This Plant-Based Cheeseburger Just Raised $108 Million

Impossible Foods, a California-based startup founded by Patrick Brown, a former Stanford biochemistry professor, is well on its way to freeing burger-loving Americans from post-consumption guilt.
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By Hannah Ongley for DETAILS.

2015-10-13-1444745198-6555877-impossiblefoodscheeseburger.png
(photo: Impossible Foods)

If you're a human being with approximately three or more senses, you probably know that cheeseburgers are delicious. You probably also that they're not exceptionally good for you, the earth, and your bovine friends.

Impossible Foods, a California-based startup founded by Patrick Brown, a former Stanford biochemistry professor, is well on its way to freeing burger-loving Americans from post-consumption guilt. And maybe sooner rather than later, given that his company's plant-based burger just scored a massive $108 million in funding, Tech Crunch reports.

Investors now include Viking Global Investors, along with earlier backers such as Khosla Ventures, Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates, and Horizons Ventures business magnate Li Ka-shing. Vegan celebrity chef Tal Ronnen and cheesemaker Monte Casino are also on board as co-founders of the project.

Brown started his project with the lofty goal of lab-creating foods that are free not only of meat but also cholesterol, hormones, and antibiotics. The Impossible Cheeseburger is its flagship product, and it even sizzles and bleeds just like a real environment-destroying cheeseburger. It certainly looks more delicious than the phrase "lab-cultivated" connotes.

The Impossible Cheeseburger isn't science's first crack at a machine-engineered burger. Beyond Meat is also working on a lab burger created from plant matter. Modern Meadow uses tissue engineering to lab-grow meat from animal muscle cells. But it is the wealthiest machine-engineered burger, and therefore the one closest to becoming an accessible reality.

Now if someone can do the same thing with a Bacon and Egg McMuffin...

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