SEC Filing | Beyond Meat, Inc.

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As confidentially submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 10, 2018.

This draft registration statement has not been filed publicly with the Securities and Exchange Commission and all information herein remains strictly confidential.

Registration No. 333-

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM S-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

BEYOND MEAT, INC.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)




Delaware	2000	26-4087597
(State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation or Organization)	(Primary Standard Industrial Classification Code Number)	(I.R.S. Employer Identification Number)

1325 E. El Segundo Blvd.

El Segundo, CA 90245

(866) 756-4112

(Address, Including Zip Code, and Telephone Number, Including Area Code, of Registrant’s Principal Executive Offices)

Ethan Brown

President and Chief Executive Officer

Beyond Meat, Inc.

1325 E. El Segundo Blvd.

El Segundo, CA 90245

(866) 756-4112

(Name, Address, Including Zip Code, and Telephone Number, Including Area Code, of Agent For Service)



	Copies to:
Harold Yu, Esq. Christopher J. Austin, Esq. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP 1000 Marsh Road Menlo Park, CA 94025 (650) 614-7400	Mark J. Nelson Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary Beyond Meat, Inc. 1325 E. El Segundo Blvd. El Segundo, CA 90245 (866) 756-4112	Cathy Birkeland, Esq. Latham & Watkins LLP 330 North Wabash Avenue, Suite 2800 Chicago, IL 60611 (312) 876-7700

Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: As soon as practicable after the effective date of this Registration Statement.

If any of the securities being registered on this form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, check the following box. ¨

If this form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ¨

If this form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ¨

If this form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.



Large accelerated filer	¨	Accelerated filer	¨
Non-accelerated filer	x	Smaller reporting company	¨
		Emerging growth company	x

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. ¨

CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE



Title of each class of securities to be registered	Amount to be registered⁽¹⁾	Proposed maximum offering price per unit⁽²⁾	Proposed maximum aggregate offering price⁽²⁾	Amount of registration fee
Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share		$	$	$


(1)	Includes shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the Underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares. See “Underwriting.”


(2)	Estimated solely for the purpose of computing the amount of the registration fee pursuant to Rule 457(a) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

The Registrant hereby amends this Registration Statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the Registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this Registration Statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 or until the Registration Statement shall become effective on such date as the Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

The information in this preliminary prospectus is not complete and may be changed. We may not sell these securities until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This preliminary prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities and it is not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED , 2018

https://cdn.kscope.io/8ddbf3fd5f4a6f77cd98f4d07b3f89df-byndlogoa03.jpg



	Beyond Meat, Inc.

Common Stock

This is the initial public offering of shares of common stock of Beyond Meat, Inc. Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for our common stock. The initial public offering price is expected to be between $ and $ per share.

We intend to apply to list our common stock on the under the symbol “BYND.”

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined under the federal securities laws and, as such, we have elected to comply with certain reduced public company reporting requirements for this prospectus and future filings.

Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. See the section entitled “Risk Factors” beginning on page 13 to read about factors you should consider before buying shares of our common stock.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.



	Per Share	Total
Initial public offering price	$	$
Underwriting discounts and commissions⁽¹⁾	$	$
Proceeds, before expenses	$	$

___________________


(1)	See “Underwriting” for additional disclosure regarding underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses.

We have granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to additional shares of common stock from us at the initial public offering price less the underwriting discounts and commissions, solely to cover the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares.

The underwriters expect to deliver the shares of common stock to purchasers on or about , .




Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC	J.P. Morgan	Credit Suisse


BofA Merrill Lynch		Jefferies

Prospectus dated ,




TABLE OF CONTENTS
	Page

Prospectus Summary	1
Risk Factors	13
Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements	39
Use of Proceeds	41
Dividend Policy	43
Capitalization	44
Dilution	46
Selected Financial Data	49
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations	52
Business	68
Management	88
Executive Compensation	98
Certain Relationships and Related-Party Transactions	104
Principal Stockholders	110
Description of Capital Stock	114
Shares Eligible for Future Sale	121
Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations for Non-U.S. Holders of Common Stock	123
Underwriting	128
Legal Matters	139
Experts	139
Where You Can Find More Information	139
Index to Financial Statements	F-1

NEITHER WE NOR THE UNDERWRITERS HAVE AUTHORIZED ANYONE TO PROVIDE ANY INFORMATION OR TO MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS OTHER THAN THOSE CONTAINED IN THIS PROSPECTUS OR IN ANY FREE WRITING PROSPECTUSES WE HAVE PREPARED. NEITHER WE NOR THE UNDERWRITERS TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR, AND CAN PROVIDE NO ASSURANCE AS TO THE RELIABILITY OF, ANY OTHER INFORMATION THAT OTHERS MAY GIVE YOU. THIS PROSPECTUS IS AN OFFER TO SELL ONLY THE SHARES OFFERED HEREBY, BUT ONLY UNDER CIRCUMSTANCES AND IN JURISDICTIONS WHERE IT IS LAWFUL TO DO SO. THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS PROSPECTUS IS CURRENT ONLY AS OF ITS DATE.

“The Beyond Burger,” ”Beyond Beef,” “Beyond Chicken,” “Beyond Meat,” “Beyond Sausage,” “The Cookout Classic” and “The Future of Protein” and “The Future of Protein Beyond Meat” and design are registered trademarks of Beyond Meat, Inc. in the United States and, in some cases, in certain other countries. All other brand names or trademarks appearing in this prospectus are the property of their respective holders. Solely for convenience, the trademarks and trade names in this prospectus are referred to without the ® and ^TM symbols, but such references should not be construed as any indicator that their respective owners will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, their rights thereto.

INDUSTRY AND MARKET DATA

This prospectus contains estimates, projections and other information concerning our industry, our business and the markets for our products. Some market data and statistical information contained in this prospectus are also based on management’s estimates and calculations, which are derived from our review and interpretation of the independent sources listed below, our internal research and knowledge of the meat industry and plant-based protein market. This information involves a number of assumptions and limitations, and you are cautioned not to give undue weight to these estimates. In addition, projections, assumptions and estimates of the future performance of the industry in which we operate and our future performance are necessarily subject to uncertainty and risk due to a variety of factors, including those described in the sections titled “Risk Factors” and “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.” These and other factors could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the projections and estimates made by the independent third parties and us.

Unless otherwise expressly stated, we obtained industry, business, market and other data from the reports, publications and other materials and sources listed below. In some cases, we do not expressly refer to the sources from which this data is derived. In that regard, when we refer to one or more sources of this type of data in any paragraph, you should assume that other data of this type appearing in the same paragraph is derived from the same sources, unless otherwise expressly stated or the context otherwise requires.


•	BMI Research, a division of Fitch Solutions (“BMI”);


•	Mintel Group Ltd., US Non-Dairy Milk Market Report, September 2017 (the “Mintel Report”);


•	The World Resources Institute, Creating a Sustainable Food Future, 2013 (the “WRI Report”);


•	The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (“OECD”);


•	The World Health Organization (“WHO”);


•	Agricultural Outlook, Edition 2017 of the OECD and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (“FAO”) (the “OECD-FAO Report”);


•	Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Core Writing Team, R.K. Pachauri and L.A. Meyer (eds.)). Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (“IPCC”), Geneva, Switzerland, 151 pp. (the “IPCC Report”);


•	WHO-FAO Public Expert Consultation on diet, nutrition and the prevention of chronic diseases: process, product and policy implications 2004 (the “WHO-FAO Report”);


•	Livestock’s Long Shadow-Environmental Issues and Options, FAO, 2006;


•	Plant Based Foods Association 2018 Retail Sales Data for Plant-Based Foods (the “PBFA Report”);


•	Plant Based Diet Associated with Less Heart Failure Risk Report, presented at the American Heart Association scientific meeting, November 13, 2017; and


•	The Bureau of Labor Statistics.

PROSPECTUS SUMMARY

This summary highlights certain significant aspects of our business and this offering and is a summary of information contained elsewhere in this prospectus. This summary does not contain all the information that you should consider before deciding to invest in our common stock. You should read the entire prospectus carefully, including “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” “Business” and our financial statements and related notes thereto included in this prospectus, before making an investment decision. In this prospectus, the terms “Beyond Meat,” “we,” “us,” “our” and “the company” refer to Beyond Meat, Inc.

Overview

Beyond Meat is one of the fastest growing food companies in the United States, offering a portfolio of revolutionary plant-based meats. We build meat directly from plants, an innovation that enables consumers to experience the taste, texture and other sensory attributes of popular animal-based meat products while enjoying the nutritional benefits of eating our plant-based meat products. Our brand commitment, “Eat What You Love,” represents our strong belief that by eating our plant-based meats, consumers can enjoy more, not less, of their favorite meals, and by doing so, help address concerns related to human health, climate change, resource conservation and animal welfare. The success of our breakthrough innovation model and products has allowed us to appeal to a broad range of consumers, including those who typically eat animal-based meats, positioning us to compete directly in the $1.4 trillion global meat industry.

To capture this broad market opportunity, we have developed three core plant-based product platforms that align with the largest meat categories globally: beef, pork and poultry. We create our plant-based products using proprietary scientific processes that determine the architecture of the animal-based meat we are seeking to replicate and then we assemble it using plant-derived amino acids, lipids, trace minerals and water. We are focused on continually improving our products so that they are, to the human sensory system, indistinguishable from their animal-based counterparts.

Our flagship product is The Beyond Burger, the world’s first 100% plant-based burger merchandised in the meat case of grocery stores. The Beyond Burger is designed to look, cook and taste like traditional ground beef. Our products are currently available in approximately 27,000 points of distribution primarily in the United States as well as several other countries, across mainstream grocery, mass merchandiser and natural retailer channels, and various food-away-from-home channels, including restaurants, foodservice outlets and schools. We enjoy a strong base of well-known retail and foodservice customers that continues to grow.

Research, development and innovation are core elements of our business strategy and we believe they represent a critical competitive advantage for us. Through our Rapid and Relentless Innovation Program, our team of scientists and engineers focuses on making continuous improvements to our existing product formulations and developing new products across our plant-based beef, pork and poultry platforms. Our state-of-the-art Manhattan Beach Project Innovation Center in El Segundo, California brings together leading scientists from chemistry, biology, material science, food science and biophysics disciplines who work together with process engineers and culinary specialists to pursue our vision of perfectly building plant-based meat.

We have experienced strong revenue growth over the past few years, increasing our net revenues from $8.8 million in 2015 to $32.6 million in 2017, representing a 92% compound annual growth rate. We have generated losses since inception. Net loss in 2016 was $25.1 million compared to $30.4 million in 2017, an increase of $5.3 million, as we invested in innovation and the growth of our business. Going forward, we intend to continue to invest in innovation, supply chain capabilities, manufacturing and marketing initiatives as we believe the demand for our products will continue to accelerate across both retail and foodservice channels as well as internationally.

The Beyond Meat Strategic Difference


•	Unique Approach to the Product

We employ a revolutionary and unique approach to create our products, with a goal of delivering the same satisfying taste, texture and aroma as the animal-based meats we seek to replicate. In our Manhattan Beach Project Innovation Center, our scientists and engineers continuously improve our products to replicate the sensory experience of animal-based meat. Through our investment in innovation, we have pioneered products like The Beyond Burger and Beyond Sausage, which we believe closely replicate the sensory experience of meat—from the look of the package and raw product, to the sizzle on the grill, to the juicy and protein-packed satisfaction of biting into a “meaty” burger or sausage.


•	Unique Approach to the Market

Our breakthrough product innovations have enabled a paradigm shift in both marketing and target audience—tapping into the curious and enthusiastic pull from mainstream consumers for delicious and satisfying yet better-for-you plant-based meats. At one national grocery chain, 93% of Beyond Burger buyers over the 51-week period ended June 18, 2018 also purchased animal protein during the same period, which evidences Beyond Meat’s appeal to meat-loving consumers.

Instead of marketing and merchandising The Beyond Burger to vegans and vegetarians (who represent less than 5% of the U.S. population), we request that the product be sold in the meat case at grocery retailers, where meat-loving consumers are accustomed to shopping for center-of-plate proteins. We believe merchandising in the meat case in the retail channel has helped drive greater brand awareness with our end consumers. The Beyond Burger is now carried by approximately 11,000 of our 17,000 grocery store customers across the United States.

Our recent success with A&W Canada illustrates the growing international demand for our products. We launched in Europe in August 2018 through contracts with three major distributors and have also received strong expressions of interest from some of Europe’s largest grocery and restaurant chains. We intend to establish production capabilities there in 2019. Additionally, for several years we have maintained a presence and generated brand awareness in Hong Kong through our local distributor and expect further expansion in Asia over time.


•	Unique Approach to Our Brand

Our mission is to create nutritious plant-based meats that taste delicious and deliver a consumer experience indistinguishable from that provided by animal-based meats. We believe our brand commitment, “Eat What You Love,” encourages consumers to eat more, not less, of the traditional dishes they enjoy by using our products, while feeling great about the health, sustainability, and animal welfare benefits associated with consuming plant-based protein. Consumers and the media are enthusiastic about the concept of an authentically meaty tasting plant-based burger and drove more than 4.0 billion earned media impressions in 2017, which are growing at an even faster pace in 2018—with 6.8 billion media impressions between January and August 2018.

Our Industry and Market Opportunity

We operate in the large and global meat industry, which is comprised of fresh and packaged animal-based meats for human consumption. According to data from BMI, the meat industry is the largest category in food and in 2017 generated estimated sales across retail and foodservice channels of approximately $270 billion in the United States and approximately $1.4 trillion globally.

We believe that consumer awareness of the perceived negative health, environmental and animal-welfare impacts of animal-based meat consumption has resulted in a surge in demand for viable plant-based protein alternatives. A key analogy for both the approach to and the scale of our opportunity is the strategy by which the plant-based dairy industry captured significant market share of the dairy industry. In the United States, the current size of the non-dairy milk category is equivalent to approximately 13% of the size of the dairy milk category. According to the Mintel Report, the non-dairy milk category in the United States was estimated to be approximately $2 billion in 2017. The success of the plant-based dairy industry was based on a strategy of creating plant-based dairy products that tasted better than previous non-dairy substitutes, packaged and merchandised adjacent to their dairy equivalents. We believe that by applying the same strategy to the plant-based meat category, it can grow to be at least the same proportion of the approximately $270 billion meat category in the United States, which over time would represent a category size of $35 billion in the United States alone. As a market leader in the plant-based meats category, we believe we are well-positioned to capture and drive a significant amount of this category growth. We also believe there is a significant international market opportunity for our products.

Our Competitive Strengths

We believe that the following strengths position us to generate significant growth and pursue our objective to become a leader in the global meat category.

Dedicated Focus on Innovation. We invest significant resources in our innovation capabilities to develop plant-based meat alternatives to popular animal-based meat products. Our innovation team, comprised of approximately 40 scientists, engineers, researchers, technicians and chefs, has delivered several unique plant-based meat breakthroughs, as well as continuous improvements to existing products. We are able to leverage what we learn about taste, texture and aroma across our platform and apply this knowledge to each of our product offerings. In addition, we recently opened our 30,000 square foot Manhattan Beach Project Innovation Center in El Segundo, California, which is ten times the size of our previous lab space. In our new innovation center we have a strong pipeline of products in development and can more rapidly transition our research from benchtop to scaled production. As our knowledge and expertise deepens, our pace of innovation is accelerating, allowing for reduced time between new product launches. After taking multiple years to develop the first Beyond Burger, it took us less than a year to develop a new version with improved taste, texture and aroma attributes. This newer version of The Beyond Burger is already being sold by A&W Canada, generating enthusiastic comparisons to traditional beef. We expect this faster pace of product introductions and meaningful enhancements to existing products to continue as we innovate within our core plant-based platforms of beef, pork and poultry.

Brand Mission Aligned with Consumer Trends. Our brand is uniquely positioned to capitalize on growing consumer interest in great-tasting, nutritious, convenient, higher protein content and plant-based foods. We have also tapped into growing public awareness of major issues connected to animal protein, including human health, climate change, resource conservation and animal welfare. Simply put, our products aim to enable consumers to “Eat What You Love” without the downsides of conventional animal protein. We have built a powerful brand with broad demographic appeal and a passionate consumer base. Our brand awareness is driven by strong social marketing, with over 1.0 million combined social media and newsletter followers as of August 2018, more than 4.0 billion media impressions in 2017 and 6.8 billion media impressions between January and August 2018. Our audience continues to grow from the attention generated by our large following of celebrities, influencers and brand ambassadors who identify with our mission.

Product Portfolio Generates Significant Demand from Retail and Restaurant Customers. Rapidly growing sales of our products by both our retail and restaurant partners have helped us foster strong relationships in a relatively short period of time. We provide our retailers with exciting new products in the meat case, where innovation rarely occurs. Many of our retail customers have experienced increasing levels of velocity of our products, measured by units sold per month per store, as well as repeat purchases. Our restaurant customers are excited by the opportunity to differentiate their menu offering and attract new customers by partnering with Beyond Meat and are seeking new ways to further promote our product. In summer 2018, A&W Canada, the country’s second largest burger chain, ran an advertising campaign promoting The Beyond Burger as an exciting new product offering to drive consumer traffic. We believe their choice to feature The Beyond Burger demonstrates the marketing power of our brand and overall consumer excitement for our product.

Experienced and Passionate Executive Management Team. We are led by a proven and experienced executive management team. Ethan Brown, our founder, President and Chief Executive Officer, has significant experience in clean tech and a natural appreciation for animal agriculture. Seth Goldman, our Executive Chair, has extensive experience working at fast-growing brands in the food and beverage industry. The other members of our executive management team have an average of 21 years of industry experience, having driven growth at both consumer packaged goods companies and high growth businesses. We believe this blend of talent gives us tremendous insights and capabilities to create demand and fulfill it in a scalable, profitable and sustainable way.

Our Growth Strategy

Pursue Top-line Growth Across our Distribution Channels. We believe there is a significant opportunity to expand Beyond Meat well beyond our current retail and restaurant and foodservice footprint of approximately 27,000 points of distribution across the United States and abroad.


•	Retail: We have a significant opportunity to grow our sales within U.S. retail by focusing on increasing sales at our existing points of distribution, as well as increasing sales of new products. We also expect to grow our U.S. retail distribution by establishing commercial relationships with new customers.


•	Restaurant and Foodservice: Our products are currently being served in approximately 10,000 restaurant and foodservice outlets. We plan to continue to aggressively expand our network of restaurant and foodservice partners.


•	International: We believe there is significant demand for our products across the globe in retail and restaurant and foodservice channels. We are increasing production for sales in Canada and Europe and have established and seek to establish additional relationships with distributors in other geographies for future expansion.

Invest in Infrastructure and Capabilities. We are committed to prioritizing investment in our infrastructure and capabilities in order to support our strategic expansion plans. This year, we commenced production at a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility and entered into relationships with several co-manufacturers to significantly increase our production capacity. By the end of the first quarter of 2019, we expect to triple our monthly production capacity as compared to the end of the second quarter of 2018.

We have plans to unlock additional capacity both domestically and internationally in 2019. We are continuing to hire experienced employees in our sales, marketing, operations, innovation and finance teams to support our rapid growth.

Expand Our Product Offerings. The successes of The Beyond Burger and Beyond Sausage products have confirmed our belief that there is significant demand for additional plant-based meat products. We intend to strengthen our product offering by improving the formulations for our existing portfolio of products, and by creating new products that expand the portfolio. We are continuously refining

our products to improve their taste, texture and aroma. In addition, we are committed to increasing our investment in R&D to continue to innovate within our core plant-based platforms of beef, pork and poultry to create exciting new product lines and improve the formulations for our existing portfolio of products.

Continue to Grow Our Brand. We plan to continue to create relevant content with our network of celebrities, influencers and brand ambassadors, who have successfully built significant brand awareness by supporting our mission and products. We also intend to expand our field marketing efforts to sample products directly with consumers in stores and at relevant events.

Remain Mission Focused and True to Our Values. We are a mission-driven business with long-standing core values. We strive to operate in an honest, socially responsible and environmentally sustainable manner and are committed to help solve the major health and global environmental issues which we believe are caused by an animal-based protein diet and existing meat industry practices. We believe our authentic and long-standing commitment to these issues better positions us to build loyalty and trust with current consumers and helps attract new ones. Our corporate culture embodies these values and, as a result, we enjoy a highly motivated and skilled work force committed to our mission and our enterprise.

Risks Associated with Our Business

Investing in our common stock involves substantial risk. You should carefully consider all of the information in this prospectus prior to investing in our common stock. There are several risks related to our business that are described under “Risk Factors” elsewhere in this prospectus. Among these important risks are the following:


•	We have a history of losses, and we may be unable to achieve or sustain profitability. We have experienced net losses in each year since our inception and we may therefore not be able to achieve or sustain profitability in the future.


•	If we fail to effectively expand our manufacturing and production capacity, our business and operating results and our brand reputation could be harmed.


•	Because we rely on a limited number of raw materials to create our products and a limited number of third-party suppliers to supply our raw materials, we may not be able to obtain raw materials on a timely basis, at cost effective pricing or in sufficient quantities to produce our products and we may not be able to produce our products or meet the demand for our products.


•	Our future business, results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected by reduced or limited availability of pea protein that meets our standards.

•

We rely on sales to a limited number of distributors and retailers for the substantial majority of our sales, and the loss of one or more such distributors or retailers may harm our business. We do not have any contracts with our distributors and retailers that require the purchase of a minimum amount of our products. The absence of such contracts could result in periods during which we must continue to pay costs and service indebtedness with reduced sales.


•	We do not currently have any written contracts with co-manufacturers. The loss of these co-manufacturers or the inability of these co-manufacturers to fulfill our orders would adversely affect our ability to make timely deliveries of our products and would have a material adverse effect on our business.


•	We face intense competition in our market from our competitors, including manufacturers of animal-based meat products, and potential competitors and may lack sufficient financial or other resources to compete successfully.


•	We may require additional financing to achieve our goals, and a failure to obtain this necessary capital when needed on acceptable terms, or at all, may force us to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product manufacturing and development, and other operations.


•	Our brand and reputation may be diminished due to real or perceived quality or health issues with our products, which could have an adverse effect on our business, reputation, operating results and financial condition.


•	Food safety and food-borne illness incidents or advertising or product mislabeling may materially adversely affect our business by exposing us to lawsuits, product recalls or regulatory enforcement actions, increasing our operating costs and reducing demand for our product offerings.


