Beyond Meat Investor Relations Material

Beyond Meat is an American company headquartered in Los Angeles and the company’s shares are listed on the Nasdaq. The company develops, manufactures, and sells various plant-based substitutes for vegetarians, vegans, and consumers looking for alternatives to traditional hamburgers, sausages, and other meat-based products. The company is relatively young and was founded with the stated mission of combating climate change by reducing the amount of meat consumed worldwide.

The company was founded in 2009 by Ethan Brown. He had a vision of combating climate change by offering appetizing alternatives to traditional meat products, and to launch his company he contacted two professors at the University of Missouri. The two professors in question, Fu-hung Hsieh and Harold Huff had been developing a meatless protein for years. Brown subsequently licensed their technology and began selling Beyond Meat’s first product, Chicken-Free Strips, at select Whole Foods (now owned by Amazon) locations in 2012.

Beyond Meat has significant backing during the years ahead of its IPO. Several large venture capital firms were heavily involved in the growth process, as well as a number of high-profile individuals and organizations such as Bill Gates and The Humane Society. Beyond Meat also gathered significant buzz amongst celebrities, with names such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Snoop Dogg, Jessica Chastain, and several others providing funding for the company.

In 2019, the company went public on the Nasdaq. It became the first company of its kind to become publicly traded and on its IPO date it was the best-performing public offering in almost two decades when compared to other major US companies.

The company, as previously mentioned, is exclusively focused on selling various types of plant-based foods made to look and taste as close to real meat as possible. Beyond Meat started out by only selling a chicken substitute, but today markets a wide array of different “meats”. This includes beef, pork, poultry, and more in various forms. The company sells its products to supermarkets like Costco and Kroger, as well as to restaurants. While the company primarily sells in the USA, it has a presence in over 50 countries.