Drake Is Behind A $40 Million Investment Into Alt-Chicken Startup Daring Foods

Francesca Billington

Francesca Billington is a freelance reporter. Prior to that, she was a general assignment reporter for dot.LA and has also reported for KCRW, the Santa Monica Daily Press and local publications in New Jersey. She graduated from Princeton in 2019 with a degree in anthropology.

Drake Is Behind A $40 Million Investment Into Alt-Chicken Startup Daring Foods

It looks like chicken, it's flavored like chicken, it even smells like chicken. But Daring Foods calls their soy invention flavored with spices "pieces."

In Los Angeles, where food tech startups race to invent the latest replica burgers and bacon, Daring Foods sets its sights on plant-based chicken.


And pop star Drake — who told the world he cut meat from his diet in 2018 — thinks the company is onto something. On Wednesday, he joined D1 Capital Partners in a $40 million Series B funding round to help Daring triple its team and scale up retail and foodservice sales.

"I was immediately drawn to the Daring team's mission to transform how we eat and I am excited to invest in and support a product I enjoy," Drake said in an announcement.

The round comes about seven months after Daring's $8 million Series A, which kicked off retail expansions into Costco, Wegmans and delivery service Imperfect Foods.

The fake meat market continues to grow with the global market and is expected to hit $430 billion by 2040, according to a report from the consulting firm Kearney.

Daring's bagged faux chicken comes breaded or seasoned with names like Cajun Pieces and Lemon & Herb Pieces. On the company's website, a shipment of four 8-oz pouches of the original shreds sells for $29.99. They were already being sold in Sprouts, Erewhon, Gelson's and Bristol Farms, among other national chains.

"This is so much more than an investment in Daring, it's an investment in the future of food," Daring's CEO and co-founder Ross Mackay said in a statement.

Companies like Impossible Foods and El Segundo-based Beyond Meat, which sells its faux burgers at Carl's Jr, Del Taco and other fast food chains, have become dominant players with their plant-based meat. But the market for fake chicken and seafood hasn't taken hold in the same way.

Last month Beyond Meat revealed to Bloomberg its plans to release plant-based chicken this summer and Impossible is also eying chicken products.

In San Diego, cell-culture company BlueNalu is experimenting with replica seafood. Silicon Valley is also home to a long roster of food tech startups concocting animal product replacements, from Impossible Foods to JUST Egg.

Stephanie Dorsey, founding partner of E²JDJ, a VC fund for plant-based startups, said last year $3.1 billion in venture funding was sunk into alternative protein companies.

"This is just the beginning," said Dorsey, who last year plunged funding into seafood alternative brand Good Catch and Eat Virgin, a Los Angeles plant-based frozen comfort food startup.

"People are waking up to the fact that meat production is unsustainable and consumers are increasingly concerned about health, wellness, climate change, ecosystem degradation, biodiversity loss and the future of the food system," she said.

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LA Tech ‘Moves’: Mapp Gains New CPO and CTO, Prodoscore Taps Boeing Exec

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

LA Tech ‘Moves’: Mapp Gains New CPO and CTO, Prodoscore Taps Boeing Exec
LA Tech ‘Moves’:

“Moves,” our roundup of job changes in L.A. tech, is presented by Interchange.LA, dot.LA's recruiting and career platform connecting Southern California's most exciting companies with top tech talent. Create a free Interchange.LA profile here—and if you're looking for ways to supercharge your recruiting efforts, find out more about Interchange.LA's white-glove recruiting service by emailing Sharmineh O’Farrill Lewis (sharmineh@dot.la). Please send job changes and personnel moves to moves@dot.la.

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This Week in ‘Raises’: GITAI Lands $30M, Steno Gains $15M

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

Raises
Image by Joshua Letona

A local space robotics startup raised fresh funding to expand the flight model manufacturing facilities throughout the U.S. and increase employment, while a remote litigation platform raised more funding to continue growing its footprint in new markets across the country, develop service channels for its clients and continue expanding its tech team.

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Gitai Raises $30 Million to Expand Manufacturing Footprint in Los Angeles

Samson Amore

Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.

Gitai Raises $30 Million to Expand Manufacturing Footprint in Los Angeles
\u200bPhoto: Gitai

Space robotics company Gitai raised a $30 million Series B extension this week, bringing the total value of the round to roughly $47 million.

The funding will be used to further develop Gitai’s suite of space robots as well as build out its manufacturing footprint in Torrance. Previously Gitai announced it raised a $17.1 million Series B in March 2021; this additional raise is still part of that round.

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