Boulder-based Meati Foods’ products are sold in Whole Foods, among other stores. (The Denver Post)
The local maker of a mushroom-based meat alternative is poised to sell for just $4 million, after raising nearly $450 million from investors.
Boulder-based Meati disclosed the pending deal in Friday court filings in Adams County District Court, in which the company asked a judge to allow the buyer to run Meati even before the sale closes.
The expected buyer is Meati Holdings Inc., according to the filings, which do not provide any additional information about the buyer.
The filing was made by Aaron Garber, an attorney with Littleton’s Wadsworth Garber Warner Conrardy. Filings show Meati CEO Phillip Graves assigned the business’ assets to Garber last week to prepare for the sale.
Garber wrote that the $4 million sale would “preserve the operational value of the Company, maximize recovery for creditors, and reduce collateral damage to stakeholders and interested parties when compared to a liquidation.” He said the company wouldn’t be worth as much if sold in parts.
A judge had yet to rule on the request as of Monday afternoon. If approved, Garber would oversee the buyer’s actions until the sale actually closes, filings state.
A Meati spokeswoman declined to address specific questions from BusinessDen.
Though the court filings did not explicitly mention it, the sale appears connected to a situation in early March, when Meati said an unspecified bank repossessed two-thirds of its cash. The move led CEO Phil Graves to warn the company’s 150 employees that Meati was at risk of ceasing operations, including at its 120,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Thornton.
“Right now … we have enough capital to operate through May 6th, 2025,” Graves wrote in a March 7 email obtained by BusinessDen. “While we are doing everything we can to avoid this outcome, should we not find a workable solution, we must share notice that your employment is expected to end on May 6th, 2025.”
Meati CEO Phil Graves
Graves told employees at the time that the move came as a surprise. Despite Meati missing 2024 revenue and gross margin covenants, the bank assured Meati it would “not sweep cash or accelerate payments” as of Jan. 31, he said in the email.
Meati raised $100 million last May, bringing its total institutional funding to nearly $450 million, according to Form D filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Investors include London-based Grosvenor Food & AgTech, Washington D.C. firm Revolution Growth and MLB Hall of Famer Derek Jeter.
In a Friday court filing, CEO Graves said Meati had $158 million in assets.
Meati’s alternatives to breakfast patties, cutlets and steaks are made from mycelium, the root structure of fungi. The products can be found in 7,000 grocers nationwide, including Whole Foods and King Soopers, and in local restaurants.
The plant-based meat industry has been declining the past few years. Sales dropped from $1.42 billion to $1.24 billion from 2021 to 2023, according to the Good Food Institute, an industry think tank. Publicly traded Beyond Meat, which makes products from pea, rice and mung bean protein, has also seen its stock tumble, from a high of $197 a share in June 2019 to under $3 this week.
Meati wouldn’t be the only local startup to sell for far below the amount it raised from investors. Denver-based Fluid Truck raised at least $80 million but sold last December for approximately $10 million.
Boulder-based Meati Foods’ products are sold in Whole Foods, among other stores. (The Denver Post)
The local maker of a mushroom-based meat alternative is poised to sell for just $4 million, after raising nearly $450 million from investors.
Boulder-based Meati disclosed the pending deal in Friday court filings in Adams County District Court, in which the company asked a judge to allow the buyer to run Meati even before the sale closes.
The expected buyer is Meati Holdings Inc., according to the filings, which do not provide any additional information about the buyer.
The filing was made by Aaron Garber, an attorney with Littleton’s Wadsworth Garber Warner Conrardy. Filings show Meati CEO Phillip Graves assigned the business’ assets to Garber last week to prepare for the sale.
Garber wrote that the $4 million sale would “preserve the operational value of the Company, maximize recovery for creditors, and reduce collateral damage to stakeholders and interested parties when compared to a liquidation.” He said the company wouldn’t be worth as much if sold in parts.
A judge had yet to rule on the request as of Monday afternoon. If approved, Garber would oversee the buyer’s actions until the sale actually closes, filings state.
A Meati spokeswoman declined to address specific questions from BusinessDen.
Though the court filings did not explicitly mention it, the sale appears connected to a situation in early March, when Meati said an unspecified bank repossessed two-thirds of its cash. The move led CEO Phil Graves to warn the company’s 150 employees that Meati was at risk of ceasing operations, including at its 120,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Thornton.
“Right now … we have enough capital to operate through May 6th, 2025,” Graves wrote in a March 7 email obtained by BusinessDen. “While we are doing everything we can to avoid this outcome, should we not find a workable solution, we must share notice that your employment is expected to end on May 6th, 2025.”
Meati CEO Phil Graves
Graves told employees at the time that the move came as a surprise. Despite Meati missing 2024 revenue and gross margin covenants, the bank assured Meati it would “not sweep cash or accelerate payments” as of Jan. 31, he said in the email.
Meati raised $100 million last May, bringing its total institutional funding to nearly $450 million, according to Form D filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Investors include London-based Grosvenor Food & AgTech, Washington D.C. firm Revolution Growth and MLB Hall of Famer Derek Jeter.
In a Friday court filing, CEO Graves said Meati had $158 million in assets.
Meati’s alternatives to breakfast patties, cutlets and steaks are made from mycelium, the root structure of fungi. The products can be found in 7,000 grocers nationwide, including Whole Foods and King Soopers, and in local restaurants.
The plant-based meat industry has been declining the past few years. Sales dropped from $1.42 billion to $1.24 billion from 2021 to 2023, according to the Good Food Institute, an industry think tank. Publicly traded Beyond Meat, which makes products from pea, rice and mung bean protein, has also seen its stock tumble, from a high of $197 a share in June 2019 to under $3 this week.
Meati wouldn’t be the only local startup to sell for far below the amount it raised from investors. Denver-based Fluid Truck raised at least $80 million but sold last December for approximately $10 million.
