Cult vegan chicken brand Daring Foods announces $40M Series B funding just a year after its US launch. Canadian artist and entrepreneur Drake joined the round saying he was inspired by the Daring team’s mission to transform how the world eats. With the excellent tagline “Daring – the opposite of chicken”, the young company smashed the US market and its unique products recently rolled out into mainstream retailers such as Costco and Ralphs.
“This is so much more than an investment in Daring, it’s an investment in the future of food,” CEO Ross Mackay.
Originally from Scotland, the plant-based chicken became an immediate success with its original branding and its clean 5-ingredient product, and raised raised $8 million in 2020. Daring will use the fresh funds to increase its retail distribution dramatically as well as grow its internal team. Daring is looking to grow to more than 4,500 US retail outlets this year, and also claims that its foodservice footprint of around 400 locations could grow 10X in the same period.
Having featured on the Forbes 30-Under-30 list last year, Daring CEO and co-founder Ross McKay is positioning Daring as a major player in the rapidly expanding plant-based chicken segment. In a recent interview with vegconomist, he said the company was set up with one goal in mind: “To remove chicken as a form of animal protein from our food system.”
Chicken is the most consumed and most factory-farmed animal meat; as such, an increasing number of plant-based producers are launching in this category to huge success. UK fried chicken brand VFC has highlighted the environmental destruction and animal cruelty inherent in poultry factory farming in its marketing, whereas Beyond Meat is said to be soon releasing a chicken product.
“This is so much more than an investment in Daring, it’s an investment in the future of food,” said Ross Mackay. “This past year has been transformative for us – from launching new products and growing our presence in retail and foodservice to expanding our market share. We are so fortunate to have such visionary investors fueling our company’s future and furthering our mission.”
Daring is available DTC and in retailers nationwide including Kroger, Sprouts Farmers Market, Gelson’s, Fresh Thyme, Erewhon, Roots Market, Wegmans, Bristol Farms, Foxtrot and select Costco’s.
