Vegan food firm VFC secures £7.5m investment

19-Jan-2022 - Last updated on 19-Jan-2022 at 13:40 GMT

VFC secured £7.5m in a seed funding round

Vegan chicken alternative brand VFC Foods has raised £7.5m in a seed round led by Veg Capital.

The company previously raised £3m in pre-seed funding, also Via Veg Capital, with plans to bring in outside investment sometime in 2023.

This latest round of funding will support greater capacity, team building, marketing, research & development and scaling up of the business internationally. VFC is also currently hiring for a US general manager to help fast-track growth in North America.

VFC and Veganuary co-founder Matthew Glover said: “There has been huge interest from investors and we’re very grateful for that. By working with Veg Capital we’ve been able to focus purely on scaling the business as fast as possible to take advantage of the opportunity.”

Tesco supply deal

Founded in December 2020, VFC achieved its first major listing at Tesco in October, with all three of its products stocked in the frozen aisle –VFC Original Recipe Chick*n Fillets, VFC Original Recipe Popcorn Chick*n, and VFC Original Recipe Chick*n Bites.

VFC commercial director Stewart McGuckin said the reception to the brand had exceeded expectations and had spurred the company to accelerate its plans.

“The reception from both customers and consumers has been incredible, and the successful Tesco launch has allowed us to secure listings in more of the UK’s top four grocers, as well as the largest food service wholesalers,” said McGuckin.

“Expansion within the UK has been phenomenal, and we are also seeing strong international demand, particularly from the US.”

Taste and texture

With the current range performing well, the next step for the brand is to further develop the taste and texture to make it even closer to animal-based chicken,

Adam Lyons, VFC co-founder and chief operating officer added: “Our recent poll revealed that more than two thirds of people would be willing to trade meat from animals for plant-based meat if it tasted as good. That’s very encouraging for our mission.

“Already, we’ve spared 60,000 birds but, as that is just the number of animals crammed inside two sheds, we have a long way to go. Still, we have an incredibly driven team, all 100% committed to doing good in this world and we are determined to play our part in ending the suffering of animals in factory farms.”

Meanwhile, vertical farming firm Vertical Future has secured a £21m investment in Europe’s ‘largest ever’ Series A funding round in the sector.