•	Failure by our suppliers of raw materials or co-manufacturers to comply with food safety, environmental or other laws and regulations, or with the specifications and requirements of our products, may disrupt our supply of products and adversely affect our business.


•	Sales of The Beyond Burger contribute a significant portion of our revenue. A reduction in sales of The Beyond Burger would have an adverse effect on our financial condition.


•	The primary components of all of our products are manufactured in our two Columbia, Missouri facilities and any damage or disruption at these facilities may harm our business. Moreover, Columbia, Missouri has a tight labor market and we may be unable to hire and retain employees at these facilities.


•	We may not successfully ramp up operations at our new Columbia, Missouri facility or this facility may not operate in accordance with our expectations.


•	Failure to introduce new products or successfully improve existing products may adversely affect our ability to continue to grow. In addition, if we fail to cost-effectively acquire new customers or retain our existing customers, or if we fail to derive revenue from our existing customers consistent with our historical performance, our business could be materially adversely affected.


•	If we fail to manage our future growth effectively, our business could be materially adversely affected. We may also face difficulties as we expand our operations into countries in which we have no prior operating experience.

•

Our operations are subject to U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, regulation and state regulation, and there is no assurance that we will be in compliance with all regulations. Any changes in applicable laws, regulations or policies of the FDA or U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA, that relate to the use of the word “meat” in connection with plant-based protein products could adversely affect our business, prospects, results of operations or financial condition.


•	We are or will be subject to international regulations that could adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Our Corporate Information

Beyond Meat, Inc. was incorporated in Delaware on April 8, 2011 originally under the name “J Green Natural Foods Co.” On October 5, 2011, we changed our corporate name to “Savage River, Inc.,” with “Beyond Meat” being our “doing business as” name. On September 7, 2018, we changed our corporate name to “Beyond Meat, Inc.” Our principal executive offices are located at 1325 East El Segundo Blvd., El Segundo, CA 90245, and our telephone number is (866) 756-4112. Our website address is www.beyondmeat.com. The information contained on or accessible through our website is not part of this prospectus or the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, and potential investors should not rely on such information in making a decision to purchase our common stock in this offering.

Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company

We qualify as an “emerging growth company” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act. As an emerging growth company, we may take advantage of specified reduced disclosure and other requirements that are otherwise applicable generally to public companies, including:


•	presenting only two years of audited financial statements and only two years of related Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations disclosure;


•	reduced disclosure about our executive compensation arrangements;


•	exemption from the requirements to hold non-binding advisory votes on executive compensation;


•	exemption from the auditor attestation requirement in the assessment of our internal controls over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act; and


•	exemption from complying with any requirement that may be adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or the PCAOB, regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements (i.e., an auditor discussion and analysis).

We may take advantage of these exemptions up until the last day of the fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of this offering or such earlier time that we are no longer an emerging growth company. We would cease to be an emerging growth company if we have more than $1.07 billion in annual revenue, we have more than $700 million in market value of our stock held by non-affiliates (and we have been a public company for at least 12 months and have filed one annual report on Form 10-K) or we issue more than $1 billion of non-convertible debt securities over a three-year period. We may choose to take advantage of some, but not all, of the available exemptions. We have taken advantage of certain reduced reporting obligations in this prospectus. Accordingly, the information contained herein may be different than the information you receive from other public companies in which you hold stock. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Being a Public Company” which describes that we are an emerging growth company, and we cannot be certain if the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will make our common stock less attractive to investors.

The Offering

The following information assumes that the underwriters do not exercise their option to purchase additional shares in the offering. See “Underwriting.”



Common stock offered by us	shares

Common stock to be outstanding after the offering	shares

Option to purchase additional shares of common stock	The underwriters have an option to purchase a maximum of additional shares of common stock from us. The underwriters can exercise this option at any time within 30 days from the date of this prospectus.


Use of proceeds	We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering to invest in current and additional manufacturing facilities and expand our research and development and our sales and marketing capabilities, as well as for working capital and general corporate purposes. See “Use of Proceeds” for more information.

Listing	We intend to apply to list our common stock on the under the symbol “BYND.”

Material U.S. federal income tax considerations for non‑U.S. holders	For a discussion of the material U.S. federal income tax considerations that may be relevant to prospective investors who are non-U.S. holders, please see “Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations for Non-U.S. Holders of Common Stock.”

Risk factors	Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully read and consider the information set forth under “Risk Factors” and all other information in this prospectus before investing in our common stock.

We refer to our Series A convertible preferred stock, Series B convertible preferred stock, Series C convertible preferred stock, Series D convertible preferred stock, Series E convertible preferred stock, Series F convertible preferred stock and Series G convertible preferred stock as our “convertible preferred stock” in this prospectus. In this prospectus, we refer to our outstanding warrants as either warrants to purchase shares of convertible preferred stock or warrants to purchase shares of common stock.

Except as otherwise indicated, all information in this prospectus is based upon 67,625,356 shares of our common stock (including 419,420 unvested shares of restricted common stock subject to our repurchase right) outstanding as of December 31, 2017, and excludes:


•	6,310,312 shares of our common stock issuable upon exercise of stock options outstanding as of December 31, 2017, having a weighted-average exercise price of $0.58 per share;


•	shares of our common stock issuable upon exercise of stock options granted after December 31, 2017, having a weighted-average exercise price of $ per share;

•

shares of common stock reserved for future grant or issuance under our 2011 Equity Incentive Plan, or the 2011 Plan (which includes 1,919,799 shares of our common stock reserved for future grant or issuance under our 2011 Plan as of December 31, 2017, and shares of our common stock that will be added to the shares reserved for future grant or issuance under our 2011 Plan in connection with the amendment and restatement of our 2011 Plan which will become effective in connection with this offering and will contain provisions that automatically

increase its share reserve each year, as more fully described in “Executive Compensation—Employee Benefit Plans”;


•	182,533 shares of our common stock issuable upon the exercise of outstanding warrants to purchase Series B convertible preferred stock outstanding as of December 31, 2017, having an exercise price of $0.71 per share; and


•	58,607 shares of our common stock issuable upon the exercise of outstanding warrants to purchase Series E convertible preferred stock outstanding as of December 31, 2017, having an exercise price of $2.45 per share.

Except as otherwise indicated, all information in this prospectus reflects and assumes:


•	the automatic conversion immediately prior to the closing of this offering of all of our outstanding shares of convertible preferred stock on a one-for-one basis into an aggregate of 59,038,957 shares of common stock;


•	the automatic conversion of warrants to purchase an aggregate of 241,140 shares of convertible preferred stock into warrants to purchase an aggregate of 241,140 shares of common stock immediately prior to the closing of this offering;


•	no exercise or termination of outstanding stock options or warrants after December 31, 2017;


•	the filing and effectiveness of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and the adoption of our amended and restated bylaws immediately prior to the closing of this offering; and


•	no exercise by the underwriters of their option to purchase additional shares of common stock from us.

Summary Financial Data

The following table sets forth summary financial data for the periods and at the dates indicated. The statement of operations data for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2017 and the summary balance sheet data as of December 31, 2017 have been derived from our audited financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for any future periods. You should read the following financial information together with the information under “Capitalization,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” “Selected Financial Data” and our financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus.



	Year Ended December 31,
(in thousands, except share and per share data)	2016			2017
Statements of Operations Data:
Net revenues	$	16,182		$	32,581
Cost of goods sold	$	22,494		$	34,772
Restructuring expenses	$	—		$	3,509
Total operating expenses	$	18,454		$	26,374
Loss from operations	$	(24,766	)	$	(28,565	)
Total other expense	$	(380	)	$	(1,814	)
Loss before income taxes	$	(25,146	)	$	(30,379	)
Income tax expense	$	3		$	5
Net loss	$	(25,149	)	$	(30,384	)

Net loss per share attributable to common stock
Basic and diluted⁽¹⁾	$	(3.67	)	$	(3.71	)
Pro forma net income per share attributable to common stock
Basic and diluted⁽¹⁾				$	(0.45	)



(in thousands)	As of December 31, 2017
Balance Sheet Data:	Actual			Pro Forma⁽²⁾		Pro Forma as Adjusted ⁽³⁾
Cash	$	39,035		$	39,035
Working capital⁽⁴⁾	$	39,819		$	39,819
Total assets	$	66,463		$	66,463
Total debt	$	4,915		$	4,915
Convertible preferred stock	$	148,194		$	—
Accumulated stockholders’ deficit	$	(95,913	)	$	52,831



Non-GAAP Financial Data:
Adjusted EBITDA⁽⁵⁾	$	(21,957	)	$	(17,557	)

___________________


(1)	For the calculation of basic and diluted income (loss) per share and pro forma basic and diluted net income per share, see notes 7 and 11 to our financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus.


(2)	The pro forma balance sheet gives effect to the conversion of all outstanding preferred stock to common stock on a 1-for-1 basis at the closing of this offering.

(3)

The pro forma as adjusted balance sheet gives effect to the conversion of all outstanding preferred stock to common stock on a 1-for-1 basis at the closing of this offering and to the sale of shares of common stock by us in this offering at an assumed initial public offering price of $ per share (the midpoint of the estimated price range set forth on the cover of this prospectus), after deducting the underwriting discount and estimated offering expenses payable by us.


(4)	Working capital is defined as total current assets minus total current liabilities.

(5)

Adjusted EBITDA is a financial measure that is not calculated in accordance with GAAP. We define adjusted EBITDA as net loss adjusted to exclude, when applicable, income tax expense, interest expense, depreciation and amortization expense, restructuring expenses, share-based compensation expense, inventory losses from termination of an exclusive supply agreement with a co-manufacturer and costs of termination of an exclusive supply agreement with the same co-manufacturer.

There are a number of limitations related to the use of adjusted EBITDA rather than net loss, which is the most directly comparable GAAP measure. Some of these limitations are:


•	adjusted EBITDA excludes depreciation and amortization expense and, although these are non-cash expenses, the assets being depreciated may have to be replaced in the future increasing our cash requirements;


•	adjusted EBITDA does not reflect interest expense, or the cash required to service our debt, which reduces cash available to us;


•	adjusted EBITDA does not reflect income tax payments that reduce cash available to us;


•	adjusted EBITDA does not reflect restructuring expenses that reduce cash available to us;


•	adjusted EBITDA does not reflect share-based compensation expenses and, therefore, does not include all of our compensation costs;


•	adjusted EBITDA does not reflect other income (expense) that may increase or decrease cash available to us; and


•	other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate adjusted EBITDA differently, which reduces its usefulness as a comparative measure.

Because of these limitations, we consider, and you should consider, adjusted EBITDA together with other operating and financial performance measures presented in accordance with GAAP. Below we have provided a reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA to net loss, as reported, the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP, for each of the periods presented. Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered as an alternative to net loss or any other measure of financial performance calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP. How we define and calculate adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other organizations, due to differences in how we and other organizations calculate this measure, and therefore you should be cautious in drawing comparisons based on these non-GAAP measures.

The following table presents the reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA to its most comparable GAAP measure, net loss, as reported.



	Year Ended December 31,
(in thousands)	2016			2017
Net loss, as reported	$	(25,149	)	$	(30,384	)
Income tax expense	3			5
Interest expense	380			1,002
Depreciation and amortization expense	2,074			3,181
Restructuring expenses^(a)	—			3,509
Inventory losses from termination of exclusive supply agreement^(b)	—			2,440
Costs of termination of exclusive supply agreement^(c)	—			1,213
Share-based compensation expense	735			665
Other, net^(d)	—			812
Adjusted EBITDA	$	(21,957	)	$	(17,557	)

___________________

(a)

In connection with the termination of an exclusive supply agreement with a co-manufacturer in May 2017, we recorded restructuring expenses related to the impairment write-off of long-lived assets, primarily comprised of certain unrecoverable equipment located at the co-manufacturer’s site and company-paid leasehold improvements to the co-manufacturer’s facility, and legal and other expenses associated with the dispute with the co-manufacturer. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Business—Legal Proceedings” elsewhere in this prospectus.


(b)	Consists of additional charges related to inventory losses incurred as a result of termination of an exclusive supply agreement with a co-manufacturer and is recorded in cost of goods sold.


(c)	Consists of additional charges incurred as a result of termination of an exclusive supply agreement with a co-manufacturer and is recorded in selling, general and administrative expenses.


(d)	Includes expenses primarily associated with the conversion of our convertible notes and remeasurement of our preferred stock warrant liability.

RISK FACTORS

Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the following risk factors, as well as the other information in this prospectus, before deciding whether to invest in shares of our common stock. If any of the following risks actually occurs, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially adversely affected. In this case, the trading price of our common stock would likely decline and you might lose part or all your investment in our common stock.

Risks Related to Our Business, Our Brand, Our Products and Our Industry

We have a history of losses, and we may be unable to achieve or sustain profitability.

We have experienced net losses in each year since our inception. In the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2017, we incurred net losses of $25.1 million and $30.4 million, respectively. We anticipate that our operating expenses and capital expenditures will increase substantially in the foreseeable future as we continue to invest to increase our customer base, supplier network and co-manufacturing partners, expand our marketing channels, invest in our distribution and manufacturing facilities, hire additional employees and enhance our technology and production capabilities. Our expansion efforts may prove more expensive than we anticipate, and we may not succeed in increasing our revenues and margins sufficiently to offset the anticipated higher expenses. We incur significant expenses in developing our innovative products, building out our manufacturing facilities, obtaining and storing ingredients and other products and marketing the products we offer. In addition, many of our expenses, including the costs associated with our existing and any future manufacturing facilities, are fixed. Accordingly, we may not be able to achieve or sustain profitability, and we may incur significant losses for the foreseeable future.

If we fail to effectively expand our manufacturing and production capacity, our business and operating results and our brand reputation could be harmed.

We currently do not have sufficient capacity to meet our customers’ demands and to satisfy increased demand, we need to expand our operations, supply and manufacturing capabilities. However, there is risk in our ability to effectively scale production processes and effectively manage our supply chain requirements. We must accurately forecast demand for our products in order to ensure we have adequate available manufacturing capacity. Our forecasts are based on multiple assumptions which may cause our estimates to be inaccurate and affect our ability to obtain adequate manufacturing capacity (whether our own manufacturing capacity or co-manufacturing capacity) in order to meet the demand for our products, which could prevent us from meeting increased customer demand and harm our brand and our business. However, if we overestimate our demand and overbuild our capacity, we may have significantly underutilized assets and may experience reduced margins. If we do not accurately align our manufacturing capabilities with demand, if we experience disruptions or delays in our supply chain, or if we cannot obtain raw materials of sufficient quantity and quality at reasonable prices, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.

Because we rely on a limited number of third-party suppliers, we may not be able to obtain raw materials on a timely basis or in sufficient quantities to produce our products or meet the demand for our products.

We rely on a limited number of vendors to supply us with raw materials. Our financial performance depends in large part on our ability to arrange for the purchase of raw materials in sufficient quantities at competitive prices. We are not assured of continued supply or pricing to raw materials. Any of our suppliers could discontinue or seek to alter their relationship with us. For example, we may be adversely affected if they raise their prices, stop selling to us or our co-manufacturers or enter into arrangements that impair their ability to provide raw materials for us. For more information regarding contract terms see the section of this prospectus captioned “Business—Key Commercial Agreements.”

We have one single source supplier for the pea protein used in our fresh products. During 2017, products that contain pea protein from this supplier represented approximately 48% of our net revenues. Any disruption in this supplier relationship would have a material adverse effect on our business. We have in the past experienced interruptions in the supply of pea protein from this supplier that resulted in delays in delivery to us, and we could experience similar delays in the future. For more information regarding contract terms, see the section of this prospectus captioned “Business—Key Commercial Agreements.”

This supplier manufactures its pea protein at a limited number of facilities. A natural disaster, fire, power interruption, work stoppage or other calamity affecting these facilities, or any interruption in its operations, could negatively impact our ability to obtain required quantities of pea protein in a timely manner, or at all, which could materially reduce our net product sales and have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

Events that adversely affect our suppliers could impair our ability to obtain raw material inventory in the quantities that we desire. Such events include problems with our suppliers’ businesses, finances, labor relations, ability to import raw materials, costs, production, insurance and reputation, as well as natural disasters, fires or other catastrophic occurrences. We continuously seek alternative sources of protein to use in our products, but we may not be successful in diversifying the raw materials we use in our products.

If we need to replace an existing supplier, there can be no assurance that supplies of raw materials will be available when required on acceptable terms, or at all, or that a new supplier would allocate sufficient capacity to us in order to meet our requirements, fill our orders in a timely manner or meet our strict quality standards. If we are unable to manage our supply chain effectively and ensure that our products are available to meet consumer demand, our operating costs could increase and our profit margins could decrease.

Our future business, results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected by reduced or limited availability of pea protein that meets our standards.

Our ability to ensure a continuing supply of ingredients at competitive prices depends on many factors beyond our control, such as the number and size of farms that grow certain crops such as Canadian and European yellow peas, the vagaries of these farming businesses (including poor harvests impacting the quality of the peas grown), changes in national and world economic conditions and our ability to forecast our ingredient requirements. The high quality ingredients used in many of our products are vulnerable to adverse weather conditions and natural disasters, such as floods, droughts, frosts, earthquakes, hurricanes and pestilence. Adverse weather conditions and natural disasters can lower crop yields and reduce crop size and quality, which in turn could reduce the available supply of, or increase the price of, quality ingredients. In addition, we purchase some ingredients offshore, and the availability of such ingredients may be affected by events in other countries, including France and Canada. We also compete with other food producers in the procurement of ingredients, and this competition may increase in the future if consumer demand for plant-based protein products increases. If supplies of quality ingredients are reduced or there is greater demand for such ingredients from us and others, we may not be able to obtain sufficient supply that meets our strict quality standards on favorable terms, or at all, which could impact our ability to supply products to distributors and retailers and may adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We rely on sales to a limited number of distributors and retailers for the substantial majority of our sales, and the loss of one or more significant distributors or retailers may harm our business.

A substantial majority of our sales are generated from a limited number of distributors and retailers. For 2017, sales to our largest customers and their respective percentage of our gross revenues included the following: United Natural Foods, Inc., or UNFI, 38%; KeHE Distributors, LLC, or KeHE, 10%; DOT Foods, Inc., or DOT, 10%; and Whole Foods Market, or Whole Foods, 10%. Although the composition of our significant distributors and retailers will vary from period to period, we expect that most of our sales

will continue to come from a core number of distributors and retailers for the foreseeable future. We do not have short-term or long-term commitments or minimum purchase volumes that ensure future sales of our products. As a result, we could have periods with lower orders for our products while still incurring costs related to workforce, maintenance, marketing, general corporate expenses and debt service and we may not be able to find new retailers to supplement periods where we experience few or no purchase orders. Conversely, from time to time, we may experience unanticipated increases in orders of our products from these retailers that can create supply chain problems and may result in unfilled purchase orders. If we are unable to meet such increases orders of our products, our reputation with these retailers may be harmed. Such unanticipated fluctuations in product requirements by these retailers could also result in fluctuations in our results from quarter to quarter. Furthermore, as retailers consolidate, they may reduce the number of branded products they offer in order to accommodate private label products and generate more competitive terms from branded suppliers. Consequently, our financial results may fluctuate significantly from period to period based on the actions of one or more significant distributors or retailers. A distributor or retailer may take actions that affect us for reasons that we cannot always anticipate or control, such as their financial condition, changes in their business strategy or operations, the introduction of competing products or the perceived quality of our products. Despite operating in different channels, our retailers sometimes compete for the same consumers. Because of actual or perceived conflicts resulting from this competition, retailers may take actions that negatively affect us. Our agreements with our distributors and retailers may be canceled if we materially breach the agreements or for other reasons, including reasons outside of our control. In addition, our distributors and retailers may seek to renegotiate the terms of current agreements or renewals. The loss of, or a reduction in sales or anticipated sales to, one or more of our most significant distributors or retailers may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operation and financial condition.

Consolidation of customers or the loss of a significant customer could negatively impact our sales and profitability.

Customers, such as supermarkets and food distributors in North America and the European Union, continue to consolidate. This consolidation has produced larger, more sophisticated organizations with increased negotiating and buying power that are able to resist price increases, as well as operate with lower inventories, decrease the number of brands that they carry and increase their emphasis on private label products, all of which could negatively impact our business. The consolidation of retail customers also increases the risk that a significant adverse impact on their business could have a corresponding material adverse impact on our business.

The loss of any large customer, the reduction of purchasing levels or the cancellation of any business from a large customer for an extended length of time could negatively impact our sales and profitability.

We do not currently have any written contracts with our co-manufacturers. Loss of one or more of our co-manufacturers or our failure to timely identify and establish relationships with new co-manufacturers could harm our business and impede our growth.

A significant amount of our revenue is derived from products manufactured at manufacturing facilities owned and operated by our co-manufacturers. We do not currently have written manufacturing contracts with our co-manufacturers, including CLW Foods LLC and FLP Food LLC that co-manufacture our top selling products. Because of the absence of such contracts, any of our co-manufacturers could seek to alter or terminate its relationship with us at any time, leaving us with periods during which we have limited or no ability to manufacture our products. If we need to replace a co-manufacturer, there can be no assurance that additional capacity will be available when required on acceptable terms, or at all.

An interruption in, or the loss of operations at, one or more of our co-manufacturing facilities, which may be caused by work stoppages, disease outbreaks or pandemics, acts of war, terrorism, fire, earthquakes, flooding or other natural disasters at one or more of these facilities, could delay, postpone or reduce production of some of our products, which could have a material adverse effect on our business,

results of operations and financial condition until such time as such interruption is resolved or an alternate source of production is secured.

We believe there are a limited number of competent, high-quality co-manufacturers in the industry that meet our strict quality and control standards, and as we seek to obtain additional or alternative co-manufacturing arrangements in the future, there can be no assurance that we would be able to do so on satisfactory terms, in a timely manner, or at all. Therefore, the loss of one or more co-manufacturers, any disruption or delay at a co-manufacturer or any failure to identify and engage co-manufacturers for new products and product extensions could delay, postpone or reduce production of our products, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We may not be able to compete successfully in our highly competitive market.

We operate in a highly competitive market. Numerous brands and products compete for limited retailer shelf space and consumers. In our market, competition is based on, among other things, product quality and taste, brand recognition and loyalty, product variety, interesting or unique product names, product packaging and package design, shelf space, reputation, price, advertising, promotion and nutritional claims.

