LIVEKINDLY Collective, collection of alternative protein entrepreneurs and businesses, announced in a press release this week that it has acquired UK-based No Meat. The frozen vegan meat and meal brand joins LIVEKINDLY Collective’s growing portfolio of plant-based food companies.
Prior to the acquisition, No Meat was owned by Iceland Foods, a British supermarket chain that focused on frozen foods. As part of the acquisition, LIVEKINDLY will bring the No Meat brand to new consumers globally, and starting April 2021, Iceland Foods will distribute all of LIVEKINDLY’s existing portfolio brands in Iceland and The Food Warehouse stores across the UK and Ireland.
No Meat produces a variety of frozen alternative meat products, including vegan mushroom steaks, chicken strips and fillets, lamb koftas, fish sticks, sausages, and burgers. Furthermore, the company has a line of ready-to-eat frozen meals like plant-based beef pasties, pizzas, a turkey Christmas dinner, and bolognese.
LIVEKINDLY Collective was founded by the Blue Horizon Group, a food-tech focused venture capital firm, in March 2020. Since its start, it has so far acquired four other plant-based brands including Fry Family Food Co., Like Meat, Oumph!, and media platform LIVEKINDLY.
Refrigerated plant-based meats account for 33 percent of all plant-based meat sales, but frozen plant-based meats actually account for 66 percent, so it seems logical for LIVEKINDLY Collective to add No Meat and its frozen alternative meat products to its portfolio. With the frozen plant-based meat sector is currently valued at $617 million, there is certainly a profitable opportunity for No Meat to expand globally.
With a total of five brands now in LIVEKINDLY’s portfolio, the company is taking steps towards reaching its goal of “making plant-based food the new norm by building a robust ecosystem of founder-led plant-based brands.”
