SK Inc. Invests in Perfect Day’s Series D Funding Round, Accelerating its Expansion into the New Food Space
SK Inc., the strategic investment arm of South Korea’s SK group, has made news again this week as it participated in a $350 million Series D funding round for Perfect Day, Inc. More details about the investment can be found in Perfect Day’s press release, here.
For SK, the food space is a relatively new but fast-growing area of investing. As the global conversation on sustainability has evolved, food alternatives – including plant-based and animal-free foods – are becoming an integral part of building a more environmentally conscious future. The global food chain has become a growing piece of SK’s focus on investing and expanding sustainable business models across all areas of industry.
Today’s announcement marks SK’s second investment in Perfect Day – following the company’s $400 million Series C funding round in 2020 – and puts the total investment by SK at $60 million. Perfect Day, which created the world’s first animal-free milk protein, will use the investment from SK and other partners to expand its focus into biological engineering, ingredient innovation and consumer products.
This is only part of our story in the new food space. Over the past year, SK invested approximately $100 million in new food-focused companies in the U.S., Europe and Asia to begin addressing the global food chain and its impact on reaching long-term sustainability goals. These include Natures Fynd, a new food company growing sustainable protein from a microbe with origins in Yellowstone National Park, and Meatless Farm, a U.K. plant-based protein company. SK has also recently signed an MOU with SPC Samlip, a Korean-based food company that will partner with SK to bring Perfect Day and Meatless Farm’s technologies into the Korean market.
All of these investments stem from a transition we began earlier this year that aims to align our businesses with Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) principals. This has led to us increasing our investments in areas including renewable energy and sustainable packaging.
As we continue to expand our ESG goals, the new food space will remain a key piece of our plan to build towards a better tomorrow.