We compete with conventional animal-protein companies such as Cargill, Hormel, JBS, Tyson and WH Group (including its Smithfield division), who may have substantially greater financial and other resources than us. They may also have lower operational costs, and as a result may be able to offer conventional animal meat to customers at lower costs than plant-based meat. This could cause us to lower our prices, resulting in lower profitability or, in the alternative, cause us to lose market share if we fail to lower prices.

We also compete with other food brands, including, but not limited to, Boca Foods, Field Roast Grain Meat Co., Gardein, Impossible Foods, Lightlife, Morningstar Farms and Tofurky, and with companies which may be more innovative, have more resources and be able to bring new products to market faster and to more quickly exploit and serve niche markets such as lab-grown or “clean meat.” Generally, the food industry is dominated by multinational corporations with substantially greater resources and operations than us. We cannot be certain that we will successfully compete with larger competitors that have greater financial, sales and technical resources. Conventional food companies may acquire our competitors or launch their own plant-based protein products, and they may be able to use their resources and scale to respond to competitive pressures and changes in consumer preferences by introducing new products, reducing prices or increasing promotional activities, among other things. Retailers also market competitive products under their own private labels, which are generally sold at lower prices and compete with some of our products. Similarly, retailers could change the merchandising of our products and we may be unable to retain the placement of our products in meat cases to effectively compete with animal-protein products. Competitive pressures or other factors could cause us to lose market share, which may require us to lower prices, increase marketing and advertising expenditures, or increase the use of discounting or promotional campaigns, each of which would adversely affect our margins and could result in a decrease in our operating results and profitability. See “Business—Competition.”

We may require additional financing to achieve our goals, and a failure to obtain this necessary capital when needed on acceptable terms, or at all, may force us to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product manufacturing and development, and other operations.

Since our inception, substantially all of our resources have been dedicated to the development of our three core plant-based product platforms of beef, pork and poultry. Net cash used in operating activities was $23.5 million and $25.3 million for 2016 and 2017, respectively. As of December 31, 2017, we had working capital of $39.8 million and cash of $39.0 million. Net cash used in investing activities was $5.0 million and $8.1 million for 2016 and 2017, respectively, and with respect to 2016, related to purchases of property, plant and equipment, principally to support the development and production of The

Beyond Burger, and with respect to 2017, related to the build-out and equipping of our Manhattan Beach Project Innovation Center. Net cash provided by financing activities in 2016 and 2017 was $31.9 million and $55.4 million, respectively, primarily due to the net proceeds from our issuance of convertible preferred stock and net borrowings under a revolving credit facility and a term loan facility.

We believe that we will continue to expend substantial resources for the foreseeable future as we expand into additional markets we may choose to pursue. These expenditures are expected to include costs associated with research and development, manufacturing and supply, as well as marketing and selling existing and new products. In addition, other unanticipated costs may arise.

After giving effect to the anticipated net proceeds from this offering, we expect that our existing cash will be sufficient to fund our planned operating expenses, capital expenditure requirements and debt service payments through at least the next 12 months. However, our operating plan may change because of factors currently unknown to us, and we may need to seek additional funds sooner than planned, through public or private equity or debt financings or other sources, such as strategic collaborations. Such financing may result in dilution to stockholders, imposition of debt covenants and repayment obligations, or other restrictions that may adversely affect our business. In addition, we may seek additional capital due to favorable market conditions or strategic considerations even if we believe we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans.

Our future capital requirements depend on many factors, including:


•	the number and characteristics of any additional products or manufacturing processes we develop or acquire to serve new or existing markets;


•	the scope, progress, results and costs of researching and developing future products or improvements to existing products or manufacturing processes;


•	any lawsuits related to our products or commenced against us, including the costs associated with our current litigation with a former co-manufacturer;


•	the expenses needed to attract and retain skilled personnel;


•	the costs associated with being a public company;


•	the costs involved in preparing, filing, prosecuting, maintaining, defending and enforcing patent claims, including litigation costs and the outcome of such litigation; and


•	the timing, receipt and amount of sales of, or royalties on, any future approved products, if any.

Additional funds may not be available when we need them, on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all. If adequate funds are not available to us on a timely basis, we may be required to:


•	delay, limit, reduce or terminate our manufacturing, research and development activities; or


•	delay, limit, reduce or terminate our establishment of sales and marketing capabilities or other activities that may be necessary to generate revenue and achieve profitability.

Our brand and reputation may be diminished due to real or perceived quality or health issues with our products, which could have an adverse effect on our business, reputation, operating results and financial condition.

We believe our consumers rely on us to provide them with high-quality plant-based protein products. Therefore, real or perceived quality or food safety concerns or failures to comply with applicable food regulations and requirements, whether or not ultimately based on fact and whether or not involving us (such as incidents involving our competitors), could cause negative publicity and reduced confidence in our company, brand or products, which could in turn harm our reputation and sales, and could materially

adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. Although we believe we have a rigorous quality control process, there can be no assurance that our products will always comply with the standards set for our products. For example, although we strive to keep our products free of pathogenic organisms, they may not be easily detected and cross-contamination can occur. In addition, in 2017, before our products were shipped to customers, we discovered, through our quality control process, that certain of our products manufactured by a former co-manufacturer were contaminated with salmonella. There is no assurance that this health risk will always be preempted by our quality control processes.

We have no control over our products once purchased by consumers. Accordingly, consumers may prepare our products in a manner that is inconsistent with our directions or store our products for long periods of time, which may adversely affect the quality and safety of our products. If consumers do not perceive our products to be safe or of high quality, then the value of our brand would be diminished, and our business, results of operations and financial condition would be adversely affected.

Any loss of confidence on the part of consumers in the ingredients used in our products or in the safety and quality of our products would be difficult and costly to overcome. Any such adverse effect could be exacerbated by our position in the market as a purveyor of high-quality plant-based protein products and may significantly reduce our brand value. Issues regarding the safety of any of our products, regardless of the cause, may have a substantial and adverse effect on our brand, reputation and operating results.

The growing use of social and digital media by us, our consumers and third parties increases the speed and extent that information or misinformation and opinions can be shared. Negative publicity about us, our brands or our products on social or digital media could seriously damage our brands and reputation. If we do not maintain the favorable perception of our brands, our sales and profits could be negatively impacted.

Food safety and food-borne illness incidents or advertising or product mislabeling may materially adversely affect our business by exposing us to lawsuits, product recalls or regulatory enforcement actions, increasing our operating costs and reducing demand for our product offerings.

Selling food for human consumption involves inherent legal and other risks, and there is increasing governmental scrutiny of and public awareness regarding food safety. Unexpected side effects, illness, injury or death related to allergens, food-borne illnesses or other food safety incidents caused by products we sell, or involving our suppliers, could result in the discontinuance of sales of these products or our relationships with such suppliers, or otherwise result in increased operating costs, regulatory enforcement actions or harm to our reputation. Shipment of adulterated or misbranded products, even if inadvertent, can result in criminal or civil liability. Such incidents could also expose us to product liability, negligence or other lawsuits, including consumer class action lawsuits. Any claims brought against us may exceed or be outside the scope of our existing or future insurance policy coverage or limits. Any judgment against us that is more than our policy limits or not covered by our policies or not subject to insurance would have to be paid from our cash reserves, which would reduce our capital resources.

The occurrence of food-borne illnesses or other food safety incidents could also adversely affect the price and availability of affected ingredients, resulting in higher costs, disruptions in supply and a reduction in our sales. Furthermore, any instances of food contamination or regulatory noncompliance, whether or not caused by our actions, could compel us, our suppliers, or our customers, depending on the circumstances, to conduct a recall in accordance with FDA regulations, and comparable state laws. Food recalls could result in significant losses due to their costs, the destruction of product inventory, lost sales due to the unavailability of the product for a period of time and potential loss of existing customers and a potential negative impact on our ability to attract new customers due to negative consumer experiences or because of an adverse impact on our brand and reputation. The costs of a recall could exceed or be outside the scope of our existing or future insurance policy coverage or limits.

In addition, food companies have been subject to targeted, large-scale tampering as well as to opportunistic, individual product tampering, and we, like any food company, could be a target for product tampering. Forms of tampering could include the introduction of foreign material, chemical contaminants and pathological organisms into consumer products as well as product substitution. Recently issued FDA regulations will require companies like us to analyze, prepare and implement mitigation strategies specifically to address tampering designed to inflict widespread public health harm. If we do not adequately address the possibility, or any actual instance, of product tampering, we could face possible seizure or recall of our products and the imposition of civil or criminal sanctions, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Sales of The Beyond Burger contribute a significant portion of our revenue. A reduction in sales of The Beyond Burger would have an adverse effect on our financial condition.

The Beyond Burger accounted for approximately 48% of our gross revenues for the year ended December 31, 2017 and we believe that future sales of The Beyond Burger will constitute a significant portion of our revenues, income and cash flow for the foreseeable future. We cannot be certain that we will be able to continue to expand production and distribution of The Beyond Burger, or that customer demand for our other existing and future products will expand to allow such products to represent a larger percentage of our revenue than they do currently. Accordingly, any factor adversely affecting sales of The Beyond Burger could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The primary components of all of our products are manufactured in our two Columbia, Missouri facilities and any damage or disruption at these facilities may harm our business. Moreover, Columbia, Missouri has a tight labor market and we may be unable to hire and retain employees at these facilities.

A significant portion of our operations are located in our two Columbia, Missouri facilities. A natural disaster, fire, power interruption, work stoppage or other calamity at one or both of these facilities would significantly disrupt our ability to deliver our products and operate our business. If any material amount of our machinery or inventory were damaged, we would be unable to meet our contractual obligations and cannot predict when, if at all, we could replace or repair such machinery, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Our plans for addressing our rapid growth include expanding operations at our Columbia, Missouri facilities. In this tight labor market, we may be unable to hire and retain skilled employees, which will severely hamper our expansion plans, product development and manufacturing efforts. As of June 2018, the Columbia area had an unemployment rate of 2.6%. As a result of this tight labor market, we currently rely on temporary workers in addition to full-time employees, and in the future, we may be unable to attract and retain employees with the skills we require, which could impact our ability to expand our operations.

We may not successfully ramp up operations at our new Columbia, Missouri facility or this facility may not operate in accordance with our expectations.

In June 2018, we commenced manufacturing operations in our new Columbia, Missouri facility and expect to ramp up the facility to full production by December 2019. Any substantial delay in bringing this facility up to full production on our current schedule may hinder our ability to produce all of the product needed to meet orders and/or achieve our expected financial performance. Opening this facility has required, and will continue to require, additional capital expenditures and the efforts and attention of our management and other personnel, which has and will continue to divert resources from our existing business or operations. In addition, we will need to hire and retain more skilled employees to operate the expanded facility in this tight labor market. Even if our new Columbia, Missouri facility is brought up to full production according to our current schedule, it may not provide us with all of the operational and financial benefits we expect to receive.

Our Columbia, Missouri facilities and the manufacturing equipment we use to produce our products is costly to replace or repair and may require substantial lead-time to do so. For example, our estimate of throughput or our extrusion capacity may be impacted by disruption from extruder lead-in time, calibration, maintenance and unexpected delays. In addition, our ability to procure new extruders may face more lengthy lead times than is typical. We may also not be able to find suitable alternatives with co-manufacturers to replace the output from such equipment on a timely basis and at a reasonable cost. In the future, we may also experience plant shutdowns or periods of reduced production because of regulatory issues, equipment failure or delays in raw material deliveries. Any such disruption or unanticipated event may cause significant interruptions or delays in our business and the reduction or loss of inventory may render us unable to fulfill customer orders in a timely manner, or at all. We have property and business disruption insurance in place for our Columbia, Missouri facility; however, such insurance coverage may not be sufficient to cover all of our potential losses and may not continue to be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all.

Failure to introduce new products or successfully improve existing products may adversely affect our ability to continue to grow.

A key element of our growth strategy depends on our ability to develop and market new products and improvements to our existing products that meet our standards for quality and appeal to consumer preferences. The success of our innovation and product development efforts is affected by our ability to anticipate changes in consumer preferences, the technical capability of our innovation staff in developing and testing product prototypes, including complying with applicable governmental regulations, and the success of our management and sales and marketing teams in introducing and marketing new products. Our innovation staff are continuously testing alternative plant-based proteins to the proteins we currently use in our products, as they seek to find additional protein options to our current ingredients that are more easily sourced, and which retain and build upon the quality and appeal of our current product offerings. Failure to develop and market new products that appeal to consumers may lead to a decrease in our growth, sales and profitability.

Additionally, the development and introduction of new products requires substantial research, development and marketing expenditures, which we may be unable to recoup if the new products do not gain widespread market acceptance. If we are unsuccessful in meeting our objectives with respect to new or improved products, our business could be harmed.

If we fail to cost-effectively acquire new customers or retain our existing customers, or if we fail to derive revenue from our existing customers consistent with our historical performance, our business could be materially adversely affected.

Our success, and our ability to increase revenue and operate profitably, depends in part on our ability to cost-effectively acquire new customers, to retain existing customers, and to keep existing customers engaged so that they continue to purchase products from us. If we are unable to cost-effectively acquire new customers, retain our existing customers or keep existing customers engaged, our business, financial condition and operating results would be materially adversely affected. Further, if customers do not perceive our product offerings to be of sufficient value and quality, or if we fail to offer new and relevant product offerings, we may not be able to attract or retain customers or engage existing customers so that they continue to purchase products from us. We may lose loyal customers to our competitors if we are unable to meet customers’ orders in a timely manner.

If we fail to manage our future growth effectively, our business could be materially adversely affected.

We have grown rapidly since inception and anticipate further growth. For example, our net revenue increased from $16.2 million at December 31, 2016 to $32.6 million at December 31, 2017. The number of our full-time employees increased from 142 (which included 44 contract employees) at December 31, 2016, to 184 (which included 52 contract employees) at December 31, 2017 and to 281 (which included

108 contract employees) at June 30, 2018. This growth has placed significant demands on our management, financial, operational, technological and other resources. The anticipated growth and expansion of our business and our product offerings will place significant demands on our management and operations teams and require significant additional resources to meet our needs, which may not be available in a cost-effective manner, or at all. If we do not effectively manage our growth, we may not be able to execute on our business plan, respond to competitive pressures, take advantage of market opportunities, satisfy customer requirements or maintain high-quality product offerings, any of which could harm our business, brand, results of operations and financial condition.

We face intense competition in our market from our competitors, including manufacturers of animal-based meat products, and potential competitors and may lack sufficient financial or other resources to compete successfully.

Our future success depends, in large part, on our ability to implement our growth strategy of expanding supply and distribution, improving placement of our products, attracting new consumers to our brand and introducing new products and product extensions. Our ability to implement this growth strategy depends, among other things, on our ability to:


•	manage relationships with various suppliers, co-manufacturers, customers and other third parties, and expend time and effort to integrate new suppliers, co-manufacturers and customers into our fulfillment operations;


•	continue to compete in the retail channel and the restaurant and foodservice channel;


•	secure placement in the meat case for our products;


•	increase our brand recognition;


•	expand and maintain brand loyalty; and


•	develop new product lines and extensions.

We may not be able to implement our growth strategy successfully. Our sales and operating results will be adversely affected if we fail to implement our growth strategy or if we invest resources in a growth strategy that ultimately proves unsuccessful.

We may face difficulties as we expand our operations into countries in which we have no prior operating experience.

We intend to continue to expand our global footprint in order to enter into new markets. This may involve expanding into countries other than those in which we currently operate. It may also involve expanding into less developed countries, which may have less political, social or economic stability and less developed infrastructure and legal systems. In addition, it may be difficult for us to understand and accurately predict taste preferences and purchasing habits of consumers in these new geographic markets. It is costly to establish, develop and maintain international operations and develop and promote our brands in international markets. As we expand our business into new countries, we may encounter regulatory, legal, personnel, technological and other difficulties that increase our expenses and/or delay our ability to become profitable in such countries, which may have a material adverse effect on our business and brand.

We are or will be subject to international regulations that could adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We are or will be subject to extensive regulations internationally where we manufacture, distribute and/or will sell our products. Our products are subject to numerous food safety and other laws and regulations relating to the sourcing, manufacturing, storing, labeling, marketing, advertising and distribution of these products. For example, in early 2018, we received an inquiry from Canadian officials

about the labeling and composition of products that we export to Canada. We responded promptly to that inquiry, identifying minor formulation changes that we made under Canadian regulations and have not heard more from regulators in Canada. We have continued to export to Canada without further inquiry from Canadian officials. However, if regulators determine that the labeling and/or composition of any of our products is not in compliance with Canadian law or regulations, or if we or our co-manufacturers otherwise fail to comply with applicable laws and regulations, we could be subject to civil remedies or penalties, such as fines, injunctions, recalls or seizures, warning letters, restrictions on the marketing or manufacturing of the products, or refusals to permit the import or export of products, as well as potential criminal sanctions. In addition, enforcement of existing laws and regulations, changes in legal requirements and/or evolving interpretations of existing regulatory requirements may result in increased compliance costs and create other obligations, financial or otherwise, that could adversely affect our business, financial condition or operating results.

In addition, with our expanding international operations, we could be adversely affected by violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, and similar worldwide anti-bribery laws, which generally prohibit companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to non-U.S. officials or other third parties for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. While our policies mandate compliance with these anti-bribery laws, our internal control policies and procedures may not protect us from reckless or criminal acts committed by our employees or agents. Violations of these laws, or allegations of such violations, could disrupt our business and result in a material adverse effect on our results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.

Ingredient and packaging costs are volatile and may rise significantly, which may negatively impact the profitability of our business.

We purchase large quantities of raw materials, including ingredients derived from Canadian and European yellow peas, mung beans, sunflower seeds, rice, canola oil and coconut oil. In addition, we purchase and use significant quantities of cardboard, film and plastic to package our products. Costs of ingredients and packaging are volatile and can fluctuate due to conditions that are difficult to predict, including global competition for resources, weather conditions, consumer demand and changes in governmental trade and agricultural programs. Volatility in the prices of raw materials and other supplies we purchase could increase our cost of sales and reduce our profitability. Moreover, we may not be able to implement price increases for our products to cover any increased costs, and any price increases we do implement may result in lower sales volumes. If we are not successful in managing our ingredient and packaging costs, if we are unable to increase our prices to cover increased costs or if such price increases reduce our sales volumes, then such increases in costs will adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

If we fail to develop and maintain our brand, our business could suffer.

We have developed a strong and trusted brand that has contributed significantly to the success of our business, and we believe our continued success depends on our ability to maintain and grow the value of the Beyond Meat brand. Maintaining, promoting and positioning our brand and reputation will depend on, among other factors, the success of our plant-based product offerings, food safety, quality assurance, marketing and merchandising efforts and our ability to provide a consistent, high-quality customer experience. Any negative publicity, regardless of its accuracy, could materially adversely affect our business. Brand value is based on perceptions of subjective qualities, and any incident that erodes the loyalty of our customers, suppliers or co-manufacturers, including adverse publicity or a governmental investigation or litigation, could significantly reduce the value of our brand and significantly damage our business.

Consumer preferences for our products are difficult to predict and may change, and, if we are unable to respond quickly to new trends, our business may be adversely affected.

Our business is focused on the development, manufacture, marketing and distribution of a line of branded plant-based protein products as alternatives to meat-based protein products. Consumer demand could change based on a number of possible factors, including dietary habits and nutritional values, concerns regarding the health effects of ingredients and shifts in preference for various product attributes. If consumer demand for our products decreased, our business and financial condition would suffer. In addition, sales of plant-based protein or meat-alternative products are subject to evolving consumer preferences that we may not be able to accurately predict or respond to. Consumer trends that we believe favor sales of our products could change based on a number of possible factors, including a shift in preference from plant-based protein to animal-based protein products, economic factors and social trends. A significant shift in consumer demand away from our products could reduce our sales or our market share and the prestige of our brand, which would harm our business and financial condition.

Our revenues and earnings may fluctuate as a result of our promotional activities.

We routinely offer sales discounts and promotions through various programs to customers and consumers which may occasionally result in reduced margins. These programs include rebates, temporary on shelf price reductions, off-invoice discounts, retailer advertisements, product coupons and other trade activities. We anticipate that, at times, these promotional activities may adversely impact our net revenues and results of operations.

Litigation or legal proceedings could expose us to significant liabilities and have a negative impact on our reputation or business.

From time to time, we may be party to various claims and litigation proceedings. We evaluate these claims and litigation proceedings to assess the likelihood of unfavorable outcomes and to estimate, if possible, the amount of potential losses. Based on these assessments and estimates, we may establish reserves, as appropriate. These assessments and estimates are based on the information available to management at the time and involve a significant amount of management judgment. Actual outcomes or losses may differ materially from our assessments and estimates. For example, on May 25, 2017, following our termination of our supply agreement with Don Lee Farms, a co-manufacturer, Don Lee Farms filed a lawsuit against us in California state court claiming that we wrongfully terminated the parties’ contract and that we misappropriated their trade secrets by sharing with subsequent co-manufacturers the processes for manufacturing and packaging our products-processes which they claim to have developed. On July 27, 2017 we filed a cross-complaint, alleging that Don Lee Farms breached the supply agreement by failing to provide saleable product, as certain of our products manufactured by Don Lee Farms were contaminated with salmonella and other foreign objects, and that Don Lee Farms did not take appropriate actions to address these issues. Don Lee Farms is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, declaratory and injunctive relief, and attorneys’ fees and costs. We believe we were justified in terminating the supply agreement with Don Lee Farms, that we did not misappropriate their alleged trade secrets and we intend to vigorously defend ourselves against their claims. However, we cannot assure you that they will not prevail in all or some of their claims against us. If Don Lee Farms succeeds in the lawsuit, we could be required to pay contract damages, reasonably calculated at what we would have paid them to produce our products through 2019, the end of the contract term, and Don Lee Farms could also claim some ownership in the intellectual property that we possess in our products, and thus claim a stake in the value we will derive from that intellectual property going forward.

Even when not merited, the defense of these lawsuits may divert our management’s attention, and we may incur significant expenses in defending these lawsuits. The results of litigation and other legal proceedings are inherently uncertain, and adverse judgments or settlements in some of these legal disputes may result in adverse monetary damages, penalties or injunctive relief against us, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial position, cash flows or results of operations. Any claims or

litigation, even if fully indemnified or insured, could damage our reputation and make it more difficult to compete effectively or to obtain adequate insurance in the future.

