Business

Beyond Meat wannabes are failing as hype and money fade

Unreal Food ended its pursuit of an eggless egg. Remastered Foods stopped developing vegan bacon. The Meatless Farm halted its plant-based sausages.

The great shakeout in the world’s fake meat sector is here and it’s widening.

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As money flows less freely due to surging interest rates, investors have sharply pulled back funding just as inflation increases production costs and makes consumers more selective about their food choices. That’s hitting a crowded field, which had mushroomed after the early success of Beyond Meat Inc. and Impossible Foods Inc.

With shoppers put off by excessive processing, nutritional value and taste, a growing list of alternative-protein companies are shutting down, laying off staff and selling themselves. Industry observers say more turmoil is coming before the sector stabilizes.

“You probably need a bit of a clear out in some of these categories to allow winners to come through,” said Mark Lynch, a partner at Oghma Partners in London, a corporate-finance advisory specializing in the food and beverage sector.

Fewer players means resources will be more concentrated and survivors will control more of the available shelf space, he added.

Enthusiasm for alternatives to beef and pork surged in the aftermath of Beyond Meat’s 2019 initial public offering, and venture capitalists were willing to invest in companies that offered little more than a recipe book.

But sales haven’t matched wildly optimistic projections, as high prices and odd tastes and textures made the costly products easy to cross off shopping lists.

The spate of failures extends from plant-based proteins and vertical farmers, to insect breeders and lab-grown meats. Global investment in food and agriculture tech dropped 44 percent in 2022, according to AgFunder.

The downturn has so far mainly claimed obscure names and early-stage companies, like Canada’s Merit Foods and China’s Hey Maet.

But in the UK, two up-and-coming companies recently appointed administrators: The Meatless Farm laid off staff at its headquarters in Leeds, while Plant & Bean got hit by soaring food and energy prices just two years after opening a mega factory in Lincolnshire.

The upheaval is part of an adjustment phase that happens in almost every high-growth consumer segment from smoothies to popcorn, said Andy Shovel, co-founder of British plant-based meat company THIS, whose sales are up about 45 percent this year.

The result will be less confusion at stores, better quality and prices getting closer to meat, according to Shovel. “From a customer’s point of view, this is only good news,” he said.

Industry stalwarts have also stumbled. Beyond Meat, which has seen its market value drop over 90 percent from its peak, has had multiple rounds of layoffs in the past year, as has Impossible Foods. Cuts have also affected Spain’s Heura Foods and California-based Eat Just Inc., which has continued to expand distribution in the US.

Traditional food companies are also retrenching. Nestle SA pulled its Garden Gourmet line and Wunda pea milk from the UK because of intense competition. Meat giant JBS SA discontinued its Planterra unit after pouring money into a mega factory in Colorado.

Despite the turmoil, some investors remain upbeat. Big Idea Ventures, a food-tech investor fund, said last month that it’s closing in on a $75 million fund-raising target. Fake bacon maker MyForest Foods raised $15 million in fresh funding earlier this month, and Israeli startup Chunk Foods announced a seed round of the same size in the spring.

Agricultural giant Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. still has faith in the sector, too. At an innovation center in Manchester, England, the company mixes processed soy with flavors to help make alternative proteins more appealing. Its venture capital unit is also continuing to invest in startups.

“The category is now evolving into what really consumers have been asking for,” said Leticia Gonçalves, ADM’s president of global foods. “Companies are now learning from the past and adjusting with new launches.

ADM expects the alternative-protein market to grow annually by “high single-digits and reach $100 billion in sales by 2030.” Euromonitor International, which tracks sales in retail outlets and food services, predicts global sales volume of meat and seafood substitutes to grow more than 10 percent this year.

About two-thirds of young consumers are planning to spend more on vegan meat and dairy products citing health perceptions and environmental benefits, according to Emma Ignaszewski, associate director at Good Food Institute, an industry group.

For some companies, the disruption is an opportunity. Minnesota-based Wicked Kitchen — a maker of vegan convenience foods like jackfruit pepperoni pizza — acquired plant-based seafood company Good Catch for over $7 million in stock as well as vegan fish brand Current Foods in a deal valued between $7 million and $10 million, Chief Executive Officer Pete Speranza told Bloomberg.

Administrators for Meatless Farm said this week that they secured the sale of the company’s brand to vegan chicken company VFC Foods.

Food is now widely understood as central to efforts to combat the climate crisis and alternative proteins are seen as delivering the biggest benefit, according to Rosie Wardle, a partner and co-founder of Synthesis Capital, who has been active in the space for a decade.

“This correction was overdue,” she said. “The best companies in the sector will be able to find the capital they need even in these challenging times. Ultimately this sector is here to stay.”

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Business

Almarai signs multiple agreements to localize jobs through training and recruitment programs

Almarai signed a cooperation memorandum with the Food Industries Polytechnic, the
Transport General Authority, and the Saudi Logistics Academy to localize jobs in the
food and beverages sector through training and rehabilitation programs ending in
employment. This came within the first international conference on the labor market,
organized by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development on 13 – 14
December 2023 at the King Abdulaziz Convention Center in Riyadh.

‘These agreements are part of Almarai’s corporate program for the social responsibility
to achieve localization in the food industry sector, which is one of the top priorities of the
comprehensive strategic plans in Almarai, especially since the company is one of the
largest working environments in the kingdom, with more than 9,000 Saudi employees,
including more than 900 Saudi female employees.”Fahad Aldrees, Chief Human
Resources Officer of Almarai, said.

