{"id":632,"date":"2018-09-17T13:48:17","date_gmt":"2018-09-17T17:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/?p=632"},"modified":"2024-01-08T16:30:17","modified_gmt":"2024-01-08T21:30:17","slug":"improved-nature-beefs-up-alternative-plant-based-meat-substitute-efforts-with-3m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/improved-nature-beefs-up-alternative-plant-based-meat-substitute-efforts-with-3m\/","title":{"rendered":"Improved Nature beefs up alternative plant-based meat substitute efforts with $3M"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n

GARNER \u2013<\/strong>\u00a0Garner-based Improved Nature has raised more than $3 million, according to\u00a0an SEC filing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The company offers alternative plant-based meat substitutes made from non-GMO sustainably-sourced plant-based soy proteins.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWe believe it\u2019s the small acts which affect the most change in our world,\u201d reads the\u00a0company\u2019s website<\/a>.\u00a0 The company currently offers multiple products and is led by president and CEO Richard \u201cRody\u201d Hawkins.<\/p>\n

David Swintosky, CFO of Improved Nature, explained at a conference last November\u00a0the company\u2019s approach and goals<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlternative proteins are a sustainable alternative to animal meat,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Improved Nature is a business-to-business company that sells its products to K-12 school systems, hospitals and other bulk buyers.<\/p>\n

Swintosky noted that millennials now have greater buying power than the baby boomer generation and their buying habits represent \u201ca huge shift in behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a \u201clot of excitement around lab-grown meat,\u201d he said. \u201cThe basic ingredients are water and protein.\u201d Improved Nature\u2019s product realigns plant proteins to behave like muscle fibers. It behaves remarkably like meat.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says the company, which sees a strong demand for its products, has raised $100 million and paved the way for consumer acceptance.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is to feed the world with high-quality food products,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

How?<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Improved Nature<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWe do not blend the ingredients to develop the meat-like texture,\u201d the company states. While many other companies provide products whose ingredients are mixed in a dough-like structure and then further processed, Improved Nature\u00ae uses their technology to give healthy soy protein the same consistency of traditional meat.<\/p>\n

To achieve this, Improved Nature uses a single ingredient (soy) mixed with purified water to form meat-like fibers.\u00a0 The fibers are shaped into strips, patties, chunks, or nuggets that satisfy the desired consistency of traditional meat.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe guarantee that no other plant based product available comes as close to matching the texture of traditional meat,\u201d states the company.\u00a0 The products can be prepared in refrigerated, frozen, or shelf-stable varieties.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\n