Furthermore, while we maintain insurance for certain potential liabilities, such insurance does not cover all types and amounts of potential liabilities and is subject to various exclusions as well as caps on amounts recoverable. Even if we believe a claim is covered by insurance, insurers may dispute our entitlement to recovery for a variety of potential reasons, which may affect the timing and, if the insurers prevail, the amount of our recovery.

Legal claims, government investigations or other regulatory enforcement actions could subject us to civil and criminal penalties.

We operate in a highly regulated environment with constantly evolving legal and regulatory frameworks. Consequently, we are subject to heightened risk of legal claims, government investigations or other regulatory enforcement actions. Although we have implemented policies and procedures designed to ensure compliance with existing laws and regulations, there can be no assurance that our employees, temporary workers, contractors or agents will not violate our policies and procedures. Moreover, a failure to maintain effective control processes could lead to violations, unintentional or otherwise, of laws and regulations. Legal claims, government investigations or regulatory enforcement actions arising out of our failure or alleged failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations could subject us to civil and criminal penalties that could materially and adversely affect our product sales, reputation, financial condition and operating results. In addition, the costs and other effects of defending potential and pending litigation and administrative actions against us may be difficult to determine and could adversely affect our financial condition and operating results.

Failure by our transportation providers to deliver our products on time, or at all, could result in lost sales.

We currently rely upon third-party transportation providers for a significant portion of our product shipments. Our utilization of delivery services for shipments is subject to risks, including increases in fuel prices, which would increase our shipping costs, and employee strikes and inclement weather, which may impact the ability of providers to provide delivery services that adequately meet our shipping needs. We periodically change shipping companies, and we could face logistical difficulties that could adversely affect deliveries. In addition, we could incur costs and expend resources in connection with such change. Moreover, we may not be able to obtain terms as favorable as those we receive from the third-party transportation providers that we currently use, which in turn would increase our costs and thereby adversely affect our operating results.

The estimates of market opportunity and forecasts of market growth included in this prospectus may prove to be inaccurate, and even if the market in which we compete achieves the forecasted growth, our business could fail to grow at similar rates, if at all.

Market opportunity estimates and growth forecasts are subject to significant uncertainty and are based on assumptions and estimates that may not prove to be accurate. For example, several of the reports rely on employ projections of consumer adoption and incorporate data from secondary sources such as company websites as well as industry, trade and government publications. While our estimates of market size and expected growth of our market were made in good faith and are based on assumptions and estimates we believe to be reasonable, these estimates may not prove to be accurate. Even if the market in which we compete meets the size estimates and growth forecast in this prospectus, our business could fail to grow at the rate we anticipate, if at all.

Fluctuations in our results of operations for our second and third quarters may impact, and may have a disproportionate effect on our overall financial condition and results of operations.

Our business is subject to seasonal fluctuations that may have a disproportionate effect on our results of operations. Historically, we have realized a higher portion of our net revenues, net income and

operating cash flows in our second and third quarters due to weather and related increase in outdoor activities such as barbecues. Any factors that harm our second and third quarters operating results, including disruptions in our supply chain, adverse weather or unfavorable economic conditions, may have a disproportionate effect on our results of operations for the entire year.

Historical quarter-to-quarter and period-over-period comparisons of our sales and operating results are not necessarily indicative of future quarter-to-quarter and period-over-period results. You should not rely on the results of a single quarter or period as an indication of our annual results or our future performance.

Failure to retain our senior management may adversely affect our operations.

Our success is substantially dependent on the continued service of certain members of our senior management, including Ethan Brown, our Chief Executive Officer. These executives have been primarily responsible for determining the strategic direction of our business and for executing our growth strategy and are integral to our brand, culture and the reputation we enjoy with suppliers, co-manufacturers, distributors, customers and consumers. The loss of the services of any of these executives could have a material adverse effect on our business and prospects, as we may not be able to find suitable individuals to replace them on a timely basis, if at all. In addition, any such departure could be viewed in a negative light by investors and analysts, which may cause the price of our common stock to decline. We do not currently carry key-person life insurance for our senior executives.

If we are unable to attract, train and retain employees, we may not be able to grow or successfully operate our business.

Our success depends in part upon our ability to attract, train and retain a sufficient number of employees who understand and appreciate our culture and can represent our brand effectively and establish credibility with our business partners and consumers. If we are unable to hire and retain employees capable of meeting our business needs and expectations, our business and brand image may be impaired. Any failure to meet our staffing needs or any material increase in turnover rates of our employees may adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our employees are employed by a professional employer organization.

We contract with a professional employer organization, or PEO, that administers our human resources, payroll and employee benefits functions. Although we recruit and select our personnel, each of our employees is also an employee of record of the PEO. As a result, our personnel are compensated through the PEO, receive their W-2s from the PEO and are governed by the personnel policies created by the PEO. This relationship permits management to focus on operations and profitability rather than human resource administration, but this relationship also exposes us to some risks. Among other risks, if the PEO fails to adequately withhold or pay employer taxes or to comply with other laws, such as the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act or state and federal anti-discrimination laws, each of which is outside of our control, we would be liable for such violations, and indemnification provisions with the PEO, if applicable, may not be sufficient to insulate us from those liabilities. Court and administrative proceedings related to these matters could distract management from our business and cause us to incur significant expense. If we were held liable for violations by the PEO, such amounts may adversely affect our profitability and could negatively affect our business and results of operations.

We rely on information technology systems and any inadequacy, failure, interruption or security breaches of those systems may harm our ability to effectively operate our business.

We are dependent on various information technology systems, including, but not limited to, networks, applications and outsourced services in connection with the operation of our business. A failure of our information technology systems to perform as we anticipate could disrupt our business and result in transaction errors, processing inefficiencies and loss of sales, causing our business to suffer. In addition,

our information technology systems may be vulnerable to damage or interruption from circumstances beyond our control, including fire, natural disasters, systems failures, viruses and security breaches. Any such damage or interruption could have a material adverse effect on our business.

A cybersecurity incident or other technology disruptions could negatively impact our business and our relationships with customers.

We use computers in substantially all aspects of our business operations. We also use mobile devices, social networking and other online activities to connect with our employees, suppliers, co-manufacturers, customers and consumers. Such uses give rise to cybersecurity risks, including security breaches, espionage, system disruption, theft and inadvertent release of information. Our business involves the storage and transmission of numerous classes of sensitive and/or confidential information and intellectual property, including customers’ and suppliers’ information, private information about employees and financial and strategic information about us and our business partners. Further, as we pursue a strategy to grow through acquisitions and to pursue new initiatives that improve our operations and cost structure, we will also be expanding and improving our information technologies, resulting in a larger technological presence and corresponding exposure to cybersecurity risk. If we fail to assess and identify cybersecurity risks associated with acquisitions and new initiatives, we may become increasingly vulnerable to such risks. Additionally, while we have implemented measures to prevent security breaches and cyber incidents, our preventative measures and incident response efforts may not be entirely effective. The theft, destruction, loss, misappropriation, or release of sensitive and/or confidential information or intellectual property, or interference with our information technology systems or the technology systems of third parties on which we rely, could result in business disruption, negative publicity, brand damage, violation of privacy laws, loss of customers, potential liability and competitive disadvantage all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Disruptions in the worldwide economy may adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Adverse and uncertain economic conditions may impact distributor, retailer, foodservice and consumer demand for our products. In addition, our ability to manage normal commercial relationships with our suppliers, co-manufacturers, distributors, retailers, foodservice consumers and creditors may suffer. Consumers may shift purchases to lower-priced or other perceived value offerings during economic downturns. In particular, consumers may reduce the amount of plant-based food products that they purchase where there are conventional animal-based protein offerings, which generally have lower retail prices. In addition, consumers may choose to purchase private label products rather than branded products because they are generally less expensive. Distributors and retailers may become more conservative in response to these conditions and seek to reduce their inventories. Our results of operations depend upon, among other things, our ability to maintain and increase sales volume with our existing distributors, retailer and foodservice customers, our ability to attract new consumers, the financial condition of our consumers and our ability to provide products that appeal to consumers at the right price. Prolonged unfavorable economic conditions may have an adverse effect on our sales and profitability.

A major earthquake, tsunami, tornado or other natural disaster could seriously disrupt our entire business.

Our corporate offices and research and development functions are located in El Segundo, California, and our industrial manufacturing facilities are located in Columbia, Missouri. The impact of a major earthquake or tsunami, or both, or other natural disasters in the Los Angeles area, or a tornado or other natural disaster in the Columbia area, on our facilities and overall operations is difficult to predict, but such a natural disaster could seriously disrupt our entire business. Our insurance may not adequately cover our losses and expenses in the event of such a natural disaster. As a result, natural disasters, such as a major earthquake, tsunami or tornado in the Los Angeles or Columbia areas or in areas where our co-manufacturers are located, could lead to substantial losses.

We may be subject to significant liability that is not covered by insurance.

Although we believe that the extent of our insurance coverage is consistent with industry practice, any claim under our insurance policies may be subject to certain exceptions, may not be honored fully, in a timely manner, or at all, and we may not have purchased sufficient insurance to cover all losses incurred. If we were to incur substantial liabilities or if our business operations were interrupted for a substantial period of time, we could incur costs and suffer losses. Such inventory and business interruption losses may not be covered by our insurance policies. Additionally, in the future, insurance coverage may not be available to us at commercially acceptable premiums, or at all.

Climate change may negatively affect our business and operations.

There is concern that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere may have an adverse impact on global temperatures, weather patterns and the frequency and severity of extreme weather and natural disasters. If such climate change has a negative effect on agricultural productivity, we may be subject to decreased availability or less favorable pricing for certain commodities that are necessary for our products, such as Canadian and European yellow peas, mung beans, sunflowers, rice, canola oil and coconut oil. Due to climate change, we may also be subjected to decreased availability of water, deteriorated quality of water or less favorable pricing for water, which could adversely impact our manufacturing and distribution operations.

Regulatory Risks

Our operations are subject to FDA governmental regulation and state regulation, and there is no assurance that we will be in compliance with all regulations.

Our operations are subject to extensive regulation by the FDA, and other federal, state and local authorities. Specifically, we are subject to the requirements of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and regulations promulgated thereunder by the FDA. This comprehensive regulatory program governs, among other things, the manufacturing, composition and ingredients, packaging, labeling and safety of food. Under this program the FDA requires that facilities that manufacture food products comply with a range of requirements, including hazard analysis and preventative controls regulations, current good manufacturing practices, or cGMPs, and supplier verification requirements. Our processing facilities, including those of our co-manufacturers, are subject to periodic inspection by federal, state and local authorities. We do not control the manufacturing processes of, and rely upon, our co-manufacturers for compliance with cGMPs for the manufacturing of our products that is conducted by our co-manufacturers. If we or our co-manufacturers cannot successfully manufacture products that conform to our specifications and the strict regulatory requirements of the FDA or others, we or they may be subject to adverse inspectional findings or enforcement actions, which could materially impact our ability to market our products, could result in our co-manufacturers’ inability to continue manufacturing for us, or could result in a recall of our product that has already been distributed. In addition, we rely upon our co-manufacturers to maintain adequate quality control, quality assurance and qualified personnel. If the FDA or a comparable foreign regulatory authority determines that we or these co-manufacturers have not complied with the applicable regulatory requirements, our business may be materially impacted.

We seek to comply with applicable regulations through a combination of employing internal experience and expert personnel to ensure quality-assurance compliance (i.e., assuring that our products are not adulterated or misbranded) and contracting with third-party laboratories that conduct analyses of products to ensure compliance with nutrition labeling requirements and to identify any potential contaminants before distribution. Failure by us or our co-manufacturers to comply with applicable laws and regulations or maintain permits, licenses or registrations relating to our or our co-manufacturers’ operations could subject us to civil remedies or penalties, including fines, injunctions, recalls or seizures, warning letters, restrictions on the marketing or manufacturing of products, or refusals to permit the import or export of products, as well as potential criminal sanctions, which could result in increased operating

costs resulting in a material effect on our operating results and business. See “Business—Government Regulation.”

Changes in existing laws or regulations, or the adoption of new laws or regulations may increase our costs and otherwise adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The manufacture and marketing of food products is highly regulated. We, our suppliers and co-manufacturers are subject to a variety of laws and regulations. These laws and regulations apply to many aspects of our business, including the manufacture, packaging, labeling, distribution, advertising, sale, quality and safety of our products, as well as the health and safety of our employees and the protection of the environment.

In the United States, we are subject to regulation by various government agencies, including the FDA, Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as various state and local agencies. We are also regulated outside the United States by various international regulatory bodies. In addition, we are subject to certain standards, such as Global Food Safety Initiative, or GFSI, standards and review by voluntary organizations, such as the Council of Better Business Bureaus’ National Advertising Division. We could incur costs, including fines, penalties and third-party claims, because of any violations of, or liabilities under, such requirements, including any competitor or consumer challenges relating to compliance with such requirements. For example, in connection with the marketing and advertisement of our products, we could be the target of claims relating to false or deceptive advertising, including under the auspices of the FTC and the consumer protection statutes of some states.

The regulatory environment in which we operate could change significantly and adversely in the future. Any change in manufacturing, labeling or packaging requirements for our products may lead to an increase in costs or interruptions in production, either of which could adversely affect our operations and financial condition. New or revised government laws and regulations could result in additional compliance costs and, in the event of non-compliance, civil remedies, including fines, injunctions, withdrawals, recalls or seizures and confiscations, as well as potential criminal sanctions, any of which may adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. In particular, recent federal and state attention to the naming of plant-based meat products could result in standards or requirements that mandate changes to our current labeling.

Any changes in applicable laws, regulations or policies of the FDA or U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA, or state regulators that relate to the use of the word “meat” in connection with plant-based protein products could adversely affect our business, prospects, results of operations or financial condition.

The FDA and the USDA or state regulators could take action to impact our ability to use the term “meat” or similar words (such as “beef”) to describe our products. For example, the state of Missouri recently passed a law prohibiting any person engaged in advertising, offering for sale, or sale of food products from misrepresenting a product as meat that is not derived from harvested production livestock or poultry. While the state of Missouri Department of Agriculture clarified its interpretation that products which include prominent disclosure that the product is “made from plants,” or comparable disclosure such as through the use of the phrase “plant-based,” are not misrepresented under the Missouri law, other regulators could always take a different position.

In addition, a food may be deemed misbranded if its labeling is false or misleading in any particular way, and the FDA or other regulators could interpret the use of the term “meat” or any similar phrase(s) to describe our plant-based protein products as false or misleading. Recently, the FDA announced that it will reexamine its enforcement of the standard of identity for milk, the official definition of which involves “lacteal secretion,” which may result in the restriction of the use of the term “milk” to only those products that are animal-based (we note there is no comparable FDA standard of identity for “meat” or other terms

that we use to label our products). The USDA has also received a petition from industry requesting that the USDA exclude products not derived from the tissue or flesh of animals that have been harvested in the traditional manner from being labeled and marketed as “meat,” and exclude products not derived from cattle born, raised and harvested in the traditional manner from being labeled and marketed as “beef.” The USDA has not yet responded substantively to this petition, but has indicated that the petition is being considered as a petition for a policy change under the USDA’s regulations. We do not believe that USDA has the statutory authority to regulate plant-based products under the current legislative framework. However, should regulatory authorities take action with respect to the use of the term “meat” or similar terms, such that we are unable to use those terms with respect to our plant-based products, we could be subject to enforcement action or recall of our products marketed with these terms, we may be required to modify our marketing strategy, and our business, prospects, results of operations or financial condition could be adversely affected.

Failure by our suppliers of raw materials or co-manufacturers to comply with food safety, environmental or other laws and regulations, or with the specifications and requirements of our products, may disrupt our supply of products and adversely affect our business.

If our suppliers or co-manufacturers fail to comply with food safety, environmental or other laws and regulations, or face allegations of non-compliance, their operations may be disrupted. Additionally, our co-manufacturers are required to maintain the quality of our products and to comply with our product specifications. In the event of actual or alleged non-compliance, we might be forced to find an alternative supplier or co-manufacturer and we may be subject to lawsuits related to such non-compliance by our suppliers and co-manufacturers. As a result, our supply of raw materials or finished inventory could be disrupted or our costs could increase, which would adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. The failure of any co-manufacturer to produce products that conform to our standards could adversely affect our reputation in the marketplace and result in product recalls, product liability claims and economic loss. For example, some of our co-manufacturers also process products with textured vegetable protein, a GMO product and while we require them to process our products in separate designated quarters in their facilities, cross-contamination may occur and result in genetically modified organisms in our supply chain. Additionally, actions we may take to mitigate the impact of any disruption or potential disruption in our supply of raw materials or finished inventory, including increasing inventory in anticipation of a potential supply or production interruption, may adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Risks Related To Our Intellectual Property

We may not be able to protect our proprietary technology adequately, which may impact our commercial success.

Our commercial success depends in part on our ability to protect our intellectual property and proprietary technologies. We rely on a combination of patent protection, where appropriate and available, copyrights, trade secrets and trademarks laws, as well as confidentiality and other contractual restrictions to protect our proprietary technology. However, these legal means afford only limited protection and may not adequately protect our proprietary technology or permit us to gain or keep any competitive advantage. As of June 30, 2018, we have one issued U.S. patent and 20 pending patent applications, including eight in the United States and 12 international patent applications.

We cannot offer any assurances about which, if any, patents will issue from these applications, the breadth of any such patents, or whether any issued patents will be found invalid and unenforceable or will be threatened by third parties. Any successful opposition to these patents or any other patents owned by or, if applicable in the future, licensed to us could deprive us of rights necessary for the successful commercialization of products that we may develop. Since patent applications in the United States and most other countries are confidential for a period of time after filing (in most cases 18 months after the filing of the priority application), we cannot be certain that we were the first to file on the technologies covered in several of the patent applications related to our technologies or products. Furthermore, a

derivation proceeding can be provoked by a third party, or instituted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, to determine who was the first to invent any of the subject matter covered by the patent claims of our applications.

Patent law can be highly uncertain and involve complex legal and factual questions for which important principles remain unresolved. In the United States and in many international jurisdictions, policy regarding the breadth of claims allowed in patents can be inconsistent and/or unclear. The U.S. Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit have made, and will likely continue to make, changes in how the patent laws of the United States are interpreted. Similarly, international courts and governments have made, and will continue to make, changes in how the patent laws in their respective countries are interpreted. We cannot predict future changes in the interpretation of patent laws by U.S. and international judicial bodies or changes to patent laws that might be enacted into law by U.S. and international legislative bodies.

Moreover, in the United States, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, enacted in September 2011, brought significant changes to the U.S. patent system, including a change from a “first to invent” system to a “first to file” system. Other changes in the Act affect the way patent applications are prosecuted, redefine prior art and may affect patent litigation. The USPTO developed new regulations and procedures to govern administration of the Leahy-Smith Act, and many of the substantive changes to patent law associated with the Leahy-Smith Act became effective on March 16, 2013. The Leahy-Smith Act and its implementation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our issued patents, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

We may not be able to protect our intellectual property adequately, which may harm the value of our brand.

We believe that our intellectual property has substantial value and has contributed significantly to the success of our business. Our trademarks, including The Beyond Burger, Beyond Beef, Beyond Chicken, Beyond Meat, Beyond Sausage, The Cookout Classic, The Future of Protein and The Future of Protein Beyond Meat, are valuable assets that reinforce our brand and consumers’ favorable perception of our products. We also rely on unpatented proprietary expertise, recipes and formulations and other trade secrets and copyright protection to develop and maintain our competitive position. Our continued success depends, to a significant degree, upon our ability to protect and preserve our intellectual property, including our trademarks, trade dress, trade secrets and copyrights. We rely on confidentiality agreements and trademark, trade secret and copyright law to protect our intellectual property rights.

Our confidentiality agreements with our employees and certain of our consultants, contract employees, suppliers and independent contractors, including some of our co-manufacturers who use our formulations to manufacture our products, generally require that all information made known to them be kept strictly confidential. Nevertheless, trade secrets are difficult to protect. Although we attempt to protect our trade secrets, our confidentiality agreements may not effectively prevent disclosure of our proprietary information and may not provide an adequate remedy in the event of unauthorized disclosure of such information. In addition, others may independently discover our trade secrets, in which case we would not be able to assert trade secret rights against such parties. Further, some of our formulations have been developed by or with our suppliers and co-manufacturers. As a result, we may not be able to prevent others from using similar formulations.

We cannot assure you that the steps we have taken to protect our intellectual property rights are adequate, that our intellectual property rights can be successfully defended and asserted in the future or that third parties will not infringe upon or misappropriate any such rights. In addition, our trademark rights and related registrations may be challenged in the future and could be canceled or narrowed. Failure to protect our trademark rights could prevent us in the future from challenging third parties who use names and logos similar to our trademarks, which may in turn cause consumer confusion or negatively affect consumers’ perception of our brand and products. In addition, if we do not keep our trade secrets

confidential, others may produce products with our recipes or formulations. Moreover, intellectual property disputes and proceedings and infringement claims may result in a significant distraction for management and significant expense, which may not be recoverable regardless of whether we are successful. Such proceedings may be protracted with no certainty of success, and an adverse outcome could subject us to liabilities, force us to cease use of certain trademarks or other intellectual property or force us to enter into licenses with others. Any one of these occurrences may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Risks Related To Being a Public Company

If we fail to maintain proper and effective internal controls, our ability to produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis could be impaired, which would adversely affect our business.

Ensuring that we have adequate internal financial and accounting controls and procedures in place to produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis is a costly and time-consuming effort that needs to be re-evaluated frequently. The rapid growth of our operations and the planned initial public offering has created a need for additional resources within the accounting and finance functions due to the increasing need to produce timely financial information and to ensure the level of segregation of duties customary for a U.S. public company. We have hired additional resources in the accounting and finance function and continue to reassess the sufficiency of finance personnel in response to these increasing demands and expectations.

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of our financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Our management does not expect that our internal control over financial reporting will prevent or detect all errors and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the control system’s objectives will be met. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that misstatements due to error or fraud will not occur or that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, within our company will have been detected.

