Hooray! Plant-based bacon maker gets $2.7M

Plant-based bacon startup Hooray Foods closed a $2.7 million extension of its seed round that originally brought the company a $2 million influx of cash this summer. The company says it intends to use this infusion of capital to scale its production of animal-free bacon strips that it sells in the U.S. and Canada.

Funding for this seed extension round came from existing investors Evolution VC Partners, Gaingels and Sad Hill Angels, as well as a new addition, David Hoffmann, the former CEO of Dunkin and Lyra Growth Partners.

“After witnessing the national appeal of meat alternatives in my previous roles at high-profile fast food brands, I am confident Hooray’s plant-based bacon will become a must-have on the menus at thousands of quick-service restaurants and sit-down establishments,” Hoffmann said in a statement.

Bacon may be the holy grail of animal products, so a vegan version of this coveted addition to many meals has the potential to go gangbusters. Hooray Foods was founded by Sri Artham, a meat lover who designed the recipe for these plant-based rashers in his home kitchen. Although the company has sold more than two million strips of its plant-based bacon and has become popular enough that it is now available both in foodservice as well as Whole Foods Markets in the U.S., the company said it would put a portion of this new funding to refining its recipe.

In its next iteration, the Artham said the bacon will appear even more realistic due to a color update that complements the beet juice concentrate the company is currently using. In its bacon 2.0, the flavor will also be of paramount concern and will be “a lot more like real animal bacon.”

Currently, the rashers are made with coconut oil that comprises 20% of the product's fat to protein ratio, allowing it to sizzle, smell, and taste like bacon. In fact, this alternative is not protein-focused at all, and the FDA says that one strip of this bacon alternative has 5% of the recommended daily intake of fat, making it not particularly healthy but similar to the real deal. In addition to that anchor ingredient, Hooray bacon is made out of shitake mushrooms, rice flour, tapioca starch, liquid smoke, umami seasoning, maple syrup, salt and beet juice concentrate.

With its total funds now sitting at $6.7 million, the startup will also be applying itself to R&D in order to expand its product portfolio using Hooray’s proprietary emulsion-forming food tech.