The Company

Plant Veda Foods Ltd. (MILK.C) is a plant-based dairy company situated in Vancouver, Canada. Utilizing innovative technology, the Company develops, produces, and sells a variety of dairy alternative products. Some of these dairy-free, plant-based products include Plant Veda’s Award-Winning Lassi, Coffee Creamer, and Milk. With this in mind, the Company is focused on all-natural, low processed, and nutritional choices that are better for people, animals, and the planet. Heart-warming sentiments aside, Plant Veda is well-positioned to capitalize on the highly lucrative global dairy market, which was valued at USD$481.08 billion in 2019. Keep in mind, this market is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.5% between 2020 and 2027. In particular, the milk product segment accounted for the largest revenue share of 32.7% in 2019 and is expected to maintain a strong presence in the same period.

With a portfolio of popular dairy alternative products, Plant Veda is looking to secure a piece of this profitable pie. As someone who is mildly intolerant to lactose, I have cut back my milk consumption significantly. Has this stopped me from enjoying a hefty serving of ice cream on occasion? Not at all. Do I hate myself afterward? Yes. That being said, I am part of 65% of the world’s population that is lactose intolerant. Thanks to us, the dairy alternative market was valued at USD$20.50 billion in 2020 and is expected to expand at an impressive CAGR of 12.5% between 2021 and 2028. With this in mind, Plant Veda is well-positioned to capitalize on two highly profitable markets, the global dairy market and the global dairy alternatives market.

To date, Plant Veda’s products are available in over 100 stores, including nationally positioned retailers such as Whole Foods Market, Nature’s Fare Markets, and Nesters Markets, to name just a few. Moreover, Plant Veda’s award-winning, proprietary blends of multiple plant sources uniquely positions the Company in the dairy alternative industry, where most products are primarily based on a single plant source. Currently, Plant Veda offers three product categories:

• Probiotic Lassi – a plant-based yogurt drink combining all-natural ingredients such as cashews, gluten-free oats, herbs, spices, and real fruit. In addition to using all-natural ingredients, Plant Veda’s award-winning lassi contains 10 billion probiotics per cup, promoting gut health
• Cashew Creamer – a plant-based coffee creamer made from whole food ingredients, including cashews, coconut, and oats. Furthermore, Plant Veda’s Cashew Creamer contains no oil and is sweetened with only 1g of maple syrup
• Cashew Mylk – plant-based milk made from whole ingredients, offering a healthy, dairy-free, and cholesterol-free beverage with no added oils. Cashew Mylk is available in a 320ml to-go bottle or in a 1-liter format

Recent News

Plant Veda announced today (October 25, 2021) that retailers and restaurants will be able to access the Company’s lassi and creamer product lines through the Sysco Corporation Network (“Sysco”). It is worth noting that Sysco is a Fortune 500 company, and is the world’s largest food distributor with over 650,000 clients. Moreover, Sysco services its clients through 343 distribution facilities worldwide across 90 countries. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Sysco generated sales of more than $51 billion for Fiscal 2021, ending July 3, 2021.

“Having one of the world’s largest foodservice distributors represent our products stands as a testament of our products and their quality…Being able to leverage Sysco’s large and well-established supply chain is expected to significantly streamline both the speed and logistics of delivering our products to the thousands of retailers and restaurants Sysco represents, I couldn’t be more pleased,” stated Mayur Sajnani, Chief Revenue Officer of Plant Veda.

Additionally, earlier this month on October 7, 2021, Plant Veda announced that it will showcase a suite of brand new product offerings next month at Planted Expo in Vancouver. For context, Planted Expo, formerly Veg Expo, is Canada’s largest plant-based event of the year where more than 200 vegan edible and lifestyle businesses gather to showcase their products. Plant Veda’s new products will be developed at the Company’s Innovation Center, a 25,000 sq ft. state-of-the-art facility located in Delta, British Columbia. This facility is used as a springboard for new product development and large-scale production.

As seen in Plant Veda’s Investor Presentation, the Company showcases concept packaging for Plant-Based Yogurts and Plant-Based Dips. Additionally, launching a plant-based yogurt is on the Company’s to-do list. I would hardly call this proof, however, the vegan yogurt market is pretty valuable, sitting at a valuation of USD$1.6 billion in 2019. Furthermore, this market is expected to grow at a sizeable CAGR of 18.9% from 2020 to 2027. Referring back to Plant Veda’s Innovation Center, this facility is currently undergoing a Phase 1 upgrade, which will support up to 2.5 million liters of production a year, with plenty of room for expansion. Moreover, the upgraded Innovation Center will be capable of housing approximately 200 staff members.

Financials

According to Plant Veda’s Interim Financial Statements for the six months ended June 30, 2021, The Company had a cash position of CAD$1,858,917 compared to CAD$44,495 on December 31, 2020. In the same period, Plant Veda’s total assets and total liabilities also increased to CAD$5,034,787 and CAD$2,351,289, respectively. With this in mind, for the three months ended June 30, 2021, Plant Veda reported a revenue of CAD$64,243 and a net loss of CAD$2,063,955. Most recently, on June 30, 2021, Plant Veda issued 40,000 common shares for proceeds of $34,000 on the exercise of 40,000 stock options. On the same day, the Company issued an additional 100,000 common shares for proceeds of $20,000 on the exercise of 100,000 warrants. As of June 30, 2021, the Company had 15,371,226 shares outstanding. Currently, the Company has approximately 19.70 million shares outstanding.

As of June 30, 2021, the Company had not achieved profitable operations and had accumulated losses of CAD$2,912,589 since its inception. However, during this time the Company has achieved several milestones, including the launch of three product categories, availability of its products at more than 100 outlets, and a direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription service in BC. Looking forward, Plant Veda has numerous milestones planned for 2022, including the launch of a yogurt product, international SKU development, a Phase 2 capacity expansion, and an aggressive retail expansion. Plant Veda still has a small market capitalization of approximately $33 million, indicating that the Company has plenty of room to grow. Having only just recently listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) on June 21, 2021, and successfully completed an oversubscribed financing in connection with going public, Plant Veda is well-positioned to tackle its planned milestones. Going forward, Plant Veda will likely be able to secure the financing it needs to achieve said milestones.

Plant Veda’s share price opened at $1.70, up from a previous close of $1.68. The Company’s shares are up 0.60% and were trading at $1.69 as of 12:05 PM ET.