Commencing with our second annual report on Form 10-K that we will file after becoming a public reporting company, we must perform system and process evaluation and testing of our internal control over financial reporting to allow management to report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting in our Form 10-K filing for that year, as required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes Oxley Act. We expect to expend significant resources in developing the necessary documentation and testing procedures required by Section 404. We cannot be certain that the actions we will be taking to improve our internal controls over financial reporting will be sufficient, or that we will be able to implement our planned processes and procedures in a timely manner. In addition, if we are unable to produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis, investors could lose confidence in the reliability of our financial statements, which could cause the market price of our common stock to decline and make it more difficult for us to finance our operations and growth.

We are an emerging growth company and we cannot be certain if the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will make our common stock less attractive to investors.

We are an “emerging growth company” as defined in the JOBS Act. Under the JOBS Act, emerging growth companies can delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. We have irrevocably elected to avail ourselves of this exemption from new or revised accounting standards and, therefore, we will not be subject to the same new or revised accounting standards as other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies.”

For as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, we also intend to take advantage of certain other exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies including, but not limited to, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. We cannot predict if investors will find our common stock less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile.

We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest of (i) the last day of the year in which we have total annual gross revenue of $1.07 billion or more; (ii) the last day of the year following the fifth anniversary of the date of the closing of this offering; (iii) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in nonconvertible debt during the previous three years; or (iv) the date on which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer under the rules of the SEC.

The requirements of being a public company may strain our resources, divert management’s attention and affect our ability to attract and retain qualified board members.

As a public company, we will be subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, or the Dodd-Frank Act, the listing requirements of the stock exchange on which our common stock is traded and other applicable securities rules and regulations. The SEC and other regulators have continued to adopt new rules and regulations and make additional changes to existing regulations that require our compliance. Stockholder activism, the current political environment and the current high level of government intervention and regulatory reform may lead to substantial new regulations and disclosure obligations, which may lead to additional compliance costs and impact, in ways we cannot currently anticipate, the manner in which we operate our business. We will need to institute a comprehensive compliance function and establish internal policies to ensure we have the ability to prepare financial statements that are fully compliant with all SEC reporting requirements on a timely basis and establish an investor relations function. Compliance with these rules and regulations may cause us to incur additional accounting, legal and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. We also anticipate that we will incur costs associated with corporate governance requirements, including requirements under securities laws, as well as rules and regulations implemented by the SEC and the , particularly after we are no longer an “emerging growth company.” We expect these rules and regulations to increase our legal and financial compliance costs and to make some activities more time-consuming and costly, while also diverting some of management’s time and attention from revenue-generating activities. Furthermore, these rules and regulations could make it more difficult or more costly for us to obtain certain types of insurance, including director and officer liability insurance, and we may be forced to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. The impact of these requirements could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our board of directors, our board committees or as executive officers. We are currently evaluating and monitoring developments with respect to these rules and regulations, and we cannot predict or estimate the amount of additional costs we may incur or the timing of such costs.

Risks Related to this Offering and Ownership of Our Common Stock

No public market for our common stock currently exists, and an active trading market may not develop or be sustained following this offering.

Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for our common stock. Although we will apply to have our common stock listed on the , an active trading market may not develop following the closing of this offering or, if developed, may not be sustained. The lack of an active market may impair your ability to sell your shares at the time you wish to sell them or at a price that you consider reasonable. The lack of an active market may also reduce the fair market value of your shares. An inactive market

may also impair our ability to raise capital to continue to fund operations by selling shares and may impair our ability to acquire other companies or technologies by using our shares as consideration. The initial public offering price was determined by negotiations between us and the underwriters and may not be indicative of the future prices of our common stock.

Our share price may be volatile, and you may be unable to sell your shares at or above the offering price.

The market price of our common stock is likely to be volatile and could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to many risk factors listed in this section, and others beyond our control, including:


•	actual or anticipated fluctuations in our financial condition and operating results, including fluctuations in our quarterly and annual results;


•	announcements of innovations by us or our competitors;


•	overall conditions in our industry and the markets in which we operate;


•	market conditions or trends in the packaged food sales industry or in the economy as a whole;


•	addition or loss of significant customers, or other developments with respect to significant customers;


•	changes in laws or regulations applicable to our products;


•	actual or anticipated changes in our growth rate relative to our competitors;


•	announcements by us or our competitors of significant acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments;


•	additions or departures of key personnel;


•	competition from existing products or new products that may emerge;


•	issuance of new or updated research or reports by securities analysts;


•	fluctuations in the valuation of companies perceived by investors to be comparable to us;


•	disputes or other developments related to proprietary rights, including patents, and our ability to obtain intellectual property protection for our products;


•	litigation matters;


•	announcement or expectation of additional financing efforts;


•	sales of our common stock by us or our stockholders;


•	share price and volume fluctuations attributable to inconsistent trading volume levels of our shares;


•	the expiration of contractual lock-up agreements with our executive officers, directors and stockholders; and


•	general economic and market conditions.

Furthermore, the stock markets have experienced price and volume fluctuations that have affected and continue to affect the market prices of equity securities of many companies. These fluctuations often have been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. These broad market and industry fluctuations, as well as general economic, political and market conditions such as

recessions, interest rate changes or international currency fluctuations, may negatively impact the market price of our common stock. If the market price of our common stock after this offering does not exceed the initial public offering price, you may not realize any return on your investment in us and may lose some or all of your investment. In the past, companies that have experienced volatility in the market price of their stock have been subject to securities class action litigation. We may be the target of this type of litigation in the future. Securities litigation against us could result in substantial costs and divert our management’s attention from other business concerns, which could seriously harm our business.

Future sales and issuances of our common stock or rights to purchase common stock, including pursuant to our equity incentive plans, could result in additional dilution of the percentage ownership of our stockholders and could cause the stock price of our common stock to decline.

We may issue additional securities following the closing of this offering. In the future, we may sell common stock, convertible securities or other equity securities in one or more transactions at prices and in a manner we determine from time to time. We also expect to issue common stock to employees and directors pursuant to our equity incentive plans. If we sell common stock, convertible securities or other equity securities in subsequent transactions, or common stock is issued pursuant to equity incentive plans, investors may be materially diluted. New investors in such subsequent transactions could gain rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of holders of our common stock.

Future sales of our common stock in the public market could cause our share price to fall.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market after this offering, or the perception that these sales might occur, could depress the market price of our common stock and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities. Based on the number of shares of common stock outstanding as of , upon the closing of this offering, we will have shares of common stock outstanding, assuming no exercise of our outstanding options.

All of the common stock sold in this offering will be freely tradable without restrictions or further registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, except for any shares held by our affiliates as defined in Rule 144 under the Securities Act. The remaining shares of common stock outstanding after this offering, based on shares outstanding as of , will be restricted as a result of securities laws, lock-up agreements or other contractual restrictions that restrict transfers for at least 180 days after the date of this prospectus, subject to certain extensions.

The underwriters may, in their sole discretion, release all or some portion of the shares subject to lock-up agreements with the underwriters prior to expiration of the lock-up period. See also the section of this prospectus captioned “Shares Eligible For Future Sale.” For more information regarding the lock-up agreements with the underwriters see the section of this prospectus captioned “Underwriting.”

The holders of shares of common stock, or % based on shares outstanding on an as-converted basis as of , 2018, will be entitled to rights with respect to registration of such shares under the Securities Act pursuant to a registration rights agreement between such holders and us. See “Description of Capital Stock—Registration Rights” below. If such holders, by exercising their registration rights, sell a large number of shares, they could adversely affect the market price for our common stock. If we file a registration statement for the purpose of selling additional shares to raise capital and are required to include shares held by these holders pursuant to the exercise of their registration rights, our ability to raise capital may be impaired. We intend to file a registration statement on Form S-8 under the Securities Act to register shares of common stock for issuance under the 2011 Plan, including shares of our common stock that will be added to the shares reserved for future grant or issuance under our 2011 Plan in connection with the amendment and restatement of our 2011 Plan which will become effective in connection with this offering. The amended and restated 2011 Plan will provide for automatic increases in the shares reserved for grant or issuance under the plan which could result in additional dilution to our stockholders. Once we register the shares under these plans, they can be freely sold in the public market upon issuance and vesting, subject to a 180-day lock-

up period and other restrictions provided under the terms of the applicable plan and/or the award agreements entered into with participants.

Our management has broad discretion in the use of the net proceeds from this offering and may not use the net proceeds effectively.

Our management will have broad discretion in the application of the net proceeds of this offering. We cannot specify with certainty the uses to which we will apply these net proceeds. The failure by our management to apply these funds effectively could adversely affect our ability to continue maintaining and expanding our business.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or publish unfavorable research about our business, our stock price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our common stock will be influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts publish about us or our business. If one or more of these analysts ceases coverage of our company or fails to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline. Moreover, if our operating results do not meet the expectations of the investor community, one or more of the analysts who cover our company may change their recommendations regarding our company, and our stock price could decline.

If you purchase shares of our common stock in this offering, you will incur immediate and substantial dilution.

The offering price of our common stock is substantially higher than the net tangible book value per share of our common stock, which on a pro forma basis was $ per share of our common stock as of , . As a result, you will incur immediate and substantial dilution in net tangible book value when you buy our common stock in this offering. This means that you will pay a higher price per share than the amount of our total tangible assets, less our total liabilities, divided by the number of shares of common stock outstanding. In addition, you may also experience additional dilution if options or other rights to purchase our common stock that are outstanding or that we may issue in the future are exercised or converted or we issue additional shares of our common stock at prices lower than our net tangible book value at such time. See “Dilution.”

We have never paid dividends on our capital stock and we do not intend to pay dividends for the foreseeable future. Consequently, any gains from an investment in our common stock will likely depend on whether the price of our common stock increases.

We have never declared or paid any dividends on our common stock and do not intend to pay any dividends in the foreseeable future. We anticipate that we will retain all of our future earnings for use in the operation of our business and for general corporate purposes. Any determination to pay dividends in the future will be at the discretion of our board of directors. Accordingly, investors must rely on sales of their common stock after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize any future gains on their investments. Furthermore, we are party to a credit agreement with Silicon Valley Bank which contains negative covenants that limit our ability to pay dividends. For more information, see the section of this prospectus captioned “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources.”

Our charter documents and Delaware law could prevent a takeover that stockholders consider favorable and could also reduce the market price of our stock.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws will contain provisions that could delay or prevent a change in control of our company. These provisions could also make it more difficult for stockholders to elect directors and take other corporate actions. These provisions include:


•	providing for a classified board of directors with staggered, three-year terms;


•	authorizing our board of directors to issue preferred stock with voting or other rights or preferences that could discourage a takeover attempt or delay changes in control;


•	prohibiting cumulative voting in the election of directors;


•	providing that vacancies on our board of directors may be filled only by a majority of directors then in office, even though less than a quorum;


•	prohibiting the adoption, amendment or repeal of our amended and restated bylaws or the repeal of the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation regarding the election and removal of directors without the required approval of at least 66.67% of the shares entitled to vote at an election of directors;


•	prohibiting stockholder action by written consent;


•	limiting the persons who may call special meetings of stockholders; and


•	requiring advance notification of stockholder nominations and proposals.

These provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management by making it more difficult for stockholders to replace members of our board of directors, which is responsible for appointing the members of our management. In addition, the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporate Law, or the DGCL, govern us. These provisions may prohibit large stockholders, in particular those owning 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock, from merging or combining with us for a certain period of time without the consent of our board of directors.

These and other provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws and under Delaware law could discourage potential takeover attempts, reduce the price investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock and result in the market price of our common stock being lower than it would be without these provisions. For more information, see the section of this prospectus captioned “Description of Capital Stock-Anti-takeover Effects of Delaware Law and Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated Bylaws.”

Insiders have substantial control over us and will be able to influence corporate matters.

Our directors and executive officers and their affiliates will beneficially own, in the aggregate, approximately % of our outstanding capital stock upon the closing of this offering (assuming the conversion of preferred stock into common stock upon the closing of this offering). As a result, these stockholders will be able to exercise significant influence over all matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors and approval of significant corporate transactions, such as a merger or other sale of our company or its assets. This concentration of ownership could limit stockholders’ ability to influence corporate matters and may have the effect of delaying or preventing a third party from acquiring control over us.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that will become effective immediately prior to the closing of this offering provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware and the federal district courts of the United States of America will be the exclusive forums for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or employees.


•	any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf;


•	any action asserting a claim of breach of fiduciary duty;


•	any action asserting a claim against us arising under the DGCL, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, or our amended and restated bylaws; and


•	any action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal-affairs doctrine.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation further provides that the federal district courts of the United States of America will be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act.

These exclusive forum provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees. If a court were to find either exclusive forum provision in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving the dispute in other jurisdictions, which could seriously harm our business.

Claims for indemnification by our directors and officers may reduce our available funds to satisfy successful third-party claims against us and may reduce the amount of money available to us.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws provide that we will indemnify our directors and officers, in each case to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law.

In addition, as permitted by Section 145 of the DGCL, our amended and restated bylaws and our indemnification agreements that we have entered into with our directors and officers provide that:

•

we will indemnify our directors and officers for serving us in those capacities or for serving other business enterprises at our request, to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law. Delaware law provides that a corporation may indemnify such person if such person acted in good faith and in a manner such person reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the registrant and, with respect to any criminal proceeding, had no reasonable cause to believe such person’s conduct was unlawful;


•	we may, in our discretion, indemnify employees and agents in those circumstances where indemnification is permitted by applicable law;


•	we are required to advance expenses, as incurred, to our directors and officers in connection with defending a proceeding, except that such directors or officers shall undertake to repay such advances if it is ultimately determined that such person is not entitled to indemnification;


•	we will not be obligated pursuant to our amended and restated bylaws to indemnify a person with respect to proceedings initiated by that person against us or our other indemnitees, except with

respect to proceedings authorized by our board of directors or brought to enforce a right to indemnification;


•	the rights conferred in our amended and restated bylaws are not exclusive, and we are authorized to enter into indemnification agreements with our directors, officers, employees and agents and to obtain insurance to indemnify such persons; and


•	we may not retroactively amend our amended and restated bylaw provisions to reduce our indemnification obligations to directors, officers, employees and agents.

If we cannot satisfy or continue to satisfy the ’s independent committee requirements, our common stock may be delisted, which would negatively impact the price of our common stock and your ability to sell our common stock.

We intend to apply to list our common stock on the . We plan to utilize the phase-in provisions afforded new public companies under the rules with respect to the independent committee requirements of the . During the phase-in period, we will not have fully independent board committees, which will leave us subject to the control of our existing non-independent directors. Moreover, if we are unable to comply with the independent committee requirements in the time period provided, we could be delisted from the and face significant consequences, including:


•	limited availability for market quotations for our common stock;


•	reduced liquidity with respect to our common stock;


•	limited amount of news and analyst coverage; and


•	a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future.

Our ability to utilize our federal net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards may be limited under Sections 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code.

The limitations apply if a corporation undergoes an “ownership change,” which is generally defined as a greater than 50 percentage point change (by value) in its equity ownership by certain stockholders over a three-year period. If we have experienced an ownership change at any time since our incorporation, we may already be subject to limitations on our ability to utilize our existing net operating losses and other tax attributes to offset taxable income. In addition, future changes in our stock ownership, which may be outside of our control, may trigger an ownership change and, consequently, Section 382 and 383 limitations. Similar provisions of state tax law may also apply to limit our use of accumulated state tax attributes. As a result, if we earn net taxable income, our ability to use our pre-change net operating loss carryforwards and other tax attributes to offset such taxable income may be subject to limitations, which could potentially result in increased future income tax liability to us.

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This prospectus includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends affecting the operating results and financial condition of our business. Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of the times at, or by, which such performance or results will be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time those statements are made and/or management’s good faith belief as of that time with respect to future events, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in or suggested by the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause such differences include, but are not limited to, statements about:


•	estimates of our expenses, future revenues, capital requirements and our needs for additional financing;


•	our estimates of the size of our market opportunities;


•	our ability to effectively manage our growth;


•	our ability to effectively expand our manufacturing and production capacity;


•	our ability to successfully enter new markets, manage our international expansion and comply with any applicable laws and regulations;


•	the effects of increased competition from our market competitors;


•	the success of our marketing efforts and the ability to grow brand awareness and maintain, protect and enhance our brand;


•	our ability to attract and retain our suppliers, distributors, co-manufacturers and customers;


•	our ability to procure sufficient high quality, raw materials to manufacture our products;


•	the availability of pea protein that meets our standards;


•	real or perceived quality or health issues with our products or other issues that adversely affect our brand and reputation;


•	changes in the tastes and preferences of our consumers;


•	significant disruption in, or breach in security of our information technology systems and resultant interruptions in service and any related impact on our reputation;


•	the attraction and retention of qualified employees and key personnel;


•	the effects of natural or man-made catastrophic events particularly involving our or any of our co-manufacturers’ manufacturing facilities or our suppliers’ facilities;


•	the effectiveness of our internal controls;


•	changes in laws and government regulation affecting our business, including FDA governmental regulation and state regulation;


•	changes in laws, regulations or policies of governmental agencies or regulators relating to the labeling of or products;


•	the impact of adverse economic conditions;


•	the financial condition of, and our relationships with our suppliers, co-manufacturers, distributors, retailers and foodservice customers;


•	the ability of our suppliers and co-manufacturers to comply with food safety, environmental or other laws or regulations;


•	seasonality;


•	the sufficiency of our cash and cash equivalents to meet our liquidity needs and service our indebtedness;


•	economic conditions and their impact on consumer spending;


•	outcomes of legal or administrative proceedings; and


•	our, our suppliers’ and our co-manufacturers’ ability to protect our proprietary technology and intellectual property adequately.

In addition, in this prospectus, the words “believe,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “predict,” “potential” and similar expressions, as they relate to our company, our business and our management, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In light of these risks and uncertainties, the forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this prospectus may not occur and actual results could differ materially from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this prospectus. You should not put undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. We assume no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting forward-looking information, except to the extent required by applicable laws. If we update one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that we will make additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking statements.

You should read this prospectus and the documents that we reference in this prospectus and have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part with the understanding that our actual future results, levels of activity, performance and events and circumstances may be materially different from what we expect.

USE OF PROCEEDS

We estimate that the net proceeds from our issuance and sale of shares of our common stock in this offering will be approximately $ million, assuming an initial public offering price of $ per share, which is the midpoint of the estimated offering price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses that the net proceeds from this offering will be approximately $ million.

A $1.00 increase or decrease in the assumed initial public offering price of $ per share, which is the midpoint of the estimated offering price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase or decrease our net proceeds from this offering by approximately $ million, assuming that the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. An increase or decrease of 1,000,000 shares in the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase or decrease our net proceeds from this offering by approximately $ million, assuming no change in the assumed initial public offering price per share and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. We do not expect that a change in the offering price or the number of shares by these amounts would have a material effect on our intended uses of the net proceeds from this offering, although it may impact the amount of time prior to which we may need to seek additional capital.

As of December 31, 2017, we had cash of approximately $39.0 million. We currently estimate that we will use the net proceeds from this offering, together with our existing cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments as follows:


•	To invest in current and additional manufacturing facilities;


•	To expand our research and development and our sales and marketing capabilities;


•	A portion of our net proceeds may be used to fund potential acquisitions of, or investments in, complementary technologies or businesses, although we have no present commitments or agreements to enter into any such acquisitions or to make any such investments; and


•	Any proceeds not applied to the foregoing will be used for working capital and general corporate purposes, including funding our operations and potentially refinancing our credit facilities.

This expected use of the net proceeds from this offering and our existing cash and our cash equivalents and short-term investments represents our intentions based upon our current plans and business conditions, which could change in the future as our plans and business conditions evolve. As of the date of this prospectus, we cannot predict with certainty all of the particular uses for the proceeds to be received upon the closing of this offering or the actual amounts that we will spend on the uses set forth above. As a result, our management will retain broad discretion over the allocation of the net proceeds from this offering.

After giving effect to the anticipated net proceeds from this offering, we expect that our existing cash and our cash equivalents and short-term investments will be sufficient to fund our planned operating expenses, capital expenditure requirements and debt service payments through at least the next 12 months. We have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could use our available capital resources sooner than we currently expect. For additional information regarding our potential capital requirements, see “We may require additional financing to achieve our goals, and a failure to obtain this necessary capital when needed on acceptable terms, or at all, may force us to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product manufacturing and development, and other operations” under the heading “Risk Factors.”

Pending our use of the net proceeds from this offering, we intend to invest the net proceeds in a variety of capital preservation investments, including short-term, investment-grade, interest-bearing instruments and U.S. government securities.

DIVIDEND POLICY

We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our capital stock. We currently intend to retain all available funds and any future earnings for use in the operation of our business and do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future.

Any decision to declare and pay dividends in the future will be made at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on, among other things, our results of operations, cash requirements, financial condition, contractual restrictions, including compliance with covenants under our credit facilities, and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant. In addition, under the terms of our current credit facilities, we are prohibited from paying cash dividends without the prior consent of Silicon Valley Bank.

CAPITALIZATION

The following table sets forth our cash and capitalization as of December 31, 2017 on:


•	an actual basis;

•

a pro forma basis, to give effect to (i) the conversion of all outstanding shares of our convertible preferred stock as of December 31, 2017 on a one-for-one basis into 59,038,957 shares of our common stock immediately prior to the closing of this offering, (ii) the automatic conversion of our convertible preferred stock warrants to purchase 241,140 shares of our convertible preferred stock into warrants to purchase 241,140 shares of common stock immediately prior to the closing of this offering; and (iii) the effectiveness of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, as if such conversions, and effectiveness had occurred immediately prior to the closing of this offering; and

•

a pro forma as adjusted basis, giving effect to (i) the pro forma adjustments set forth above and (ii) the sale and issuance of shares of our common stock by us in this offering, based upon the assumed initial public offering price of $ per share, which is the midpoint of the estimated offering price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

You should read this table together with the section of this prospectus entitled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” “Use of Proceeds,” “Selected Financial Data,” and our audited financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2017 and related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus.



