Bill Gates, Google Ventures and Blue Horizon are investing in the new sustainable business

That the meat-producing sector is being blamed for being extremely polluting because of emissions into the atmosphere, to the consumption of water and soil for fodder, is an acclaimed fact, but that these problems have led to companies, supported by large capitals, which have challenged a huge and consolidated market such as meat. , was less predictable.

The big challenges have always been enjoyed by the big lenders who had decided, again, to invest in a sector that, a few years ago, was considered not only at great risk, but probably a pure entrepreneurial madness.

About 8 years ago when the company Beyond Meat,backed by the founder of Microsoft,launched the first production of vegetable burgers,perhaps the times were not ripe and the meat producers had seen, in the operation, a big joke destined for a resounding industrial and financial failure.

The company’s intentions were to provide food, not only similar in shape, colour and taste to that of animal derivation, but also aimed to disrupt the slaughter chain of animals and the initiation of an agricultural conversion that would reduce pollution caused by intensive farming.

The meat producers of the time were very amused by the ambitious project and sure that the flavor and color of their burgers, was inimitable and not reproducible with plant-derived products.

In fact, at the beginning of the production of the vegetable burgers, neither the taste nor the appearance of the product were comparable to animal meat, but the company stubbornly continued its research to refine taste and appearance.

Meanwhile, three other players entered the market: Impossible Food, which was supported by Google Ventures, Livekindly supported by the Swiss of Blue Horizon and Temasek that deals with the entire production chain from the field to the product on the table.

Over time, the natural aromatic compounds inserted into the vegetable burgers and the use of yellow pea, soybeans and beet juice to change the color and flavor, to make it similar to Heme, the group of iron-based molecules that gives animal meat its characteristic flavor, surprisingly brought the plant product closer to the animal product.

Moreover, in recent years, the ecological sentiment that has pervaded public opinion, has put in another light both the meat production sector, in negative, and that of the vegetable production of burgers, considering the new supply chain and the new product completely in line with the green expectations of consumers.

Capital, meanwhile, has flowed copiously on these projects considering that the world market for beef is estimated at around 2700 billion dollars and that today, alternative protein producers cover about 1 in the market, but with a growth of 20 per year.

Companies such as Beyond Meat, last year, had a value on Wall Street of about 12 billion dollars and, companies in the sector, do not struggle to rake in financing given the potential for market growth.

Automatic translation. We apologize for any inaccuracies. Original article in Italian.