For the last few years, responsible investing has been one of the strongest trends in the finance and investing world, from green energy to health food, more and more people are trying to make sure that the companies they put their money into are doing business in ways that are environmentally friendly.
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Which is where vegan start-up investing enters the picture. While there’s quite a few vegan companies on the market today they’re often quite inflated in price, so what’s the better option? Vegan Start-ups!
So let’s get to it — below we’ll cover what you need to know if you’re interested in investing in a vegan startup, followed by how to do it along with some alternatives.
Why Invest in Vegan Startups?
First things first-why invest in a vegan startup given all the possible responsible investment options that are out there and available?
One of the strongest reasons to invest in vegan startups is that not only has the number of vegans skyrocketed in recent times but so have vegan businesses – 2000 new vegan companies in the USA alone in the last few years, many of which are seeking investors.
Investment-wise, that represents a huge opportunity, and the vegan world is changing in a way that is ideal for investors looking to start with a small amount. Investment opportunities can start with as little as $100, and yes, it is possible to make a significant impact at that level — many vegan start ups are very early stage with just a product and local sales, and if these investments succeed they could easily 100x in value in 10 years time post nation-wide rollout of their products.
What about Vegan Stocks?
Those 2000 companies looking for startup capital can represent a bit of a financial maze, so while they present a good opportunity if you can navigate that maze many investors don’t even realize how many vegan stocks are out there, and while the returns may be lower, they’re one of the safest investments out there when incomes to putting your money into environmentally friendly businesses.
Some of the names you likely already know of, such as Beyond Meat (BYND), Tattooed Chef (TTCF), Laird Superfood (LSF), Impossible Foods and The Very Good Food Company (VRYYF).
These companies are the stars of the vegan stock world, generally speaking, and the common thread with most of them is noticeable growth, which in some cases was followed by a market correction of course — but overall the trend is up, and at a quite rapid pace thanks to us vegans growing in numbers.
But it’s important to keep in mind that these stocks are just the tip of the iceberg. They’re prominent right now because their products are easier to find, but there are dozens of other companies that will be successful and if you’re willing to dive into start-ups then you can get higher returns.
A Better Way to Invest in Veganism?
While vegan stocks are good to gain exposure to veganism there’s also some companies that help you invest in vegan start-ups and navigate that maze that is start-up investing. The biggest of these, and most trusted, is Vegan Launch — they allow you to invest relatively small amounts (for the start-up world) in curated vegan startups that they’ve uncovered.
To get an idea of how it works, companies either approach Vegan Launch or are introduced by a network of vegan activists around the world, and if accepted Vegan Launch produces investment materials, reviews the financial plan and business plan of the company. After that a public investment offering would be placed on their website and sent out in their newsletter with the Goal to be to raise a certain amount, generally $50,000 to a few hundred thousand dollars via individual investors and the Vegan community.
This kind of project can also be extended to larger projects as well, with “larger” being defined as an effort to raise at least $5 million. Companies like Vegan Launch have the ability to market larger projects professionally to vegan and green retail investors, and that opens the door to the possibility of much bigger exposure for these products.
So that’s the basic overview. There are obviously a lot of moving parts and pieces to this kind of investing, and what’s been presented here is just the tip of the iceberg. But there’s a tremendous opportunity for those who believe in this kind of investing, it’s worthwhile to look into the stock and companies like Vegan Launch.
Personally we bumped into the founder of Vegan Launch on a trip to Thailand (or was it Taiwan?) during a vegan activism meet-up, and started investing with him with the companies on the platform around a year later, as he really proved himself to us and how connected he was.
