A start-up backed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates that develops vegan alternatives to burgers, bangers and other staple mealtime meats is planning to raise $100m in a New York listing.

Beyond Meat, a start-up that sells meat-like vegetarian burgers, has received investments from billionaire Mr Gates and celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio.

The company raised $55m in a funding round last year. Other backers include Twitter co-founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone.

In its filing, Beyond Meat said its products "closely replicate the sensory experience of meat" and the listing would let it expand beyond the US.

Beyond Meat also announced it had appointed Ned Segal, Twitter's chief financial officer, and Kathy Waller, who has the same role at the Coca Cola Company, to join its board.

Mr Gates invested in Beyond Meat in 2013 after trying one of the start-up's meat-free chicken tacos. Beyond Meat designs its meat substitutes to have a meat like taste and texture.

"Like most people, I don’t think I can be easily fooled," Mr Gates said at the time. "But that’s just what happened when I was asked to taste a chicken taco and tell whether the meat inside was real or fake.

"The meat certainly had the look and the smell of chicken. I took a bite and it had the taste and texture of real chicken, too. But I was surprised to learn that there wasn’t an ounce of real chicken it. The 'meat' was made entirely of plants. And yet, I couldn’t tell the difference."