CB Insights has released a new report on the impact of meat alternatives on the meat industry.

The report is available in a 30+ page downloadable document, but this article serves as a useful summary of its findings:

Despite high-profile deals in the sector, the industrial meat industry faces a rising tide of challenges related to business, ethical, and environmental concerns.

Meanwhile, startups using technology to engineer meat in labs or manufacture it from plant-based products are rising in popularity. In 2019, one of the world’s biggest alternative protein brands, Beyond Meat, the manufacturer of the plant-based Beyond Burger, went public at a valuation of almost $1.5B.

Shortly after, Burger King released the Impossible Whopper — a meatless variant of its most well-known product. The Impossible Whopper replaces beef with plant-based meat manufactured by Impossible Foods, a Redwood City-based company that has raised more than $700M in disclosed equity funding. The company was given a valuation of $2B at its last funding round.

In addition to offering new products, these alternative protein startups have the potential to upend the meat production process.