This Vegan Cheesecake Brand Is About to IPO

Vegan food technology company Nabati Foods has plans to go public on the Canadian Securities Exchange following a $7.7 million oversubscribed funding raise. The Edmonton, AB-based company was founded in 2014 and has four signature product lines, including vegan cheesecakes, cheeses, and meats, which are distributed throughout North America in the grocery, foodservice, and industrial channels. Nabati plans to use the new funding for its proposed go-public transaction, as well as to expand its United States distribution, build a larger production facility, develop new product lines, and restructure the company to Nabati Foods Global Inc. with new corporate headquarters in Vancouver, BC. Last year, Nabati joined investment issuer Eat Beyond’s public portfolio of vegan brands.

“We are very pleased with the interest we have received. Our team has put in the legwork to build a company with the highest quality plant-based products, and that commitment to quality is starting to pay off, with demand exploding over the past year,” Nabati CEO Ahmad Yehya said. “This financing puts Nabati in an even more robust position to expand our production capacity to meet growing demand from grocery, foodservice, and industrial customers, while also supporting product development and innovation.”

Vegan companies go public

Nabati’s plans to go public follow those of other successful vegan food companies. Beyond Meat was the first vegan meat company to hit the stock market in May 2019, and it saw its stock prices spike to 163 percent on its first day of trading. In Canada, The Very Good Food Company —parent company of Canadian vegan brand The Very Good Butchers—saw an 800 percent increase in its stock value after its first few days of trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange in June 2020. 

In February, oat-milk brand Oatly filed plans for an initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission. And San Francisco-based startup Eat Just—maker of vegan JUST Egg—is also eyeing an IPO as a financing event following the shift in consumer behavior toward plant-based products during the COVID-19 pandemic.