He added that the agreements signed to train and qualify young people are part of the
integrated initiatives and training and rehabilitation programs for national human
resources in Almarai. He pointed out that the company provided about half a million
employee training hours during 2022, raising its retention rate to 90% during 2022.

It is worth mentioning that Almarai is the world’s largest vertically integrated dairy
company, and the largest food and beverage producer and distributor in the Middle
East. Almarai was ranked among LinkedIn’s top 15 Saudi companies for professional
career development for 2022.

Business

SEBA Bank rebrands to AMINA Bank and continues to write its success story

a fully licensed Swiss crypto bank, announced today its new brand identity: AMINA Bank AG. The group operates
globally from its regulated hubs in Zug, Abu Dhabi and Hong Kong, offering its clients traditional and crypto banking services.
SEBA Bank made history in 2019 by becoming one of the first FINMA-regulated institutions to provide crypto banking services. This rebrand marks a new chapter for the company, which has proudly been in operation for more than four years. AMINA Bank is inspired by the same trailblazing ambition to lead the way for its clients and to write its own future as a Swiss-
regulated crypto bank offering services to its traditional and crypto savvy clients around the globe. The name ‘AMINA’ stems from the term ‘transAMINAtion’, meaning transference of one compound to another. AMINA is a brand driven by perpetual change, bringing together the various ‘compounds’ of traditional, digital, and crypto banking to unlock new potential and
growth for our clients. This vision of change represents the transformation of our clients’ financial future. Franz Bergmueller, CEO of AMINA, said: “We are delighted to introduce the world to our new brand identity. While we say goodbye to the SEBA name, we remain forever proud of the achievements made by the group under the former brand. “Our brand signifies a new era in the company’s growth and strategy; we are a key player in crypto banking and are here to define the future of finance. With our client-focused approach, our years of traversing traditional and crypto finance, we offer a platform for investors to build
wealth safely and under the highest regulatory standards.” “We are grateful to be encouraged by our supportive and committed investors who have been very helpful, supporting the growth of the company. We thank our employees in all the regions
for their dedication and client focus. As we look forward to 2024, our ambition is to accelerate the growth of our strategic hubs in Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Abu Dhabi, and to continue our global expansion, building on all the successes we have laid down over the past years.” Current clients of AMINA Bank (formerly SEBA Bank) will be unaffected by the rebrand other than encountering the new name; all operations will be business as usual across the board. The branch office based in Abu Dhabi and the subsidiaries in Hong Kong and Singapore will subsequently apply for a name change to align with the head office in Zug.

Business

Uptime Appoints Mustapha Louni Chief Business Officer

Uptime Institute is pleased to announce the appointment of Mustapha Louni to the position of Chief Business Officer, a role specifically created to drive strategic leadership and client success. In this new role, Mr. Louni will assume responsibility for the global Uptime sales and marketing organizations and drive overall business value for all Uptime clients. He will retain his existing responsibilities overseeing operations in the Middle East, India, Africa, and the Asia Pacific regions. In this elevated capacity, Mr. Louni is poised to play a pivotal role in driving Uptime’s next phase of global expansion through strategic initiatives to enhance market awareness of the dramatically expanding global service lines and delivery capabilities of Uptime that uniquely support the global data center industry in its pursuit of ever higher performance through elevated availability, resiliency, sustainability, and cyber-security of digital infrastructure. Louni’s appointment renews and expands Uptime

Institute 39;s 30-year commitment to advancing excellence in the data center sector on a global scale. “Today we are experiencing the next phase of the one-time, planetary transformation from analog to digital. This unprecedented, once-in-a-generation growth in data center demand is primarily driven by continuing cloud adoption, the new promise of AI, and the demonstrable fact
that hybrid digital infrastructure is here to stay for the foreseeable future,” said Martin McCarthy, CEO, Uptime Institute. “These complex and nuanced market demands require a visionary talent like Mustapha Louni. He is someone who cannot only deftly manage specific aspects of the business but also remain ahead of accelerating changes and trends. He continues to earn client
trust and respect by timely delivery on demanding commitments while he also inspires and energizes colleagues and clients alike. I am delighted to announce Mr. Louni’s new position and know that he will continue to expand the impact that he has already brought to Uptime since his arrival.” In 2014, Mr. Louni joined the Uptime organization in the United Arab Emirates, leveraging his extensive experience from roles at Panduit and Schneider Electric in Paris and Dubai. As the company’s first commercial resource in the Middle East and Africa region, Mr. Louni played a pivotal role in expanding Uptime’s presence. Within a year, he successfully established what became and remains Uptime’s fastest growing regional office. Under his leadership, Uptime has
extended his impressive trajectory of growth in MEA to the Asia-Pacific regions, augmenting the Uptime workforce with dedicated team members spanning more than a dozen countries across these regions. A new Uptime office has been inaugurated in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) this year, further fortifying the company’s ability to meet its commitment to sustained
growth and excellence and serve clients in critical, accelerating markets for digital infrastructure.

Uptime Institute began development of its proprietary and now globally recognized Tier Standards and its Tier Certifications 30 years ago to ensure that the mission critical computing needs of all organizations could be met with confidence and understood by executive management. Since that time, Uptime Tier Certification as well as other Uptime offerings including assessments and awards in digital infrastructure for ensuring business performance in areas of management and operations, risk and resilience, sustainability, and more recently cyber- security have gained global adoption. Uptime’s expanding success is based on delivering a
unique business service that is based upon unparalleled engineering excellence and technical mastery, while remaining vendor independent and technology agnostic.