Food & Beverage

MyForest Foods Closes $15M Venture Loan for Whole Cut Mycelium Bacon

Horizon Technology Finance Corporation, a leading specialty finance company, announces it closed a $15 million venture loan to MyForest Foods Co., which produces mycelium-based bacon. Horizon states it funded $7.5 million toward the venture loan facility, with another $7.5 million contributed by advisor Horizon Technology Finance Management LLC.

MyForest plans to use the loan proceeds for company growth and working capital purposes.

Formerly known as Atlast, MyForest says it produces whole-cut animal-free meats from mycelium, the underground root structures of mushrooms. MyForest’s first product is MyBacon – gourmet strips created to offer the same taste, smokiness and crunch of traditional pork bacon.

Atlast Food Co mushroom bacon
© Atlast Food Co

“Hyper-focused” on scaling

Made from just six ingredients, MyBacon’s first pre-order sale sold out of its entire planned production run back in 2020. In a recent interview with vegconomist, MyForest founder and CEO Eben Bayer says the company is now ready to scale MyBacon to meet demand.

“Right now, we are hyper-focused on scaling up to provide more commercial products in 2022,” he says.”We’re especially eager to get our flagship product, MyBacon, onto as many plates as possible, so that people whose diets are vegan or vegetarian or anyone who just wants to eat less meat can still “bring home the bacon”.

Atlast Food Co / MyForest mycelium
Mycelium © Atlast Food Co

A new category of whole-cut meats

In January, the company announced a partnership with Whitecrest Mushrooms Ltd. to produce 3 million pounds of MyBacon annually on a dedicated vertical farm. The company has received previous backing from Viking Global Investors, AiiM Partners and Robert Downey Jr.’s Footprint Coalition Ventures.

“We are only scratching the surface of the mycelium process with MyBacon,” said Eben Bayer. “We have successfully recreated the multi-sensory experience of eating a whole cut of meat with MyBacon, unlike other plant-based alternatives that are forced to process and shape their meat. The difference is truly striking, and consumers have overwhelmingly responded positively to MyBacon.  Horizon’s support will enable us to further develop additional products and create an entire new category of whole-cut plant-based foods.”

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