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Eat Just eyes Just Egg IPO, weighs Good Meat's options

Richard Collings
Illustration of a lab coat with cow spots.

Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios

Eat Just plans to take its plant-based egg division Just Egg public within the next two years, co-founder and CEO Josh Tetrick tells Axios.

  • In terms of its cultured meat business, Good Meat, Tetrick says the company will soon decide whether to raise another round of funding for that division or separately take it public.

Why it matters: Eat Just's fundraising plans underscore the fast growth behind the plant-based egg and meat sectors.

  • SPINS, a data provider, and The Good Food Institute, a nonprofit, said in a combined report that plant-based eggs grew 42% last year.
  • As for cultured meat, that's the kind made in a lab rather than processed with plant-based stuff (Beyond Meat, Impossible, etc.).

Catch up fast: To date, each division has separately raised more than $200 million in funding, with the parent valued at north of $1 billion.

  • Eat Just has to decide whether the egg and meat divisions make sense under one roof, or run as stand-alone businesses.
  • Just Egg is already producing at scale, Tetrick says, while Good Meat is still figuring out how to culture meat at a rate of 15 million pounds per year (what it would take to service the U.S. market).
  • He puts the odds of producing cultured meat at scale at about 70%.

Flashback: To read about Tetrick's early fundraising in the space, read my colleague Dan Primack's 2017 article on what happened to the board after a funding round.

Details: Eat Just has previously worked with Bank of America, Guggenheim and AGB.

  • For Just Egg's IPO plans, Tetrick said he wants that unit to "hit a few more milestones before we press that button."
  • While the business has grown quickly within retail, he wants it to grow in foodservice and for the brand to be more recognized by consumers. Revenue is doubling year over year, he said.

What the CEO said: Good Meat is the only cultured meat business in the world that is already producing and selling product in a market (Singapore).

  • Cultured meat is somewhere between science fiction and reality, the CEO said.
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