<\/h4>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GARNER \u2013\u00a0Garner-based Improved Nature has raised more than $3 million, according to\u00a0an SEC filing. The company offers alternative plant-based meat substitutes made from non-GMO sustainably-sourced plant-based soy proteins. \u201cWe believe…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1119,"featured_media":121,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-post-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"showAuthor\":true,\"showDate\":true,\"showFeaturedVideo\":false}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","ncst_content_audit_display":false,"ncst_backToTopFlag":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[95,56,39,12,96,97,75,98,28,99],"class_list":["post-632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-agtech","tag-angel-investing","tag-angel-network","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-fundraising","tag-improved-nature","tag-nc-state-university","tag-plant-based-meat-substitutes","tag-startup","tag-wolfpack-invetsor-network"],"displayCategory":null,"acf":{"ncst_posts_meta_modified_date":null},"yoast_head":"\nImproved Nature beefs up alternative plant-based meat substitute efforts with $3M - Wolfpack Investor Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/improved-nature-beefs-up-alternative-plant-based-meat-substitute-efforts-with-3m\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Improved Nature beefs up alternative plant-based meat substitute efforts with $3M - Wolfpack Investor Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"GARNER \u2013\u00a0Garner-based Improved Nature has raised more than $3 million, according to\u00a0an SEC filing. The company offers alternative plant-based meat substitutes made from non-GMO sustainably-sourced plant-based soy proteins. \u201cWe believe…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/improved-nature-beefs-up-alternative-plant-based-meat-substitute-efforts-with-3m\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wolfpack Investor Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-09-17T17:48:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-08T21:30:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/files\/2022\/12\/ImprovedNature-Logo_500x250.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1043\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"522\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/improved-nature-beefs-up-alternative-plant-based-meat-substitute-efforts-with-3m\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/improved-nature-beefs-up-alternative-plant-based-meat-substitute-efforts-with-3m\/\",\"name\":\"Improved Nature beefs up alternative plant-based meat substitute efforts with $3M - Wolfpack Investor Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/improved-nature-beefs-up-alternative-plant-based-meat-substitute-efforts-with-3m\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/improved-nature-beefs-up-alternative-plant-based-meat-substitute-efforts-with-3m\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/files\/2022\/12\/ImprovedNature-Logo_500x250.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-09-17T17:48:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-08T21:30:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/#\/schema\/person\/18101cc838b23e3612dd10637def18cf\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/improved-nature-beefs-up-alternative-plant-based-meat-substitute-efforts-with-3m\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/improved-nature-beefs-up-alternative-plant-based-meat-substitute-efforts-with-3m\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/improved-nature-beefs-up-alternative-plant-based-meat-substitute-efforts-with-3m\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/files\/2022\/12\/ImprovedNature-Logo_500x250.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/files\/2022\/12\/ImprovedNature-Logo_500x250.png\",\"width\":1043,\"height\":522},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/improved-nature-beefs-up-alternative-plant-based-meat-substitute-efforts-with-3m\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Improved Nature beefs up alternative plant-based meat substitute efforts with $3M\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/\",\"name\":\"Wolfpack Investor Network\",\"description\":\"Just another Research and Innovation site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/#\/schema\/person\/18101cc838b23e3612dd10637def18cf\",\"name\":\"Staff\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3f69be4b8f7e5a1f53de8f6e0308060c17302ed08fc14c74cf2ad61146c4e097?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3f69be4b8f7e5a1f53de8f6e0308060c17302ed08fc14c74cf2ad61146c4e097?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Staff\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/author\/staff\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Improved Nature beefs up alternative plant-based meat substitute efforts with $3M - Wolfpack Investor Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/improved-nature-beefs-up-alternative-plant-based-meat-substitute-efforts-with-3m\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Improved Nature beefs up alternative plant-based meat substitute efforts with $3M - Wolfpack Investor Network","og_description":"GARNER \u2013\u00a0Garner-based Improved Nature has raised more than $3 million, according to\u00a0an SEC filing. The company offers alternative plant-based meat substitutes made from non-GMO sustainably-sourced plant-based soy proteins. \u201cWe believe…","og_url":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/improved-nature-beefs-up-alternative-plant-based-meat-substitute-efforts-with-3m\/","og_site_name":"Wolfpack Investor Network","article_published_time":"2018-09-17T17:48:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-01-08T21:30:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1043,"height":522,"url":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/files\/2022\/12\/ImprovedNature-Logo_500x250.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Staff","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Staff","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/improved-nature-beefs-up-alternative-plant-based-meat-substitute-efforts-with-3m\/","url":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/improved-nature-beefs-up-alternative-plant-based-meat-substitute-efforts-with-3m\/","name":"Improved Nature beefs up alternative plant-based meat substitute efforts with $3M - Wolfpack Investor Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/improved-nature-beefs-up-alternative-plant-based-meat-substitute-efforts-with-3m\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/improved-nature-beefs-up-alternative-plant-based-meat-substitute-efforts-with-3m\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/files\/2022\/12\/ImprovedNature-Logo_500x250.png","datePublished":"2018-09-17T17:48:17+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-08T21:30:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/#\/schema\/person\/18101cc838b23e3612dd10637def18cf"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/improved-nature-beefs-up-alternative-plant-based-meat-substitute-efforts-with-3m\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/improved-nature-beefs-up-alternative-plant-based-meat-substitute-efforts-with-3m\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/improved-nature-beefs-up-alternative-plant-based-meat-substitute-efforts-with-3m\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/files\/2022\/12\/ImprovedNature-Logo_500x250.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/files\/2022\/12\/ImprovedNature-Logo_500x250.png","width":1043,"height":522},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/improved-nature-beefs-up-alternative-plant-based-meat-substitute-efforts-with-3m\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Improved Nature beefs up alternative plant-based meat substitute efforts with $3M"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/#website","url":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/","name":"Wolfpack Investor Network","description":"Just another Research and Innovation site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/#\/schema\/person\/18101cc838b23e3612dd10637def18cf","name":"Staff","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3f69be4b8f7e5a1f53de8f6e0308060c17302ed08fc14c74cf2ad61146c4e097?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3f69be4b8f7e5a1f53de8f6e0308060c17302ed08fc14c74cf2ad61146c4e097?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Staff"},"url":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/author\/staff\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1896,"href":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632\/revisions\/1896"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}