A vegan meal delivery service for “plant-curious people” has raised £38 million as “flexitarians” cut down on their meat consumption.
The funding for allplants was led by Draper Esprit, the firm which has ploughed money into Revolut and Trustpilot.
It is reportedly the biggest “Series B” – second round – of venture investment raised by a European vegan food company.
allplants will use the funding to double the size of its Walthamstow facility, already Europe’s largest vegan kitchen.
READ MORE: Mighty Plants launches online vegan supermarket
The company, founded in 2017 by brothers Jonathan and Alex Petrides, delivers frozen meals including butternut and spinach curry, tofu pad Thai and lentil moussaka.
It delivers to 12,000 subscribers per week and plans to reach sales of £20 million this year.
However, Jonathan Petrides told The Times this was “a really small number”.
“We’re nascent compared to more established meal delivery companies and grocers so there’s so much opportunity to go after,” he continued.
Most of allplants’ customers are flexitarians – people who want to eat less meat, fish and dairy – rather than vegans or vegetarians.
“I thought we would be playing in a vegan niche, but we soon found more than half our customers weren’t veggie,” Petrides said.
“So we’ve focused on what we call plant-curious people.”
Vegan foods have recently caught on among consumers, with major grocers expanding their meat-free ranges.
Tesco recently revealed it would encourage shoppers to buy more plant-based meals in its push for net zero by 2050.
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