Vegan meal kit startup Allplants has moved to appoint administrators — a step typically taken when a company is insolvent or about to become insolvent. The UK-based company filed the legal document on Monday, according to court records accessed via Caseboard.
In Allplant’s latest company filings, published in August, founder Jonathan Petrides described the seven months to March 2023 as “undoubtedly” the most difficult period in the startup’s history following Covid-driven boomtimes for meal delivery companies.
Since launching in 2016, Allplants has raised $81m, according to Dealroom, from investors including Molten Ventures, Felix Capital, Octopus Ventures, TriplePoint Capital, professional footballer Chris Smalling and former professional footballer Kieran Gibbs.
“As Board Directors we recognise the gravity of the situation,” Petrides tells Sifted. “Along with our senior leadership team we are working tirelessly to explore all possible options for restructuring, refinancing and ensuring the sustainability of Allplants.”
Allplants is still a “live operation and trading”, he adds. “While we are navigating the best path through, our focus is on continuing to deliver the best possible service to our customers while protecting the interests of our creditors, employees, and shareholders.”
From boom to bust
Buoyed by a pandemic-driven shift to online food delivery, Allplants raised a £38m Series B in 2021.
But in its latest company accounts, Petrides said the trading period from September 2022 to March 2023 was a period of “the most intensively choppy waters” for the startup.
Those filings showed a shorter seven-month window than the typical year for financial reporting, with the company reporting losses of £9.7m — a figure that would sit higher on a pro rata basis than the £10.9m losses Allplants made in the year up to August 2022 (its previous reporting period).
The startup’s £4.2m turnover in the seven months to March 2023 is also lower proportionally than the £9.2m it made in the year up to August 2022.
Petrides cited energy, transport, ingredients and salary inflation, a cost-of-living crisis, supply chain disruptions caused by Brexit and Russia’s war in Ukraine and rising global interest rates as factors causing “adversity” at the company.
Allplants most recently raised £1.8m from investors including Molten and Felix in June this year. The startup’s headcount has dropped from a high of 114 in July 2022 to 57 this month, according to Dealroom data.
Vegan foodtech mixed success
In the last few years a whole crop of startups looking to tap into the rising number of consumers with a plant-based diet have emerged in Europe.
But consumer interest in plant-based foods seems to have waned more recently: in 2023, it was one of the fastest-declining grocery categories in terms of sales in the UK, which dropped by 13.6% year-on-year.
UK-based vegan food brand Meatless Farms almost went bankrupt last year before being acquired and Spanish startup Heura — which is making meat-like protein alternatives — laid off staff in 2023.
There are some more positive signals for the sector. UK supermarket Tesco reported that sales of some plant-based meat alternatives were up in 2024 and alt-meat startup This raised £20m in Series C funding in June.
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