{"id":636,"date":"2018-10-01T16:21:22","date_gmt":"2018-10-01T20:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/?p=636"},"modified":"2024-01-08T16:29:19","modified_gmt":"2024-01-08T21:29:19","slug":"improved-nature-raises-3m-funding-for-plant-based-protein","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/improved-nature-raises-3m-funding-for-plant-based-protein\/","title":{"rendered":"Improved Nature Raises $3m Funding for Plant-Based Protein"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n<p><u><a class=\"stylish-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.improvednature.com\/\">Improved Nature<\/a><\/u>, a North Carolina-based meat alternative ag-tech firm, has obtained $3 million in an investment round led by\u00a0<u><a class=\"stylish-link\" href=\"http:\/\/concentricteam.com\/\">Concentric Capital<\/a><\/u>.<\/p>\n<p>Using proprietary process, Improved Nature creates\u00a0<a class=\"stylish-link\" href=\"https:\/\/vegconomist.com\/market-and-trends\/market-report-plant-based-meat-products-on-a-growth-course\/\">plant-based meat<\/a>\u00a0alternative products, including Pork-Free Cutlets, Beef-Free Country-Fried Steak, and BBQ Boneless Chicken-Free Wings. The firm was co-founded in December 2015 by scientist Richard Hawkins, the inventor of snackfoods Lunchables, Israeli inventor Moshe Meidan, and the partners of RDI Consulting, using an initial corporate investment of $6 million.<\/p>\n<p>Chief Financial Officer of Improved Nature, David Swintosky, commented: \u201cThe company was formed to bring simple ingredient plant-based protein products to the commercial markets to meet the global demand for plant-based proteins [\u2026] The company\u2019s products are shelf-stable, single-ingredient protein concentrate products that when activated \u2014 boiled in water like pasta \u2014 perform like animal proteins in bite, texture,\u00a0and taste.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Concentric led the funding round, also involved were Farmington Foods, the Endowment Fund of NC State University, and Wolfpack Investor Network. \u201cThis round allows the company to expand from a core team of seven senior managers and launch sales and marketing, adding to the senior management team, and adding 10-15 employees\u201d said Swintosky.<\/p>\n<p>He commented further to\u00a0<em>AgFunderNews<\/em>. \u201cThe first round of $6 million was used to invest in equipment, commercialize the technology and up fit our plant.\u00a0This convertible note round will convert into a 2019 Series A round.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Improved Nature, a North Carolina-based meat alternative ag-tech firm, has obtained $3 million in an investment round led by\u00a0Concentric Capital. Using proprietary process, Improved Nature creates\u00a0plant-based meat\u00a0alternative products, including Pork-Free&hellip;<\/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":[95,56,39,12,97,42,21,75,69,59,98,28,60,47],"class_list":["post-636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-agtech","tag-angel-investing","tag-angel-network","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-improved-nature","tag-investing","tag-nc-state","tag-nc-state-university","tag-north-carolina","tag-north-carolina-startups","tag-plant-based-meat-substitutes","tag-startup","tag-startups","tag-wolfpack-investor-network"],"displayCategory":null,"acf":{"ncst_posts_meta_modified_date":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Improved Nature Raises $3m Funding for Plant-Based Protein - 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-raises-3m-funding-for-plant-based-protein\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Improved Nature Raises $3m Funding for Plant-Based Protein - Wolfpack Investor Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Improved Nature, a North Carolina-based meat alternative ag-tech firm, has obtained $3 million in an investment round led by\u00a0Concentric Capital. 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