LG Group invests $21 mn in vegan egg maker Eat Just

LG Group plans to invest 25 billion won ($21 million) in California-based plant-based food maker Eat Just, Inc. The news follows an announcement by SK Networks Co. earlier this month that it invested $20 million in California-based biotech startup MycoWorks, which makes vegan leather from fungi. 

Plant-based food and fashion are continuing their rise as promising investments, as more investors focus on the potential investments' ESG (Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance) aspects. ESG is an evaluation of a firm’s collective conscientiousness for social and environmental factors.

A person familiar with the plan said LG Group is preparing to partake in the upcoming round of funding for Eat Just. 

The industry insider told The Korea Economic Daily that LG Chem Ltd. will lead the investment from the group; with the Korea Investment & Securities Co. serving as a limited partner in the total of 130 billion won worth of funding. 

Founded in 2011, Eat Just is a private company that develops and markets plant-based alternatives to conventionally produced egg products. Its products made from mung beans maintain the same amount of protein as eggs from chicken but are free of cholesterol. 

Eat Just, formerly Hampton Creek, first made headlines in the United States with the backing of Bill Gates, Marc Benioff and a board that included former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. 

In South Korea, Eat Just has a partnership with bakery juggernaut SPC Samlip Corp. to produce its products for sale at the popular bakery cafe chain Paris Baguette. 

LG’s venture into the alternative food industry comes on the back of rising demand for plant-based products. A growing number of consumers are taking interest in how their purchases affect the environment and society. 

Reflecting this trend, this year’s CES created a Food Technology section for the first time in its history. 

SK Inc., the holding company of SK Group, invested in two food tech companies in the US last year. 

California-based Perfect Day, Inc. creates dairy proteins by fermentation in microbiota instead of extraction from bovine milk. Chicago-based Nature's Fynd develops microbe-based proteins for meat substitutes and dairy substitutes. Both companies produce the protein from fungi.

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co., for its part, invested a total of 500 billion won in California-based Impossible Foods Inc., which makes plant-based substitutes for meat products.

Write to Chae-Yeon Kim at why29@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.