Vegan Meat Brand Raises $35 Million to Bring More Meatless Burgers to Australia’s Fast-Food Industry 

Australia is set to get its own wave of plant-based burger options, following the recent AUD$35 million ($24 million) investment secured by vegan brand v2food. The Sydney-based company is noted for developing its own plant-based beef patty, similar to those made by Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, is now available at Hungry Jack’s (a Burger King Corporation franchise) as part of the “Rebel Whopper.” v2food plans to use the capital from the investment—led by Main Sequence Ventures, a firm that manages the country’s national science agency—to open a new research and development facility in 2020 to increase its output. “This is an important step towards v2food’s goal of transforming the way the world produces food,” v2food founder and CEO Nick Hazell said. “There is a big shortfall between the amount of meat we produce today and the amount needed to feed the growing global population. There will be nearly 10 billion people on Earth by 2050.” This year, Burger King has added a number of plant-based options at its locations globally, including the Impossible Whopper in the United States and the Rebel Whopper in Brazil and parts of Europe (with plans to expand to other regions).