Atlast Food Co., a spinoff from Ecovative Design headed by Eben Bayer, has secured $40 million from investors including Robert Downey Jr.’s Footprint Coalition Ventures. The fresh funds are in addition to the $60 million raised for Ecovative just this month, totalling $100 million which will be utilised to create the world’s largest mycelium farm which is set to produce 100 million pounds per year.
The flagship product is a fungi-based bacon produced with mycelium, coconut oil, cane sugar, sea salt, smoked flavours and beet juice, which is on sale through My Eats and which will expand out of North America into Europe and Asia. When the product first launched in December 2020, the company immediately sold all its planned capacity through 2023.
Speaking in interview with vegconomist last year, Bayer described the superfood mycelium fungi. “Our forests are biological cities that run on – and are connected by – a living, underground network of mycelium. The fruiting body of mycelium is familiar to us as the mushroom. But mycelium is much, much more. It’s one of the greatest natural recyclers of material, breaking down old matter and turning it into nutrients that power the forest. This Super Material is a natural biodegradable product, with the remarkable ability to be easily and quickly grown into virtually any shape or form, with endless possibilities that could replace many of our current manufacturing and farming methods.”
