Plant-based meat company Impossible Foods has picked up $200 million in Series G funding, building on its rapid growth over the past few months.
This round will go almost entirely to research and development and increasing capacity for the Silicon Valley-based company.
"We've seen unprecedented demand, something like a 60x increase in our grocery business alone, which means we're keeping pace by raising capital with long-term investors," CFO David Lee told Cheddar.
This latest round of investment marks another milestone in a busy summer for the startup. On June 23, it rolled out its Impossible Breakfast Sandwich at Starbucks locations nationwide. A week later, it put its products into Walmart stores across the country.
"Nine out of 10 of our customers are self-avowed meat eaters," Lee said. "It means we have to go where meat-eaters buy meat, and increasingly during the shelter-in-place environment we're seeing more and more meat consumed from purchases at grocery stores or direct-to-consumer."
Impossible Foods launched its own direct-to-consumer business, which Lee said is seeing 95 percent retention of new customers.
The company also announced that it's collaborating with the quarterback and activist Colin Kaepernick's Know Your Rights Camp to help improve food security for Black and Brown communities in Los Angeles and New York.
The company is supplying its plant-based products at community events organized by the organization.
"In this time of this global pandemic, it's important for us at Impossible Foods that we do social good beyond the mission of the company," Lee said.
In addition to partnering with Kaepernick, Lee added that Impossible Foods has served more than 750,000 people who have experienced food insecurity in the U.S. since the start of the pandemic.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings fell to $1.4 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts' estimate. Tesla shares fell 3.5% in after-hours trading. Musk said the company's robotaxi service, which is available in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will roll out to as many as 10 other metro areas by the end of the year.
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