Alpha Foods has raised $28m in a funding round to support its business growth to meet the growing demand for plant-based protein in the US.

AccelFoods (AF) led the funding round.

Companies that participated in the funding round included New Crop Capital and Blue Horizon.

Alpha Foods was co-founded by Loren Wallis and Cole Orobetz. They are the former founder of Good Karma Foods and a former venture capital investor respectively.

Orobetz said: “As more and more people actively seek out plant-based options, whether for their health or the environment, we are looking to expand our innovations within the category and bring easy to prepare products to a wider audience.

“We are so fortunate to continue our incredible partnership with AccelFoods and take the brand to the next level through new products, distribution and talent.”

Alpha Foods will use the funding to launch new products and expand its distribution in both the domestic and overseas markets.

It also intends to secure key talent and increase marketing and sales support to improve its relationship with consumers.

Currently, Alpha Foods offers more than 25 vegan and non-GMO products. It distributes these at retail outlets across the US, including Walmart, Kroger and Wegmans.

AccelFoods managing partner Jordan Gaspar said: “We are in the early days of plant-based consumption. As a portable, functional food business geared towards the newly emergent flexitarian consumer, the Alpha platform meets all of its customer’s snack and mealtime needs

“We couldn’t be prouder to lead this strong nexus of collaborative investors, who had the opportunity to organically build trust this past year allowing for an incredibly successful outcome in this financing.”

In another development, US-based meat snack maker Country Archer Jerky Co has received an investment of $12m. The company’s equity partner Monogram Capital Partners supplied this funding.

It will support the company’s plans to build a new meat snack facility to double its production capacity. Country Archer Jerky expects its new facility to open in spring this year.