	As of December 31, 2017
(in thousands, except share and per share data)	Actual			Pro Forma			Pro Forma as adjusted⁽¹⁾
Cash⁽²⁾	$	39,035		$	39,035
Debt:
Revolving credit facility⁽³⁾	$	2,500		$	2,500
Current portion of term loan	477			477
Long-term debt	1,938			1,938
Total debt	$	4,915		$	4,915
Convertible preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share—59,506,790 shares authorized; 59,038,957 shares issued and outstanding, actual; no shares authorized, issued and outstanding, pro forma and pro forma as adjusted (unaudited)	$	148,194		$	—
Stockholders’ deficit:
Common stock $0.0001 par value (78,000,000 shares authorized; 7,917,119 and 8,586,399 shares issued and outstanding; pro forma: shares, shares authorized, shares issued and outstanding, pro forma as adjusted (unaudited))	1			7
Additional paid-in-capital	4,823			153,561
Loans to related parties for purchase of stock	(951		)	(951		)
Accumulated deficit	(99,786		)	(99,786		)

Total stockholders’ (deficit) equity	$	(95,913	)	$	52,831

Total capitalization	$	57,196		$	57,746

___________________

(1)

Each $1.00 increase or decrease in the assumed initial public offering price of $ per share, which is the midpoint of the estimated offering price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase or decrease, as applicable, our cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, working capital, total assets and total stockholders’ deficit and total capitalization by approximately $ million, assuming that the number of shares of our common stock offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. Each increase or decrease of 1.0 million shares in the number of shares offered by us would increase or decrease the amount of our cash, total assets and total stockholders’ deficit by approximately $ million, assuming an initial public offering price of $ per share, which is the midpoint of the estimated offering price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.


(2)	Does not reflect offering expenses, which we estimate to be approximately $ million.

(3)

We refinanced the 2016 Revolving Credit Facility and the 2016 Term Loan Facility in June 2018, such that the 2016 Revolving Credit Facility with SVB was expanded from $2.5 million to $6.0 million, and all loans under the 2016 Term Loan Facility were paid in full without a prepayment penalty and the 2016 Term Loan Facility was discontinued. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Credit Facilities” for additional information.

The total number of shares of our common stock reflected in the discussion and table above is based upon 67,625,356 shares of our common stock outstanding on a pro forma basis as of December 31, 2017, and excludes:


•	419,420 unvested shares of restricted common stock subject to our repurchase right;


•	6,310,312 shares of our common stock issuable upon the exercise of options to purchase shares of our common stock outstanding as of December 31, 2017, with a weighted-average exercise price of $0.58 per share;


•	shares of our common stock issuable upon the exercise of options to purchase shares of our common stock granted after December 31, 2017, with a weighted-average exercise price of $ per share;


•	182,533 shares of our common stock issuable upon the exercise of outstanding warrants to purchase Series B convertible preferred stock outstanding as of December 31, 2017, having an exercise price of $0.71 per share;


•	58,607 shares of our common stock issuable upon the exercise of outstanding warrants to purchase Series E convertible preferred stock outstanding as of December 31, 2017, having an exercise price of $2.45 per share; and

•

shares of our common stock reserved for future grant or issuance under the 2011 Plan (which includes 1,919,799 shares of our common stock reserved for future grant or issuance under our 2011 Plan as of December 31, 2017 and shares of our common stock that will be added to the shares reserved for future grant or issuance under our 2011 Plan in connection with the amendment and restatement of our 2011 Plan which will become effective in connection with this offering and will contain provisions that automatically increase its share reserve each year, as more fully described in “Executive Compensation—Employee Benefit Plans”.

DILUTION

If you invest in our common stock, your interest will be diluted to the extent of the difference between the public offering price per share of our common stock and the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share of our common stock after this offering. Our historical net tangible book value as of December 31, 2017 was $(96.0) million, or $(11.18) per share of common stock. Our net tangible book value per share represents total tangible assets less total liabilities and convertible preferred stock, divided by the number of shares of common stock outstanding as of December 31, 2017. Our pro forma net tangible book value at December 31, 2017, before giving effect to this offering, was $52.8 million, or $0.78 per share of our common stock. Our pro forma net tangible book value before the issuance of shares in this offering gives effect to the conversion of our outstanding convertible preferred stock into our common stock immediately prior to the closing of this offering and the related reclassification of the convertible preferred stock warrant liability into additional paid-in capital immediately prior to the closing of this offering.

After giving effect to our sale of shares of our common stock in this offering at an assumed initial public offering price of $ per share, which is the midpoint of the estimated offering price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us, our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value as of December 31, 2017 would have been $ , or $ per share. This represents an immediate increase in net tangible book value of $ per share to our existing stockholders and an immediate dilution of $ per share to new investors purchasing shares of common stock in this offering. The following table illustrates this dilution on a per share basis:



Assumed initial public offering price per share				$

Historical net tangible book value per share as of December 31, 2017	$	(11.18	)
Pro forma increase in net tangible book value per share attributable to conversion of convertible preferred stock and preferred warrants	11.96
Pro forma net tangible book value per share as of December 31, 2017 before giving effect to this offering	0.78
Increase in net tangible book value per share attributable to new investors purchasing shares in this offering	$

Pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share after giving effect to this offering

Dilution in pro forma net tangible book value per share to new investors in this offering				$

Each $1.00 increase or decrease in the assumed initial public offering price of $ per share, which is the midpoint of the estimated offering price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase or decrease, as applicable, our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value by approximately $ million, or approximately $ per share, and would increase or decrease, as applicable, dilution per share to new investors in this offering by $ , assuming that the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. An increase or decrease of 1,000,000 shares in the number of shares offered by us would increase or decrease, as applicable, our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value by approximately $ million, or approximately $ per share, and would increase or decrease, as applicable, dilution per share to new investors in this offering by approximately $ per share, assuming an initial public offering price of $ per share, which is the midpoint of the estimated offering price range set

forth on the cover page of this prospectus, and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. The pro forma as adjusted information discussed above is illustrative only and will be adjusted based on the actual public offering price and other terms of this offering determined at pricing. If the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares in full, the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share would be $ per share, and the dilution per share to new investors in this offering would be $ per share.

The following table summarizes the pro forma on an as adjusted basis as described above, as of December 31, 2017, the differences between the existing stockholders and new investors with respect to the number of shares of common stock purchased from us, the total consideration paid to us and the average price per share paid or to be paid to us at an assumed initial public offering price of $ per share, which is the midpoint of the estimated offering price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, before deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us:



	Shares purchased		Total consideration		Weighted Average price per share
	Number	Percent	Amount	Percent	Weighted Average price per share
Existing stockholders		%	$	%	$
New investors		%	$	%	$
Total		100.0%		100.0%

Each $1.00 increase or decrease in the assumed initial public offering price of $ per share, which is the midpoint of the estimated offering price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase or decrease, as applicable, the total consideration paid to us by new investors and total consideration paid to us by all stockholders by $ million, assuming that the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same, and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. An increase or decrease of 1,000,000 shares in the number of shares offered by us would increase or decrease the total consideration paid to us by new investors and total consideration paid to us by all stockholders by $ million, assuming an initial public offering price of $ per share, which is the midpoint of the estimated offering price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

If all of the outstanding options and warrants noted below were exercised, (1) the number of shares of our common stock held by existing stockholders would be increased to shares, or % of the total number of shares of our common stock outstanding after this offering, and the percentage of shares of common stock held by new investors participating in the offering would be decreased to % of the total number of shares of our common stock outstanding after this offering, (2) the consideration paid by existing stockholders would be increased to $ million, or % of the total consideration paid by stockholders after this offering and the percentage of consideration paid by new investors participating in the offering would be decreased to % of the total consideration paid by stockholders after this offering, and (3) the average price per share paid by existing stockholders would decrease to $ per share.

Assuming the exercise of all of our outstanding options and warrants as of , the amounts set forth in the table immediately above would change as follows:



	Shares purchased		Total consideration		Weighted Average price per share
	Number	Percent	Amount	Percent	Weighted Average price per share
Existing stockholders		%	$	%	$
New investors		%	$	%	$
Total		100.0%		100.0%


•	419,420 unvested shares of restricted common stock subject to our repurchase right;


•	6,310,312 shares of our common stock issuable upon the exercise of options to purchase shares of our common stock outstanding as of December 31, 2017, with a weighted-average exercise price of $0.58 per share;


•	shares of our common stock issuable upon the exercise of options to purchase shares of our common stock granted after December 31, 2017, with a weighted-average exercise price of $ per share;


•	182,533 shares of our common stock issuable upon the exercise of outstanding warrants to purchase Series B convertible preferred stock outstanding as of December 31, 2017, having an exercise price of $0.71 per share;


•	58,607 shares of our common stock issuable upon the exercise of outstanding warrants to purchase Series E convertible preferred stock outstanding as of December 31, 2017, having an exercise price of $2.45 per share; and

•

To the extent that any outstanding options or warrants are exercised, new options are issued under our stock-based compensation plans or we issue additional shares of common stock in the future, there will be further dilution to investors participating in this offering.

SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

The following table sets forth our selected financial data. The statement of operations data for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2017 and the selected balance sheet data as of December 31, 2016 and 2017 have been derived from our audited financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for any future periods. You should read the following financial information together with the information under “Capitalization” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus.

Selected Financial Data



	Year Ended December 31,
(in thousands, except share and per share data)	2016			2017
Statements of Operations Data:
Net revenues	$	16,182		$	32,581
Cost of goods sold	22,494			34,772
Gross loss	(6,312		)	(2,191		)
Research and development expenses	5,782			5,722
Selling, general and administrative expenses	12,672			17,143
Restructuring expenses	—			3,509
Total operating expenses	18,454			26,374
Loss from operations	(24,766		)	(28,565		)
Other (expense) income:
Interest expense	(380		)	(1,002		)
Other, net	—			(812		)
Total other expense, net	(380		)	(1,814		)
Loss before income taxes	(25,146		)	(30,379		)
Income tax expense	3			5
Net loss	$	(25,149	)	$	(30,384	)
Net loss per common share—basic and diluted	$	(3.67	)	$	(3.71	)
Weighted average shares of common stock outstanding—basic and diluted	6,849,849			8,186,109

Balance Sheet Data:



	Year Ended December 31,
(in thousands)	2016			2017
Cash	$	16,998		$	39,035
Working capital⁽¹⁾	$	19,365		$	39,819
Property, plant and equipment, net	$	10,277		$	14,118
Total assets	$	34,935		$	66,463
Total debt	$	2,878		$	4,915
Convertible preferred stock	$	93,804		$	148,194
Stockholders’ deficit	$	(66,573	)	$	(95,913	)

Other Financial Data:



	Year Ended December 31,
(in thousands)	2016			2017
Adjusted EBITDA⁽²⁾	$	(21,957	)	$	(17,557	)
Depreciation and amortization	$	2,074		$	3,181
Capital expenditures	$	(5,038	)	$	(8,115	)
Gross margin	(39.0		)%	(6.7		)%

___________________


(1)	Working capital is defined as total current assets, including cash, minus total current liabilities.

(2)

Adjusted EBITDA is a financial measure that is not calculated in accordance with GAAP. We define adjusted EBITDA as net loss adjusted to exclude, when applicable, income tax expense, interest expense, depreciation and amortization expense, restructuring expenses, share-based compensation expense, inventory losses from termination of exclusive supply agreement with a co-manufacturer and costs of termination of an exclusive supply agreement with the same co-manufacturer.

We include adjusted EBITDA in this prospectus because it is an important measure upon which our management assesses our operating performance. We use adjusted EBITDA as a key performance measure because we believe this measure facilitates operating performance comparison from period-to-period by excluding potential differences primarily caused by the impact of restructuring, asset depreciation and amortization, non-cash share-based compensation and non-operational charges including the impact to cost of goods sold and selling, general and administrative expenses related to the termination of an exclusive co-manufacturing agreement, early extinguishment of convertible notes and remeasurement of warrant liability. Because adjusted EBITDA facilitates internal comparisons of our historical operating performance on a more consistent basis, we also use it for our business planning purposes. In addition, we believe adjusted EBITDA is widely used by investors, securities analysts, ratings agencies and other parties in evaluating companies in our industry as a measure of our operational performance.

There are a number of limitations related to the use of adjusted EBITDA rather than net loss, which is the most directly comparable GAAP measure. Some of these limitations are:


•	adjusted EBITDA excludes depreciation and amortization expense and, although these are non-cash expenses, the assets being depreciated may have to be replaced in the future increasing our cash requirements;


•	adjusted EBITDA does not reflect interest expense, or the cash required to service our debt, which reduces cash available to us;


•	adjusted EBITDA does not reflect income tax payments that reduce cash available to us;


•	adjusted EBITDA does not reflect restructuring expenses that reduce cash available to us;


•	adjusted EBITDA does not reflect share-based compensation expenses and therefore does not include all of our compensation costs;


•	adjusted EBITDA does not reflect other income (expense) that may increase or decrease cash available to us; and


•	other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate adjusted EBITDA differently, which reduces its usefulness as a comparative measure.

Because of these limitations, we consider, and you should consider, adjusted EBITDA with other operating and financial performance measures presented in accordance with GAAP. Below we have provided a reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA to net loss, as reported, the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP, for each of the periods presented. Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered as an alternative to net loss or any other measure of financial performance calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP. How we define and calculate adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other organizations due to differences in how we and other organizations calculate this measure, and therefore you should be cautious in drawing comparisons based on this non-GAAP measure.

The following table presents the reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA to its most comparable GAAP measure, net loss, as reported:



	Year Ended December 31,
(in thousands)	2016			2017
Net loss, as reported	$	(25,149	)	$	(30,384	)
Income tax expense	3			5
Interest expense	380			1,002
Depreciation and amortization expense	2,074			3,181
Restructuring expenses⁽¹⁾	—			3,509
Inventory losses from termination of exclusive supply agreement⁽²⁾	—			2,440
Costs of termination of exclusive supply agreement⁽³⁾	—			1,213
Share-based compensation expense	735			665
Other, net⁽⁴⁾	—			812
Adjusted EBITDA	$	(21,957	)	$	(17,557	)

___________________

(1)


(2)	Consists of additional charges related to inventory losses incurred as a result of termination of an exclusive supply agreement with a co-manufacturer and is recorded in cost of goods sold.


(3)	Consists of additional charges incurred as a result of termination of an exclusive supply agreement with a co-manufacturer and is recorded in selling, general and administrative expenses.


(4)	Includes expenses primarily associated with the conversion of our convertible notes and remeasurement of our preferred stock warrant liability.

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF

FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results may differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including those set forth in “Risk Factors” and “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.” The following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus, as well as the information presented under “Selected Financial Data.”

Overview

Beyond Meat is one of the fastest growing food companies in the United States, offering a portfolio of revolutionary plant-based meats. We build meat directly from plants, an innovation that enables consumers to experience the taste, texture and other sensory attributes of popular animal-based meat products while enjoying the nutritional benefits of eating our plant-based meat products. Our brand commitment, “Eat What You Love,” represents a strong belief that by eating our plant-based meats, consumers can enjoy more, not less, of their favorite meals, and by doing so help address concerns related to human health, climate change, resource conservation, and animal welfare. The success of our breakthrough innovation model and products has allowed us to appeal to a broad range of consumers, including those who typically eat animal-based meats, positioning us to compete directly in the $1.4 trillion global meat industry.

We sell a range of plant-based products across the three main meat platforms of beef, pork and poultry. They are offered in ready-to-cook formats (merchandised in the meat case), which we refer to as our “fresh” platform, and ready-to-heat formats (merchandised in the freezer), which we refer to as our “frozen” platform.

We have experienced strong sales growth over the past few years, increasing our net revenues from $8.8 million in 2015 to $32.6 million in 2017, representing a 92% compound annual growth rate. Going forward, we intend to continue to invest in innovation, supply chain capabilities, manufacturing and marketing initiatives as we believe the demand for our products will continue to accelerate across both retail and foodservice channels as well as internationally.

Components of Our Results of Operations and Trends and Other Factors Affecting Our Business

Net Revenues

We generate net revenues primarily from sales of our products, including The Beyond Burger, Beyond Sausage, Beyond Chicken and other plant-based meat products to our customers, which include mainstream grocery, mass merchandiser and natural retailers, as well as restaurants and other foodservice outlets mainly in the United States.

We have experienced substantial growth in net revenues in the past two years. The following factors and trends in our business have driven net revenue growth over this period and are expected to be key drivers of our net revenue growth for the foreseeable future:


•	increased penetration across our retail channel, including mainstream grocery, mass merchandiser and natural retailer customers, and our restaurant and foodservice channel, including restaurants, foodservice outlets and schools;


•	increased velocity of our fresh product sales across our channels, by which we mean that the volume of our products sold per outlet has generally increased period-over-period due to greater adoption of and demand for our products;


•	our continued innovation, including enhancing existing products and introducing new products that appeal to a broad range of consumers, including those who typically eat animal-based meat;


•	impact of marketing efforts as we continue to build our brand and drive consumer adoption of our products; and


•	overall market trends, including growing consumer demand for nutritious, convenient and high protein plant-based foods.

In addition to the factors and trends above, we expect the following to positively impact net revenues going forward:


•	increased production levels as we scale production to meet demand for our products across our distribution channels both domestically and internationally, including Australia, Canada, Europe, Hong Kong, Israel, South Africa, South Korea and parts of the Middle East; and


•	increased desire by restaurant and foodservice establishments to add plant-based products to their menus and to highlight these offerings.

Net revenues from sales in our retail channel increased by 106.5% from $12.3 million in 2016 to $25.5 million in 2017, and net revenues from sales in our restaurant and foodservice channel increased by 84.7% from $3.8 million in 2016 to $7.1 million in 2017. We expect further growth in both channels as we increase our production capacity in response to demand.

Over the next few years, the main driver of growth in our net revenues is expected to be sales of our fresh products in both our retail channel and our restaurant and foodservice channel predominantly in the United States, as well as internationally. We also expect net revenues and gross margin to benefit from increased sales of our fresh products due to the higher net selling price per pound of our fresh platform products compared to our frozen platform products.

As we seek to continue to rapidly grow our net revenues, we face several challenges. In 2017, continuing into 2018, demand for our products has exceeded our expectations and production capacity. While we expect to triple our monthly production capacity by the end of the first quarter of 2019 as compared to the end of the second quarter of 2018, our net revenue growth has been significantly constrained relative to what we believe is our total demand opportunity. We run a risk of losing potential future sales due to these supply challenges when we are unable to fulfill customer demand for their preferred products on a timely basis. Recently, we have also had to delay our launch of full-scale retail sales of The Beyond Burger in Europe due to capacity constraints and inability to meet reliable shipment schedules. If we are unable to increase our capacity in a timely manner, it may take longer to fully execute our growth strategy.

We routinely offer sales discounts and promotions through various programs to customers and consumers. These programs include rebates, temporary on-shelf price reductions, off-invoice discounts, retailer advertisements, product coupons and other trade activities. The expense associated with these discounts and promotions is estimated and recorded as a reduction in total gross revenues in order to arrive at reported net revenues. We anticipate that these promotional activities could impact our net revenues and that changes in such activities could impact period-over-period results.

In addition, because we do not have any purchase commitments from our customers, the amount of net revenues we recognize will vary from period to period depending on the volume and mix of our products sold, particularly between products in our fresh and frozen platforms, and the channels through which our products are sold, causing variability in our results.

Gross Loss

Gross loss consists of our net revenues less costs of goods sold. Our cost of goods sold primarily consists of the cost of raw materials and ingredients for our products, direct labor and certain supply costs, co-manufacturing fees, in-bound and internal shipping and handling costs incurred in

manufacturing our products, plant and equipment overhead, depreciation and amortization expense, as well as the cost of packaging our products.

In order to keep pace with demand, we have had to very quickly scale production and we have not been able to meet all demand for our products. As a result, we have had to quickly expand our sources of supply for our core protein inputs such as pea protein. Our growth has also significantly increased facility and warehouse utilization rates. We intend to continue to increase our production capabilities at our two in-house manufacturing facilities in Columbia, Missouri. As a result, we expect our cost of goods sold to increase in absolute dollars to support our growth. However, we expect such expenses to decrease as a percentage of net revenues over time as we continue to scale our business.

Gross margin improved by 32.3 points from (39.0)% in 2016 to (6.7)% in 2017. Gross margin benefited from an increase in the amount of product sold and from a greater proportion of revenues from products in our fresh platform which have a higher net selling price per pound. As we continue to expand production and are able to increase manufacturing efficiency and leverage the cost of our fixed production and staff costs, we expect to substantially increase our gross margin. We also expect to continue to increase gross margin through ingredient cost savings achieved through scale of purchasing and through expanding our co-manufacturing network and negotiating lower tolling fees.

Operating Expenses

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses consist primarily of personnel and related expenses for our research and development staff, including salaries, benefits, bonuses, and share-based compensation. Our research and development efforts are focused on enhancements to our product formulations and production processes in addition to the development of new products. We expect to continue to invest substantial amounts in research and development, as most recently evidenced in the build-out of our state-of-the-art Manhattan Beach Project Innovation Center. Research and development and innovation are core elements of our business strategy, as we believe they represent a critical competitive advantage for us. We believe that we need to continue to rapidly innovate in order to be able to continue to capture a larger market share of consumers who typically eat animal-based meats. We expect these expenses to increase somewhat in absolute dollars, but to decrease as a percentage of net revenues as we continue to scale production.

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses

Selling, general and administrative expenses consist primarily of marketing, selling and administrative expenses, including personnel and related expenses, share-based compensation, outbound shipping and handling costs, non-manufacturing rent expense, depreciation and amortization expense on non-manufacturing assets and other miscellaneous operating items. Marketing and selling expenses include advertising costs, costs associated with consumer promotions, product samples and sales aids incurred to acquire new customers, retain existing customers and build our brand awareness. Administrative expenses include the expenses related to management, accounting, IT, and other office functions.

Selling, general and administrative expenses increased $4.5 million from 2016 to 2017 primarily due to an increase in outbound freight expenses and an increase in headcount. As a percentage of net revenues selling, general and administrative expenses decreased from 78.3% in 2016 to 52.6% in 2017. We expect selling, general and administrative expenses to increase in absolute dollars as we increase our domestic and international expansion efforts to meet our product demand and incur costs related to our status as a public company.

Our selling and marketing expense is expected to increase, both through a greater focus on marketing and additions to our sales organizations. We expect to significantly expand our marketing efforts to achieve greater brand awareness, attract new customers and increase market penetration. We have historically had a very small sales force, with only nine full-time sales employees as of

December 31, 2017. As we continue to grow, we expect to expand our sales force to address additional opportunities, which could substantially increase our selling expense. Our administrative expenses are expected to increase when we operate as a public company with increased personnel cost in accounting, IT and compliance-related expenses.

