CEO of fake meat startup explains why he turned down Google’s offer

Patrick Brown founder and CEO of Impossible Foods, a startup which produces fake meat products, has explained his decision not to sell his company to Google last year. Speaking at Vox Media’s Code Conference, Brown said that he had rejected Google’s reputed $200m-$300m offer due to the fact that the tech giant worked on “a zillion different things”. Brown stated that Impossible Food was “a mission-driven company” which sought to make plant-based products that tasted as good as actual meat whilst being better for the environment. It is estimated that the startup’s first products will be sold at prices equivalent to those for organic meat. However, Brown hopes the price will fall to that of non-organic meat within a few years.

Pat Brown (right). Business Insider / Jillian D'Onfro

Impossible Foods, a startup that makes fake meat, didn't sell to Google because it didn't want to be dependent on a company working on "a zillion different things," founder and CEO Patrick Brown said on stage at Vox Media's Code Conference.

The Information reported last summer that Google had tried to buy Impossible Foods for between $200 million and $300 million, and although Brown didn't touch on price, he confirmed Google's interest.

Here's how he put it:

In a nutshell, bless their hearts — I don't have anything bad to say about Google — but we're a mission-driven company and Google has a lot of interests. We want to have control of our fate. We don't want our success to be dependent on the continuing willingness of a company that's trying a zillion different things to support it as it needs. It made no sense for us to be acquired by anyone at this stage.

Impossible Food's mission is to make a plant-based version of meat that's just as good as real, animal-based meat while being more sustainable for the environment.

"We're making meat for uncompromising meat lovers, but with a fraction of the environmental impact," Brown says, adding that its product looks, smells, and even sizzles like regular ground beef.

When Impossible Foods releases its first product onto the mass market, it will cost about the same as organic meat, but Brown says that he expects the price to lower to that of regular, grocery-store ground beef in a few years.