Meati Foods is seeking urgent investment following an unexpected financial circumstance that has forced the company to give notice of mass layoffs to its 150 employees.

The company, a producer of mycelium-based meat alternatives based in Colorado, US, was legally required to issue a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) to employees last week (7 March 2025), giving notice to permanently terminate 150 jobs from 6 May 2025 and shut down its manufacturing facility in Thornton, Colorado.

Speaking to The Plant Base, a source close to the company confirmed that the WARN was submitted following an unforeseen turn of events, in which a lender swept two-thirds of the alt-meat maker’s available cash on 28 February due to a technical default. In banking, this means a borrower has failed to meet one or more terms of their agreement with the lender, unrelated to scheduled payments. In Meati’s case, the company missed a revenue and gross margin covenant agreed with the bank.

The source revealed that despite this, Meati had never missed a payment and had been assured by the lender that funds would not be pulled before the shock withdrawal, which significantly shortened Meati’s runway and left the company’s finances in jeopardy.

In the WARN notice, Meati’s VP of people and culture, Stephanie Larson, wrote: “We would have liked to have given…more advance notice of this action, but were unable to do so, because our lender’s actions were wholly unanticipated and unforeseeable. The information provided in this notice is based on the best information available to us at this time.”

This latest news follows Meati celebrating a number of promising developments, nearly doubling its revenue in 2024 compared with the previous year and seeing an 130% increase in its retail presence. It also entered the breakfast category early this year with its Meati Breakfast Patties, launched in January.

The company has now been left seeking funding to enable its continued operation, and is currently in active discussions with investors, exploring all avenues to secure its future. In an email shared with staff, CEO Phil Graves said: “Let us be clear: we are not sitting idle. We are actively pursuing multiple funding opportunities with our board and both existing and potential new investors.”

A spokesperson for Meati commented: “We firmly believe in our mission and that mycelium will change the protein paradigm. While we’re unclear on the future, we hope for the sake of consumers and the planet that Meati’s mission will endure.”