Restructuring Expenses

In May 2017, management approved a plan to terminate an exclusive supply agreement with one of our co-manufacturers. See “—Results of Operations—Year Ended December 31, 2016 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2017—Restructuring Expenses” for a discussion of these expenses.

Other, Net

Other, net includes expense primarily associated with the conversion of our convertible notes and remeasurement of our preferred stock warrant liability. Our convertible notes have been fully converted into shares of our preferred stock.

Results of Operations

The following table sets forth selected items in our statements of operations for the periods presented:



	For the Year Ended December 31,
(in thousands)	2016			2017
Net revenues	$	16,182		$	32,581
Cost of goods sold	22,494			34,772
Gross loss	(6,312		)	(2,191		)

Research and development expenses	5,782			5,722
Selling, general and administrative expenses	12,672			17,143
Restructuring expenses	—			3,509
Total operating expenses	18,454			26,374
Loss from operations	$	(24,766	)	$	(28,565	)

Year Ended December 31, 2016 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2017

Net Revenues



	For the Year Ended December 31,						Change
(in thousands)	2016			2017			Amount			Percentage
Revenues:
Fresh platform	$	813		$	18,109		$	17,296		2,127.4	%
Frozen platform	18,236			19,588			1,352			7.4	%
Less: Discounts	(2,867		)	(5,116		)	(2,249		)	78.4	%
Total net revenues	$	16,182		$	32,581		$	16,399		101.3	%



	For the Year Ended December 31,				Change
(in thousands)	2016		2017		Amount	Percentage
Net revenues:
Retail	$	12,342	$	25,490	13,148	106.5	%
Restaurant and Foodservice	3,840		7,091		3,251	84.7	%
Total net revenues	$	16,182	$	32,581	16,399	101.3	%

Total net revenues increased by $16.4 million, or 101.3%, from 2016 to 2017 primarily due to strong growth in sales volumes of products in our fresh platform across both our retail and our restaurant and foodservice channels. Revenues from sales of products in our fresh platform increased $17.3 million, or 2,127.4%, primarily due to increases in sales of The Beyond Burger, which was first available commercially in the second quarter of 2016. Net revenues from retail sales increased by $13.1 million, or 106.5%, due primarily to the increase in sales of The Beyond Burger and modest growth in sales of products in our frozen platform. Net revenues from sales through our restaurant and foodservice channel increased $3.3 million, or 84.7%, primarily due to an exclusive distribution agreement with Sysco for The Beyond Burger, which resulted in it being served in approximately 10,000 restaurant and foodservice outlets.

Cost of Goods Sold



	For the Year Ended December 31,				Change
(in thousands)	2016		2017		Amount		Percentage
Cost of goods sold	$	22,494	$	34,772	$	12,278	54.6	%

Total cost of goods sold increased by $12.3 million, or 54.6%, from 2016 to 2017, primarily due to the increase in the sales volume of our products. Cost of goods sold includes the write-off of discontinued product inventories totaling $1.2 million in 2016, principally from the discontinuation of one line of frozen products after production began, but before formal commercial launch. Cost of goods sold in 2017 includes $2.4 million in write-off of unrecoverable inventory related to the termination of an exclusive agreement with our co-manufacturer at the time. See “Business—Legal Proceedings” and Note 3 to our financial statements included in this prospectus for a description of the termination of this exclusive agreement.

Gross Loss and Gross Margin



	For the Year Ended December 31,						Change
(in thousands)	2016			2017			Amount		Percentage
Gross loss	$	(6,312	)	$	(2,191	)	$	4,121	N/A
Gross margin	(39.0		)%	(6.7		)%	N/A		N/A

Gross loss in 2016 was $6.3 million compared to gross loss of $2.2 million in 2017, an improvement of $4.1 million. The improvement in gross loss and gross margin was primarily due to an increase in the amount of product sold, resulting in the ability to leverage our fixed costs across a greater amount of revenue. The greater proportion of product revenues from our fresh platform also contributed to the improvement in margin, due to a higher net selling price per pound of products in our fresh versus frozen platform.

Research and Development Expenses



	For the Year Ended December 31,				Change
(in thousands)	2016		2017		Amount			Percentage
Research and Development	$	5,782	$	5,722	$	(60	)	(1.0	)%

Research and development expenses from 2016 to 2017 were essentially flat, decreasing by $60,000 or 1.0%. Although research and development was flat, there were significant decreases in spend due to product development costs associated with the launch and scale-up of our Beyond Burger in 2016 which were absent in 2017, offset by significant expenses related to our investment in our Manhattan Beach Project Innovation Center and the hiring of new research scientists in 2017 to support our innovation program. Research and development headcount increased approximately 24.2% from 2016 to 2017.

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses



	For the Year Ended December 31,				Change
(in thousands)	2016		2017		Amount		Percentage
Selling, General & Administrative Expenses	$	12,672	$	17,143	$	4,471	35.3	%

Selling, general and administrative expenses increased by $4.5 million, or 35.3%, from 2016 to 2017. The increase was primarily due to $1.2 million in higher outbound freight expenses, $1.9 million in higher salaries and related expenses due to a 18.5% increase in headcount, $0.3 million in higher rent expense from additional facilities and $0.3 million in higher professional fees in 2017 compared to 2016. SG&A expenses in 2016 included $2.9 million in costs to transition certain manufacturing and packaging operations from our manufacturing facility in Columbia, Missouri to a third-party co-manufacturer. SG&A expenses in 2017 include $1.2 million primarily relating to disputed fees resulting from a co-manufacturer’s failure to meet agreed upon minimum production and expedited outbound freight expenses we incurred for alternative arrangements after we terminated the exclusive supply agreement with this co-manufacturer.

Restructuring Expenses

As a result of the termination in May 2017 of an exclusive supply agreement with one of our co-manufacturers due to non-performance under the agreement, we recorded restructuring expenses of $3.5 million in 2017, of which $2.3 million were related to the impairment write-off of long-lived assets,

comprised of certain unrecoverable equipment located at the co-manufacturer’s site and company-paid leasehold improvements to the co-manufacturer’s facility pursuant to the agreement, and $1.2 million primarily related to legal and other expenses associated with the dispute. See Note 9 to the financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. In addition, we recorded $2.4 million in write-off of unrecoverable inventory held at the co-manufacturer’s site, which is included in cost of goods sold, and $1.2 million primarily related to disputed fees for not meeting the agreed upon minimum production and expedited outbound freight expenses, which are included in SG&A expenses in our statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2017. See Note 3 to the financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. As of December 31, 2017, there were no accrued unpaid liabilities associated with this contract termination, although we continue to incur legal fees in connection with our ongoing efforts to resolve this dispute. See “Business—Legal Proceedings” included elsewhere in this prospectus.

Income Tax Expense



	For the Year Ended December 31,
(in thousands)	2016		2017
Current:
Federal	$	—	$	—
State	3		5
	$	3	$	5
Deferred:
Federal	$	—	$	—
State	—		—
	—		—

Provision for income tax	$	3	$	5

We have provided a 100% valuation allowance on our deferred tax assets. Provision for income taxes in 2016 and 2017 was primarily for cash taxes payable to various states.

Seasonality

Generally, we expect to experience greater demand for certain of our products during the summer grilling season. In 2017, we experienced strong net revenue growth compared to 2016, which masked this expected seasonal impact. As our business continues to grow, we expect to see additional seasonality effects, with revenue growth tending to be greater in the second and third quarters of the year.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Our primary cash needs are for operating expenses, working capital and capital expenditures to support the growth in our business. Historically, we have financed our operations through private sales of equity securities and through sales of our products. Since our inception, we have raised a total of $148.2 million from the sale of convertible preferred stock, including through sales of convertible notes which were converted into preferred stock, net of costs associated with such financings. We have also entered into the credit facilities described below with Silicon Valley Bank.

We believe that our cash, cash flow from operating activities and available borrowings under our credit facilities will be sufficient to meet our capital requirements for at least the next 12 months.

Credit Facilities

In June 2016, we entered into a Loan and Security Agreement, referred to as the Original LSA, with Silicon Valley Bank, or SVB, which comprised a $2.5 million revolving line of credit, or the 2016 Revolving Credit Facility, and a $1.5 million growth capital term loan advance, or the 2016 Term Loan Facility. As of December 31, 2017, the outstanding principal balance under the 2016 Revolving Credit Facility was $2.5 million and the outstanding principal balance of the 2016 Term Loan Facility was $1.0 million.

We refinanced the 2016 Revolving Credit Facility and the 2016 Term Loan Facility in June 2018, such that the 2016 Revolving Credit Facility with SVB was expanded from $2.5 million to $6.0 million, and all loans under the 2016 Term Loan Facility were paid in full without a prepayment penalty and the 2016 Term Loan Facility was discontinued. The $6.0 million revolving credit facility, or 2018 Revolving Credit Facility, has a floating interest rate equal to the prime rate, plus a premium ranging from 0.75% to 1.25% per annum, with an additional 5% on the outstanding balances upon the occurrence and during the continuance of an event of a default. Interest is payable monthly. The 2018 Revolving Credit Facility will mature in June 2020.

In June 2018, we also entered into a new Loan and Security Agreement with SVB with a term loan commitment amount of $20.0 million, or the 2018 Term Loan Facility, comprised of (i) a $10.0 million term loan advance at closing, (ii) a conditional $5.0 million term loan advance, if no event of default has occurred and is continuing through the borrowing date, and (iii) an additional conditional term loan advance of $5.0 million if no event of default has occurred and is continuing based upon a minimum level of gross profit for the trailing 12-month period. The last date on which funds can be drawn down from the 2018 Term Loan Facility is February 28, 2019. The 2018 Term Loan Facility has a floating interest rate that is equal to 4.0% above the prime rate, with interest payable monthly and principal amortizing commencing on January 1, 2020 and will mature in June 2022.

The 2018 Term Loan Facility and the 2018 Revolving Credit Facility, or together the SVB Credit Facilities, contain customary negative covenants that limit our ability to, among other things, incur additional indebtedness, grant liens, make investments, repurchase stock, pay dividends, transfer assets and merge or consolidate. The SVB Credit Facilities are secured by a blanket lien on all of our personal property assets. The SVB Credit Facilities also contain customary affirmative covenants, including delivery of audited financial statements. We were in compliance with the covenants in the Original LSA in effect as of December 31, 2017 and have subsequently paid off all obligations under the Original LSA as noted above.

Cash Flows

The following table presents the major components of net cash flows from and used in operating, investing and financing activities for the periods indicated.



	For the Year Ended December 31,
(in thousands)	2016			2017
Cash (used in) provided by:
Operating activities	$	(23,495	)	$	(25,273	)
Investing activities	$	(5,038	)	$	(8,115	)
Financing activities	$	31,914		$	55,425

Net Cash Used in Operating Activities

In 2016, we incurred a net loss of $25.1 million, which was the primary reason for net cash used in operating activities of $23.5 million. Net cash used in operating activities also included $1.5 million in net cash outflows from changes in our operating assets and liabilities, fully offset by $3.1 million in non-cash

expenses, comprised of depreciation and amortization expense, share-based compensation expense and convertible note-related expense.

In 2017, we incurred a net loss of $30.4 million, which was the primary reason for net cash used in operating activities of $25.3 million. Net cash used in operating activities also included $2.6 million in net cash outflows from changes in our operating assets and liabilities, fully offset by $5.4 million in non-cash expenses comprised of depreciation and amortization expense, share-based compensation expense, convertible note-related expense and change in warrant liability. In 2017, net loss included a non-cash restructuring loss of $2.3 million on the write-off of fixed assets related to our termination of an exclusive supply agreement with a co-manufacturer.

Depreciation and amortization expense was $2.1 million and $3.2 million in 2016 and 2017, respectively. We anticipate our depreciation and amortization expense will be approximately $1.5 million per quarter in 2018 based on our existing fixed assets and anticipated capital expenditures as we expand our production capabilities to meet increased demand for our products.

Net Cash Used in Investing Activities

Net cash used in investing activities primarily relates to capital expenditures to support our growth and investment in property, plant and equipment.

In 2016, net cash used in investing activities was $5.0 million and consisted of cash outflows for the purchases of property, plant and equipment, principally to support the development and production of The Beyond Burger.

In 2017, net cash used in investing activities was $8.1 million and consisted of cash outflows for the purchases of property, plant and equipment, principally for the build-out and equipping of our Manhattan Beach Project Innovation Center.

In 2018, we anticipate spending approximately $20.0 million in capital expenditures as we scale our production capacity, including expenditures for additional machinery and equipment, as well as investment facilities and expenditures to replace normal wear and tear of machinery and equipment.

Net Cash Provided by Financing Activities

Net cash provided by financing activities in 2016 and 2017 was primarily due to the net proceeds from our issuance of convertible preferred stock and net borrowings under the 2016 Revolving Credit Facility and 2016 Term Loan Facility.

In 2016, financing activities provided $31.9 million in cash primarily as a result of $25.8 million of net proceeds from the issuance of our Series E and F preferred stock, net of issuance costs, $4.0 million in proceeds from the issuance of convertible notes that were eventually converted into Series G preferred stock, $1.5 million of proceeds from term loan facility borrowing, $1.6 million in revolving credit facility borrowings and $0.7 million in proceeds from option exercises, partially offset by payments towards our revolving credit facility borrowings and payments towards our capital lease obligations. Financing and revolving credit facility borrowings were used to finance our operations. In 2017, financing activities provided $55.4 million in cash as a result of $43.3 million of proceeds from the issuance of our Series F and G preferred stock, net of issuance costs, $10.0 million in proceeds from the issuance of convertible notes that were eventually converted into Series G preferred stock, $2.5 million in revolving credit facility borrowings and $0.4 million in proceeds from option exercises, partially offset by payments towards our revolving credit facility borrowings and capital lease obligations. The proceeds from the borrowings were used to finance our operations.

As of September 10, 2018, we had borrowed $15.0 million under the 2018 Term Loan Facility and $0 under the 2018 Revolving Credit Facility.

Contractual Obligations and Commitments

The following table summarizes our significant contractual obligations as of December 31, 2017:



	Payments Due by Period
(in thousands)	Total		Less Than One Year		1-3 Years		3-5 Years		More Than Five Years
Rent obligations⁽¹⁾	$	6,427	$	1,195	$	2,200	$	1,677	$	1,355
Equipment lease obligations⁽²⁾	200		151		40		9		—
2016 Revolving Credit Facility⁽³⁾	2,500		2,500		—		—		—
2016 Term Loan Facility⁽⁴⁾	1,055		542		513		—		—
Missouri Note⁽⁵⁾	1,450		—		—		1,450		—
Total⁽⁶⁾	$	11,632	$	4,388	$	2,753	$	3,136	$	1,355

___________________


(1)	Includes lease payments for our corporate offices and Manhattan Beach Project Innovation Center in El Segundo, California and our manufacturing facilities in Columbia, Missouri.


(2)	Consists of payments under various capital leases for certain equipment.


(3)	Consists of principal under a revolving credit facility from SVB (see Note 6 to our financial statements elsewhere in this prospectus). Interest accrued at a floating rate.


(4)	Consists of a term loan with SVB (see Note 6 and Note 12 to our financial statements elsewhere in this prospectus). Includes principal and interest payments.


(5)	Consists of a promissory note to the Missouri Department of Economic Development, for the build-out of our Columbia, Missouri production facilities (see Note 6 and Note 12 to our financial statements elsewhere in this prospectus), which has been paid in full in 2018.

(6)

Subsequent to the year ended December 31, 2017, we refinanced our 2016 Revolving Credit Facility and 2016 Term Loan Facility and entered into the 2018 Revolving Credit Facility and 2018 Term Loan Facility. We have borrowed a total of $0 under the 2018 Revolving Credit Facility and $15.0 million under the 2018 Term Loan Facility as of September 10, 2018. As this obligation was not entered into prior to December 31, 2017, it is not reflected in the above table. See “—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Credit Facilities” and Note 12 to our financial statements elsewhere in this prospectus.

Segment Information

We have one operating segment and one reportable segment, as our chief operating decision maker, who is our Chief Executive Officer, reviews financial information on an aggregate basis for purposes of allocating resources and evaluating financial performance.

Off-balance Sheet Arrangements

We do not have any off-balance sheet arrangements or any holdings in variable interest entities.

Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk

We are exposed to certain market risks in the ordinary course of our business. These risks primarily consist of interest rates, raw material prices and inflation as follows:

Interest Rate Risk

Our cash consists of amounts held by third-party financial institutions. Prior to the closing of this offering, we plan to adopt an investment policy which will have as its primary objective investment activities which preserves principal without significantly increasing risk.

We are subject to interest rate risk in connection with our SVB Credit Facilities. See “—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Credit Facilities” above. Based on the average interest rate on our 2016 Revolving Credit Facility during the year ended December 31, 2017 and to the extent that borrowings were

outstanding, we do not believe that a 1.0% change in the interest rate would have a material effect on our results of operations or financial condition.

Ingredient Risk

Our profitability is dependent on, among other things, our ability to anticipate and react to raw material and food costs. Currently, the main ingredient in our products is pea protein, which we source from Canada and France. The prices of pea protein and other ingredients we use are subject to many factors beyond our control, such as the number and size of farms that grow Canadian and European yellow peas, the vagaries of these farming businesses, including poor harvests due to adverse weather conditions, natural disasters and pestilence, and changes in national and world economic conditions. In addition, we purchase some ingredients and other materials offshore, and the price and availability of such ingredients and materials may be affected by political events or other conditions in these countries or tariffs or trade wars. As of December 31, 2017, a hypothetical 10% increase or 10% decrease in the weighted-average cost of pea protein, our primary ingredient, would have resulted in an increase of approximately $0.3 million or a decrease of $0.3 million, respectively, to cost of goods sold. We are working to diversify our sources of supply and intend to enter into long-term contracts to better ensure stability of prices of our raw materials.

Foreign Exchange Risk

Our sales and costs are denominated in U.S. dollars and are not subject to foreign exchange risk. However, to the extent our sourcing strategy changes or we commence generating net sales outside of the United States and Canada that are denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, our results of operations could be impacted by changes in exchange rates.

Inflation Risk

We do not believe that inflation has had a material effect on our business, results of operations, or financial condition. If our costs were to become subject to significant inflationary pressures, we may not be able to fully offset such higher costs through price increases. Our inability or failure to do so could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Critical Accounting Policies

In preparing our financial statements in accordance with GAAP, we are required to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, costs and expenses, and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities that are reported in the financial statements and accompanying disclosures. We believe that the estimates, assumptions and judgments involved in the accounting policies described below have the greatest potential impact on our financial statements because they involve the most difficult, subjective or complex judgments about the effect of matters that are inherently uncertain. Therefore, we consider these to be our critical accounting policies. Accordingly, we evaluate our estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis. Our actual results may differ from these estimates and assumptions. See Note 2 to our financial statements included in this prospectus for information about these critical accounting policies, as well as a description of our other accounting policies.

Revenue Recognition

While our revenue recognition does not involve significant judgment, it represents an important accounting policy. Our revenues are generated through sales of our products to customers. We recognize revenues when they are realized or realizable and earned. Revenue is recognized upon the transfer of the title to the product, ownership, and risk of loss to the customer, which typically occurs on the date of receipt of the product by the customer.

We routinely offer sales discounts and incentives through various programs to our customers and consumers. These programs include rebates, temporary on shelf price reductions, off-invoice discounts, retailer advertisements, and other trade activities. At the end of each accounting period, we recognize a liability for estimated sales discounts that have been incurred but not paid. The offsetting charge is recorded as a reduction of revenues in the same period when the expense is incurred.

Share-Based Compensation

We account for all shared-based compensation awards using a fair-value method. Options are recorded at their estimated fair value using the Black-Scholes option pricing model. We recognize the fair value of each award as an expense on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period, generally the vesting period of the equity grant.

Determining the fair value of share-based awards at the grant date requires significant judgment. The determination of the grant date fair value of stock options using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model is affected by our estimated common stock fair value as well as other highly subjective assumptions including, the expected term of the awards, our expected volatility over the expected term of the awards, expected dividend yield, risk-free interest rates. The assumptions used in our option-pricing model represent management’s best estimates. These assumptions and estimates are as follows:


•	Fair Value of Common Stock. As our stock is not publicly traded, we estimate the fair value of common stock as discussed in “Common Stock Valuations” below.


•	Expected Term. The expected term of employee stock options during the year ended December 31, 2017 was determined based on management’s expectations as to the expected term of options granted, which were expected to remain outstanding. The expected term of options granted to nonemployees is equal to the remaining contractual life of the options.


•	Expected Volatility. As we do not have trading history for our common stock, the selected volatility used is representative of expected future volatility. We based expected future volatility on the historical and implied volatility of comparable publicly traded companies over the expected term of the options.


•	Expected Dividend Yield. We have never declared or paid any cash dividends and do not presently intend to pay cash dividends in the foreseeable future. As a result, we used an expected dividend yield of zero.


•	Risk-Free Interest Rates. We determined the average risk-free interest rate using the yield on actively traded U.S. Treasury notes with the same maturity as the expected term of the underlying options. If any assumptions used in the Black-Scholes option-pricing model change significantly, share-based compensation for future awards may differ materially compared with the awards granted previously.



	Year Ended December 31,
	2016		2017
Risk-free interest rate	1.6	%	2.0	%
Average expected term (years)	5.6		5.9
Expected stock price volatility	55.0	%	55.0	%
Dividend yield	—		—

The assumptions underlying these valuations represent management’s best estimates, which involve inherent uncertainties and the application of management judgment. As a result, if factors or expected outcomes change and we use significantly different assumptions or estimates, our share-based compensation expense could be materially different.

The following table sets forth by grant date the number of shares of our common stock subject to options granted in the past 15 months, the per share exercise price of the options and the fair value of our common stock per share on each grant date:



Grant Date	Shares of Common Stock Underlying Options Granted	Exercise Price Per Share ($)	Per Share Fair Value of Common Stock on Grant Date ($)
May 4, 2017	188,520	1.04	1.04
May 16, 2017	241,233	1.04	1.04
February 15, 2018	1,451,700	2.00	2.00
May 17, 2018	242,087	2.00	2.00
May 30, 2018	713,400	2.00	2.00

Assuming an initial public offering price of $ per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover of this prospectus, the aggregate intrinsic value of stock options outstanding as of December 31, 2017 was approximately $ million, of which approximately $ million related to vested awards and approximately $ million related to unvested awards.

