Eat Just

ABOUT COMPANY

Eat Just was founded in 2011 in San Francisco. It is the world's only manufacturer of animal product substitutes in two directions at once: vegetable and cellular.

In the plant-based segment, the company is known for its bean-based egg substitute called Just Egg, which is bottled and looks like freshly beaten eggs. The company also produces egg-free mayonnaise.

To date, Eat Just has sold over 100 million eggs worldwide. The company's products are available in more than 20,000 retail outlets (Walmart, Kroger, Whole Foods) and more than a thousand food outlets and restaurants, including the Chinese fast food chain Dicos. In addition, Eat Just cooperates with delivery services, including Amazon Fresh and Instacart. The company has started shipping Just Egg to Canada and has plans to expand into Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

In addition to vegetable analogues of eggs, since 2016 Eat Just has been producing artificial meat from animal muscle or fat cells. At the end of last year, she received permission from the Singapore authorities to sell laboratory-grown chicken meat. This is the world's first regulatory approval for so-called clean meat, which does not require the slaughter of animals. In 2020, Eat Just was named one of the CNBC Disruptor 50 companies offering the most disruptive technologies.

COMPANY OUTLOOK

In the first quarter of 2021, food tech venture capital funding rose to a record $10.1 billion, up 122.3% from the previous quarter. Both areas in which Eat Just operates are extremely promising and are gaining popularity among both consumers and investors. Last year, U.S. plant-based food retail sales rose 11% to $5 billion, while the artificial egg market nearly tripled in size. The global market for plant products is expected to grow by about 12% per year, and by 2027 its volume will reach $74.2 billion.

One of the main drivers of growth is the inability of traditional farming to meet the growing demand from the world's population. This problem has become even more evident during the pandemic, when production and supply chains have been disrupted. The focus on reducing greenhouse emissions into the atmosphere, a significant part of which comes from agriculture, may also become a determining factor for development.

In addition, funding for cell-based meat companies has skyrocketed in 2020. Over $360 million was invested in it last year, which is 72% of the total investment in this segment of all time. The interest is explained by the fact that already in 2021, US regulators can approve cell meat and allow its sale in the country. This opens up huge market opportunities for manufacturers who have long-standing relationships with regulators and will be able to bring their products to market quickly. It is estimated that by 2030 the global cell meat market could reach $140 billion.

RISKS

In the plant-based egg substitute segment, Eat Just holds over 99% of the market, with Israeli start-up Zero Egg offering baked eggs that Just Egg does not.

In the meat substitute market, competition is much more intense as the company competes not only with other cellular meat developers like Memphis Meats or Mosa Meat, but also with plant-based alternatives like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods. And if the latter are actively gaining popularity in the world market, gradually reducing the cost of production, then cellular analogs will need time to scale their technology and reduce operating costs.

To date, lab-produced meat has only been approved in Singapore, and Eat Just was the first to receive such approval. It is expected that US regulators will soon approve the sale of cell meat, but there is no exact information about this. If the approval process in the US, as well as other countries, is delayed, this could dampen investor sentiment and reduce investment in this segment.

FINANCE AND VALUATION

Since 2011, the company has completed 12 investment rounds, raising about $800 million from 32 investors, including Vulcan Capital, Khosla Ventures and Charlesbank Capital Partners. At the end of March 2021, Eat Just raised $200 million in a new funding round led by the Qatar Sovereign Wealth Investment Fund.

Eat Just's current private market valuation is $1.5 billion and shares are worth $26.4. The latest investment round was held in March 2021 at a valuation of $1.35 billion. The company does not disclose data on its revenue, but in one of the interviews, its CEO said that by the end of 2021, Eat Just could start making a profit, and immediately after that, in the management start discussing all sorts of ways to go public, including an IPO, a direct listing, and a merger with a SPAC company.

For comparison, the market capitalization of Beyond Meat (BYND), the leading plant-based meat producer that was listed in May 2019, is $7.6 billion. reached breakeven. Such a high score indicates a positive attitude of investors towards producers of alternative food products. Eat Just is the market leader in plant-based egg substitutes and is on the verge of breaking even, so by the time of the IPO, the company's valuation could be comparable to Beyond Meat's current valuation. Potential profitability - more than 200%.