Vegan fried chicken plots US expansion after $10m fundraise
VFC Food, a vegan friend chicken brand has closed a successful seed funding round led by VC fund Veg Capital, raising £7.5m.
The York-based alternative meat company which claims it set out to make great tasting food that doesn’t cost “a wing or a leg” has said the new funding will be used to fast track development in order to take the VFC product to an international audience, with the first focus being the US market.
The fundraise follows a £3m pre-seed funding also led by Veg Capital a vegan investment fund which was founded by Matthew Glover who also co-founded Veganuary.
VFC is the brain child of both Glover and chef Adam Lyons, who owns York’s Source restaurant, and seeks to remove animals from the food system and to date has launched three products – chicken alternative bites, popcorn and fillets – in the UK through Tesco and is now securing more listings in the UK’s top supermarkets as well as wholesalers.
Glover said: “There has been huge interest from investors and we’re very grateful for that.
“By working with Veg Capital we’ve been able to focus purely on scaling the business as fast as possible to take advantage of the opportunity.”
The funding will allow the start-up business to scale capacity, grow its team and increase R&D alongside its plans to expand to the US following the brand securing “major listings” at retailers in America.
The firm has also confirmed it plans a larger Series A funding round for 2023 and that it is in talks with retailers in Europe to expand its presence there.
