Impossible Foods raises another $114 million for meatless burgers

Kevin Hong (right) throws Impossible Foods’ plant-based protein into a bowl. The company has raised another $114 million. Kevin Hong (right) throws Impossible Foods’ plant-based protein into a bowl. The company has raised another $114 million. Photo: Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle 2016 Photo: Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle 2016 Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Impossible Foods raises another $114 million for meatless burgers 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

Redwood City’s Impossible Foods announced Tuesday that it has raised an additional $114 million in financing, making a total of $396 million in funding since it was founded in 2011 by Stanford University biochemistry Professor Pat Brown.

Best known for its Impossible Burger, a plant-based burger that cooks, tastes and looks much like a beef patty, the food technology company increased production last year with its new factory in Oakland. The burger is now served at the Oakland Coliseum and will be offered at San Francisco’s AT&T Park as well, among some 1,000 food-service outlets that serve it across the country.

The latest round of funding is from Temasek, a Singapore investment company, and Sailing Capital in Hong Kong and Shanghai. The news of the new funding comes as Impossible Foods also announced its burger will be sold in Asia starting this month, its first international market.

The funding comes in the form of convertible debt, a loan that can be exchanged for shares under certain conditions, such as a subsequent stock financing. Convertible debt is more commonly used at startups in their earliest stages. Because shares aren’t issued until the debt converts, such financings don’t establish a new valuation for the company. Impossible Foods Chief Operating Officer David Lee told TechCrunch that the company used a convertible note because it expected its value to increase.

The company’s previous funders have included Open Philanthropy Project, Bill Gates, Horizons Ventures, Google Ventures and Viking Global Investors.