.
Next Gen Foods is the company’s first known investment in the food sector. McCartney has a personal connection to the meatless trend in the industry: he has been a vegetarian since 1975, and in 2009 he founded the “Meat free Mondays” campaign. He also presented the demand for at least one meat-free day per week in a speech to the EU Parliament.
He can see Recker as an ally in the matter. The entrepreneur, who is chairman and largest shareholder at Next Gen Foods, is even a little clearer: Instead of holding “Veggie Days”, in his view, meat consumption should be limited to one day a week, says Recker. “Eating meat should be something special – like a glass of red wine. You don’t drink that for breakfast either.”
The alternatives to meat have shaped Recker’s entrepreneurial career for almost a decade: in 2013 he founded the plant-based meat manufacturer Like Meat in Germany. He sold the company two years ago to the investor Foods United, which now operates under the name Livekindly.
Before starting his vegan business, Recker worked for a short time in his family’s meat plant, which produces frozen schnitzel for supermarkets. Watching the slaughter of the pigs caused him problems, Recker said in the past.
With his vegetable product Tindle, which resembles chicken both in taste and texture, Recker has made a name for himself in Singapore in the Asian metropolises in recent months: more than 200 restaurants, including in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur, have the replacement chicken already served.
Expansion into restaurants in the US
The launch in North America is planned for this week – including in restaurants in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. Only after the brand has become more established does Recker intend to offer his product in retail.
He outsources tindle production to contract manufacturers around the world. Recker does not want to run his own factories. Instead, he invests in marketing and product development. This model enables rapid international expansion.
However, the situation he finds in the US market is not easy: After strong sales growth for plant-based meat of almost 50 percent in 2020, the past year disappointed the industry, which had bet on continued rising demand: According to market researcher Spins sales fell by 0.5 percent.
Beyond Meat stock, one of the market leaders, has lost two-thirds of its value in the past 12 months. Recker still believes in the long-term growth potential of the industry: “It will take some time for eating habits to change.” He used the price slide at Beyond Meat to buy a few shares in the competitor group himself.
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