Deal focus: Green Monday finds mission-aligned investors

Food is one of the few business areas that touches absolutely everyone in a way they can immediately understand and relate to. It therefore comes as no surprise that the agents of change in this most traditional of sectors have been able to attract an interesting spectrum of investors.

Celebrity endorsements, in terms of money and branding, are not uncommon in alternative protein. Nor are combinations of financial, strategic, sovereign, and impact investors, even in a company’s early stages.

The largest Asian investment to date in this space came last week in the form of a $70 million round for Hong Kong’s Green Monday led by local conglomerate Swire Pacific and The Rise Fund, TPG’s impact vehicle. It was Green Monday’s first investment from major institutional investors.

“It is paramount for us to find investors who see the full picture that are not purely in this from a business or money standpoint. In our selection process for venture capital and private equity, we really feel that that full understanding of our mission and alignment are critical,” says David Yeung, founder and CEO of Green Monday.

“If not, we happen to be in a position that we can absolutely still fund this ourselves with our close circle of supporters. We didn’t have to raise a round, but if we find the right partners who can expand our impact, then we absolutely welcome them.”

Since 2015, Green Monday has built a portfolio of nine Green Common brick-and-mortar shops in Hong Kong as well as a partner network of 20,000 boutique retailers, supermarkets, and restaurants across 10 markets globally. It distributes its own brands, chiefly OmniPork, as well as products from category leaders such as Beyond Meat, Gardein, and Califia Farms.

The plan is to upgrade the primary OmniPork production facility in Thailand and open a second in southern China. This will support expansion of the distribution network to 40,000 partners in 20 markets, as well as the launch of Green Common stores in Singapore and China, where Swire can facilitate access to high-profile locations.

These shopfronts are seen as a crucial tool for popularizing plant-based foods, but the bulk of the business’ economics will remain in the retail supply chain.

The plant-based boom is not without its risks. JustGreen, one of Hong Kong’s pioneers in this space closed all its locations last year after months of protest-related pain, and COVID-19 has shaken confidence in offline businesses of all kinds. Yeung, however, sees resilience in Green Monday’s combination of B2C and B2B models, as well as the idea that competition in this space is tradition – not the other likeminded start-ups. 

“Unlike certain fields where you have only two big winners, in food, people need selection, and variety is what moves the needle. We are representing a lot of brands in addition to our own brands, but they don’t overlap,” Yeung says. “Ultimately, our competition is meat and dairy, and having more choices is good for the end-consumer – that’s how they start the plant-based journey.”

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Consumer
• Early-stage
• Hong Kong (China)
• TPG Capital
• Impact investment
• Food