Common Stock Valuations

As there has been no public market for shares of our common stock to date, the estimated fair value of our shares has been determined by our board of directors as of the date of each award grant, with input from management, considering our most recently available third-party valuations of our common stock and our board of directors’ assessment of additional objective and subjective factors that it believed were relevant and which may have changed from the date of the most recent valuation through the date of the grant. Our board of directors intends all options granted to be exercisable at a price per share not less than the per share fair value of our common stock underlying those options on the date of grant. The estimated fair value of our common stock was determined at each valuation date in accordance with the guidelines outlined in the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Practice Aid.

Valuation of Privately-Held-Company Equity Securities Issued as Compensation.

In the absence of a public trading market, our board of directors, with input from management, exercised significant judgment and considered numerous objective and subjective factors to determine the fair market value of our common stock as of the date of each option grant, including the following factors:


•	contemporaneous valuations performed at periodic intervals by an unrelated third party valuation firm;


•	the prices, rights, preferences and privileges of our preferred stock relative to our common stock;


•	our operating and financial performance;


•	current business conditions and projections;


•	our stage of development;


•	the likelihood of achieving a liquidity event, such as an initial public offering, a merger, or an acquisition of our business;


•	the lack of marketability of our common stock;


•	the market performance of comparable publicly traded peer companies; and


•	macroeconomic conditions, including U.S. and global capital market conditions.

In determining the fair value of share-based compensation awards, we first determined our business equity value using the prior sales of company stock method under the market approach, adjusted our enterprise value for cash and debt and then allocated the equity value among the securities that comprise the capital structure of the Company using the Option-Pricing Method, or OPM, as described in the AICPA Practice Aid entitled Valuation of Privately-Held-Company Equity Securities Issued as Compensation. See below for a description of the valuation and allocation methods.

The prior sales of company stock method estimates value by considering prior arm’s length sales of the company’s equity. When considering prior sales of the company’s equity, this method considers the size of the equity sale, the relationship of the parties involved in the transaction, the timing of the equity sale, and the financial condition of the company at the time of the sale. Each valuation date occurred no greater than two months after the sale of our preferred stock and was based on such sale. Although the sale involved preferred stock, new investors participated and the purpose of the sale was to provide financing. We did not use the income approach because at the time of each valuation we did not have a reliable financial forecast for our business.

After determining an equity value, we then utilized the option pricing method, or the OPM, to allocate the equity value to our common stock. The OPM treats common stock and convertible preferred stock as call options on a business with a claim on the business at an exercise price equal to the remaining value immediately after the convertible preferred stock is liquidated. Therefore, the common stock has value only if the funds available for distribution to common shareholders exceed the value of the liquidation preferences at the time of a liquidity event, such as a merger, sale, or initial public offering, assuming the business has funds available to make a liquidation preference meaningful and collectible by shareholders. The OPM uses the Black-Scholes option-pricing model to price the call option. We used the OPM to allocate the equity value to our common stock because at the time of the valuations there was a range of possible future outcomes of our business.

Finally, because we are a privately held company, we also applied a non-marketability discount of 30% in determining the fair value of our common stock.

Following the closing of this initial public offering the fair value per share of our common stock for purposes of determining share-based compensation will be the closing price of our common stock as reported on the applicable grant date.

Emerging Growth Company Status

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies.” We may take advantage of these exemptions until we are no longer an “emerging growth company.” Section 107 of the JOBS Act provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period afforded by the JOBS Act for the implementation of new or revised accounting standards. We have elected to use the extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards and as a result of this election, our financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with public company effective dates. We may take advantage of these exemptions up until the last day of the fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of this offering or such earlier time that we are no longer an emerging growth company. We would cease to be an emerging growth company if we have more than $1.07 billion in annual revenue, we have more than $700.0 million in market value of our stock held by non-affiliates (and we have been a public company for at least 12 months and have filed one annual report on Form 10-K) or we issue more than $1.0 billion of non-convertible debt securities over a three-year period.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In May 2014, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers” (“ASU 2014-09”), which, along with subsequent ASUs, amends the existing accounting standards for revenue recognition. This guidance is based on principles that govern the

recognition of revenue at an amount an entity expects to be entitled to receive when products are transferred to customers. ASU 2014-09 is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017, including interim periods within that reporting period for public business entities, and for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018 for business entities that are not public. ASU 2014-09 is effective for us beginning January 1, 2019. ASU 2014-09 may be applied retrospectively to each prior period presented or retrospectively with the cumulative effect recognized as of the date of adoption. Additionally, ASU 2014-09 requires enhanced disclosures, including revenue recognition policies to identify performance obligations to customers and significant judgments in measurement and recognition. We are currently in the process of assessing our adoption methodology for ASU 2014-09 and have not yet selected a method. We are also evaluating the impact of the adoption on our financial statements. While we believe that adoption of ASU 2014-09 may require capitalization of certain selling costs that are currently expensed, such as sales and partner commissions, it has not yet determined whether the effect of these, or other adjustments will be material to revenue or results of operations. We are continuing to assess the impact of adoption of ASU 2014-09, which may identify other impacts on our financial statements. We expect to adopt and implement ASU 2014-09 effective January 1, 2019.

In January 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-01, “Financial Instruments—Overall (Subtopic 825-10): Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities” (“ASU 2016-01”), which makes amendments to the guidance in U.S. GAAP on the classification and measurement of financial instruments. ASU 2016-01 significantly revises an entity’s accounting related to (1) the classification and measurement of investments in equity securities and (2) the presentation of certain fair value changes for financial liabilities measured at fair value. It also amends certain disclosure requirements associated with the fair value of financial instruments. For all entities other than public entities, ASU 2016-01 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, including interim periods within fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019. Early adoption is permitted. We expect to adopt and implement ASU 2016-01 for the year ending December 31, 2019 and for interim periods beginning January 1, 2020. We do not expect that adoption of ASU 2016-01 to have a material impact on our financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, “Leases” (“ASU 2016-02”). ASU 2016-02 requires lessees to generally recognize most operating leases on the balance sheets but record expenses on the income statements in a manner similar to current accounting. ASU 2016-02 is effective for nonpublic companies for the annual reporting period beginning after December 15, 2019, and, therefore, effective for us beginning January 1, 2020. Early application is permitted. We are currently evaluating the impact ASU 2016-02 will have on its financial statements and currently expects that most operating lease commitments will be subject to ASU 2016-02 and will be recognized as operating lease liabilities and right-of-use assets upon adoption. While we have not yet quantified the impact, adjustments resulting from the adoption of ASU 2016-02 will materially increase total assets and total liabilities relative to such amounts reported prior to adoption.

In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-09, “Compensation—Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting” (“ASU 2016-09”). ASU 2016-09 simplifies certain aspects of accounting for share-based payment transactions, including the income tax consequences, classification of awards as either equity or liabilities, and an option to recognize gross stock compensation expense with actual forfeitures recognized as they occur, as well as certain classifications in the statements of cash flows. ASU 2016-09 is effective for all entities other than public business entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017, and therefore, effective for us for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2018. Early adoption is permitted. We are currently evaluating the impact ASU 2016-09 will have on our financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.

In August 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-15, “Statements of Cash Flows (Topic 230) Classification of Certain Cash Receipts and Cash Payments” (“ASU 2016-15”), which addresses eight specific cash flow issues with the objective of reducing the existing diversity in practice in how certain cash receipts and cash payments are presented and classified in the statements of cash flows. ASU 2016-15 is effective for annual periods (including interim periods) beginning after December 15, 2018 for

business entities that are not public, should be applied retrospectively, and early adoption is permitted. We are currently evaluating the impact that will result from adopting ASU 2016-15 on its cash flows.

In May 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-09, “Compensation—Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Scope of Modification Accounting” (“ASU 2017-09”). ASU 2017-09 amends the scope of modification accounting for share-based payment arrangements and provides guidance on the types of changes to the terms or conditions of share-based payment awards to which an entity would be required to apply modification accounting. Specifically, an entity would not apply modification accounting if the fair value, vesting conditions, and classification of the awards are the same immediately before and after the modification. ASU 2017-09 is effective for all entities for annual periods, and interim periods within those annual periods, beginning after December 15, 2017 with early adoption permitted. We expect to adopt and implement ASU 2017-09 beginning January 1, 2018. Adoption of ASU 2017-09 is not expected to have a material impact on our financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.

BUSINESS

Overview

Beyond Meat is one of the fastest growing food companies in the United States, offering a portfolio of revolutionary plant-based meats. We build meat directly from plants, an innovation that enables consumers to experience the taste, texture and other sensory attributes of popular animal-based meat products while enjoying the nutritional benefits of eating our plant-based meat products. Our brand commitment, “Eat What You Love,” represents a strong belief that by eating our plant-based meats, consumers can enjoy more, not less, of their favorite meals, and by doing so, help to address concerns related to human health, climate change, resource conservation and animal welfare. The success of our breakthrough innovation model and products has allowed us to appeal to a broad range of consumers, including those who typically eat animal-based meats, positioning us to compete directly in the $1.4 trillion global meat industry.

To capture this broad market opportunity, we have developed three core plant-based product platforms that align with the largest meat categories globally: beef, pork and poultry. The primary components of animal-based meat—amino acids, lipids, trace minerals, and water—are not exclusive to animals and are plentiful in plants. We create our plant-based products using proprietary scientific processes that determine the architecture of the animal-based meat we are seeking to replicate and then we assemble it using plant-derived amino acids, lipids, trace minerals and water. We are focused on continually improving our products so that they are, to the human sensory system, indistinguishable from their animal-based counterparts.

Our flagship product is The Beyond Burger, the world’s first 100% plant-based burger merchandised in the meat case of grocery stores. The Beyond Burger is designed to look, cook and taste like traditional ground beef. We also sell a range of other plant-based meat products, including Beyond Sausage and Beyond Chicken. All of our products are antibiotic-free, hormone-free, GMO-free and gluten-free. Our products are currently available in approximately 27,000 points of distribution primarily in the United States as well as several other countries, across mainstream grocery, mass merchandiser and natural retailer channels, and various food-away-from-home channels, including restaurants, foodservice outlets and schools. We enjoy a strong base of well-known retail and foodservice customers that continues to grow.

Research, development and innovation are core elements of our business strategy and we believe they represent a critical competitive advantage for us. Through our Rapid and Relentless Innovation Program, our team of scientists and engineers focuses on making continuous improvements to our existing product formulations and developing new products across our plant-based beef, pork and poultry platforms. Our state-of-the-art Manhattan Beach Project Innovation Center in El Segundo, California brings together leading scientists from chemistry, biology, material science, food science, and biophysics disciplines who work together with process engineers and culinary specialists to pursue our vision of perfectly building plant-based meat.

We have experienced strong revenue growth over the past few years, increasing our net revenues from $8.8 million in 2015 to $32.6 million in 2017, representing a 92% compound annual growth rate. We have generated losses since inception. Net loss in 2016 was $25.1 million compared to $30.4 million in 2017, an increase of $5.3 million, as we invested in innovation and growth of our business. Going forward, we intend to continue to invest in innovation, supply chain capabilities, manufacturing and marketing initiatives, as we believe the demand for our products will continue to accelerate across both retail and foodservice channels as well as internationally.

The Beyond Meat Strategic Difference


•	Unique Approach to the Product

We employ a revolutionary and unique approach to create our products, with a goal of delivering the same satisfying taste, smell and texture as the animal-based meats we seek to replicate. In our Manhattan Beach Project Innovation Center, our scientists and engineers continuously improve our products to replicate the sensory experience of animal-based meat. Through our investment in innovation, we have pioneered products like The Beyond Burger and Beyond Sausage, which we believe closely replicate the sensory experience of meat—from the look of the package and raw product, to the sizzle on the grill, to the juicy and protein-packed satisfaction of biting into a “meaty” burger or sausage.

We start by analyzing the composition and design of relevant animal-based meats at the molecular and structural level. The primary components, other than water, comprising animal-based meats are amino acids, lipids, minerals and vitamins, which are not exclusive to animals and are present in abundance in plants. The amino acids that form the proteins which represent the muscle of animal-based meat can be sourced from plants. We use proteins primarily extracted from yellow peas, as well as legumes and other plant stock, through a natural process to separate protein and fiber. We then apply heating, cooling and pressure at rapid and varied intervals to weave the protein into a fibrous structure to create our proprietary woven protein. Once we have the woven protein, we then add the remaining ingredients, such as water, lipids, flavor, color, trace minerals, and vitamins.

We operate approximately 100,000 square feet of production space in two facilities in Columbia, Missouri where we produce our woven protein. This woven protein is then converted according to our formulas and specifications into a packaged product, either in our facilities in Columbia, Missouri or by our network of co-manufacturers. This capital efficient production model allows us to scale more quickly and cost-effectively to service the rapidly increasing demand for our products. We plan to continue expanding our own internal production facilities domestically and abroad to produce our woven protein while forming additional strategic relationships with co-manufacturers.


•	Unique Approach to the Market

Our breakthrough product innovations have enabled a paradigm shift in both marketing and target audience—tapping into the enthusiastic pull from mainstream consumers for delicious and satisfying, yet better-for-you plant-based meats. This approach is summed up in our brand promise—”Eat What You Love.” At one national grocery chain, 93% of Beyond Burger buyers over the 51‑week period ended June 18, 2018 also purchased animal protein during the same period, which evidences Beyond Meat’s appeal to meat-loving consumers.

It is not, and has never been, our goal to become the best-selling veggie burger company or to market our products in a manner similar to traditional veggie burgers and soy-based meat. These products have had limited appeal to traditional meat eaters, who commonly criticize their inferior taste. Consumer research shows that, when choosing among plant-based meat options, taste is the single most important product attribute for plant-based foods. Legacy vegetarian brands have typically aimed to compensate for poor taste appeal by positioning their products as a noble sacrifice-something consumers should do for the benefit of their health, the environment, and/or animal welfare.

When we launched our flagship Beyond Burger in 2016, we approached the marketplace in an unprecedented way. Instead of marketing and merchandising The Beyond Burger to vegans and vegetarians (who represent less than 5% of the U.S. population), we requested that the product be sold in the meat case at grocery retailers where meat-loving consumers are accustomed to shopping for center-of-plate proteins.

The first grocery unit to sell The Beyond Burger in its meat section was the Rocky Mountain Division of Whole Foods Market. In May 2016, they placed The Beyond Burger alongside its animal-based equivalents, and soon other Whole Foods Market regions followed. In April 2017, Safeway of Northern

California started merchandising The Beyond Burger in its meat section, and within a few weeks several Kroger divisions announced they would do the same. The Beyond Burger is now carried by approximately 11,000 of our 17,000 grocery store customers across the United States.

In a region of one of the nation’s largest conventional grocers, for the 12-week period ending August 4, 2018, The Beyond Burger was the #1 selling packaged product in the meat case, outselling all other packages of beef, angus, chicken and turkey burgers. We believe merchandising in the meat case in the retail channel has helped drive greater brand awareness with our end consumers.

Reflecting the strength and value of the Beyond Meat brand to its partners, many of our restaurant, hotel and other foodservice customers choose to prominently feature our brand name on their menu and within item descriptions, in addition to displaying Beyond Meat branded signage throughout the venue. Our foodservice business not only functions as a form of paid trial for our products, helping to drive additional retail demand, but also creates even greater brand awareness for Beyond Meat through the on-menu and in-store publicity we receive. We believe that we have established our brand as one with “halo” benefits to our partners as evidenced by the speed of adoption by key partners. For example, Beyond Meat was the fastest new-product launch in the history of A&W Canada and TGI Fridays, and a number of our key partners are investing their own resources to tap into our brand and product awareness. For example, A&W Canada is currently investing significant amounts of money across television, digital media and press to promote the addition of The Beyond Burger to their menu. The Beyond Burger is now carried by approximately 10,000 restaurant and foodservice outlets across the United States. Our distribution across retail and foodservice outlets continues to grow on a monthly basis.

Our recent success with A&W Canada illustrates growing international demand for our products. We launched in Europe in August 2018 through contracts with three major distributors and have also received strong expressions of interest from some of Europe’s largest grocery and restaurant chains. We intend to establish production capabilities there in 2019. Additionally, for several years we have maintained a presence and generated brand awareness in Asia through our local distributor, and expect further expansion in the region over time.


•	Unique Approach to Our Brand

Our mission is to create nutritious plant-based meats that taste delicious and deliver a consumer experience that is indistinguishable from that provided by animal-based meats. We believe our brand commitment, “Eat What You Love” encourages consumers to eat more, not less, of the traditional dishes they enjoy by using our products, while feeling great about the health, sustainability, and animal welfare benefits associated with consuming plant-based protein. Our approach of bringing to market the best innovations each year is a strategy that engages the consumer and provides feedback from which we iterate and improve. This approach is one of the reasons we worked for and obtained Non-GMO Project certification for all of our current products.

Our brand awareness has been driven by strong social marketing. Consumers and the media are enthusiastic about the concept of an authentically meaty tasting plant-based burger and drove more than 4.0 billion earned media impressions in 2017, which are growing at an even faster pace in 2018—with 6.8 billion media impressions between January and August 2018. The viral nature of our marketing and brand-building has been enhanced by both the network of brand ambassadors we have developed throughout the United States, and our strong following by celebrities from the worlds of sports and entertainment who help promote the benefits of a plant-based diet and the Beyond Meat brand.

We launched The Future of Proteinmarketing campaign in the summer of 2015, which seeks to mobilize our ambassadors to help raise brand awareness and make our products aspirational. Our joint announcement with Leonardo DiCaprio about his becoming a Beyond Meat brand ambassador in October 2017 has generated over 378 million earned media impressions, including a viral video released by Now This Entertainment that drew more than 8.5 million views. When we shared the announcement on Beyond Meat’s Instagram, it quickly became one of our most liked posts.

A recent Food Insider video covering Beyond Meat’s unveiling of its new Manhattan Beach Project Innovation Center, went viral on Facebook, being shared more than 170,000 times and generating approximately 23 million views in three weeks.

History

We founded Beyond Meat in 2009 with a vision of building meat products directly from plants. This vision was in response to growing global challenges in the areas of health, climate change, natural resource use and conservation, and animal welfare, which we now call our four horsemen of change. Our founder and CEO, Ethan Brown, began his professional career in the clean energy sector. For over a decade, Ethan saw first-hand the sizable investments in solar, lithium ion batteries, fuel cells, wind and other alternative forms of energy in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Ethan realized we were ignoring a large piece of the global solution to climate stabilization: the large and growing contribution of the livestock industry to greenhouse gas emissions, estimated to be from 18-51% of total emissions, depending on the methodology used. He began to think about applying the same framework to solving livestock emissions, specifically using technology, science, and significant capital investment to address a global challenge and opportunity: bypassing the animal and building meat directly from plants.

Growing up in Washington, D.C. and College Park, Maryland, Ethan spent considerable time on his family’s farms, most notably Savage River Farms, a Holstein dairy operation in Western Maryland. As an adolescent and young adult, Ethan began to ask a recurring question: what is the determining biological difference between the animals we keep as pets and those relegated to the dinner plate? Later, raising his own children and seeking to satisfy their protein requirements as they grew, this question returned, along with growing concerns around human health, climate change, and the natural resource implications of intensive animal protein production and consumption. In 2009, Ethan responded by founding Beyond Meat to understand the fundamental composition of meat and build it directly from plants.

In 2009, we opened our first operation in a small commercial kitchen in Maryland and we began selling an early plant-based product to Whole Foods Markets Prepared Foods in the Mid-Atlantic region. In 2010, also in Maryland, we opened our own modest manufacturing facility. During this period, Ethan began working extensively with two researchers at the University of Missouri’s Bioengineering and Food Science Department at the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, along with faculty and students at the University of Maryland’s Nutrition & Food Science Department. Ethan ultimately licensed a process developed by the researchers that combined proteins from plants into a basic structure resembling animal muscle, or meat, and used this as an initial foundation for Beyond Meat products. With this basic protein platform and an understanding that the balance of parts of meat, namely lipids, trace minerals, and water, were also present in abundance outside the animal, it became clear that with appropriate resources, building meat from plants was indeed possible.

Over the years, Beyond Meat has continued to invest heavily in research, development and innovation as recently demonstrated by our state of the art Manhattan Beach Project Innovation Center which is a part of our world headquarters in El Segundo, California. Our work is a team effort, defined by passionate and capable management, scientists, technicians and engineers who share a common goal to achieve enormous lasting benefits to our society and the planet.

Industry


•	Our Market Opportunity

We believe that consumer awareness of the perceived negative health, environmental and animal-welfare impacts of animal-based meat consumption has resulted in a surge in demand for viable plant-based protein alternatives. Despite this growing demand, the plant-based meats category currently represents approximately two percent of the U.S. meat industry, highlighting the lack of satisfying plant-based meat options and scaled winners in the category. According to Nielsen data commissioned by the Plant Based Foods Association, sales of plant-based meat in the retail channel generated just over $670 million of retail sales over the 52-week period ending June 16, 2018.

We are growing at a substantially faster rate than the existing animal-based meat and plant-based meat industries and expect our growth to accelerate. We believe our outsized revenue growth will allow us to capture an increased share of the broader U.S. meat category, supported by a number of key drivers, including the authentic comparability and sensory experience of our products to their animal-based meat equivalents, continued mainstream acceptance of our products with the traditional animal-based meat consumer, heightened consumer awareness of the role that food and nutrition, particularly plant-based foods, play in long-term health and wellness, and growing concerns related to the negative environmental and animal-welfare impacts of animal-based meat consumption.

A key analogy for both the approach to and the scale of our opportunity is the strategy by which the plant-based dairy industry captured significant market share of the dairy industry over the past two decades. According to the Mintel Report in the United States, the current size of the non-dairy milk category is equivalent to approximately 13% of the size of the dairy milk category. According to research firm Mintel, the non-dairy milk category in the United States was estimated to be approximately $2 billion as of 2017, which grew at a compound annual growth rate of 10% from 2012 to 2017. The success of the plant-based dairy industry was based on a strategy of creating plant-based dairy products that tasted better than previous non-dairy substitutes, packaged and merchandised adjacent to their dairy equivalents. We believe that by applying the same strategy to the plant-based meat category, it can grow to be at least the same proportion of the $270 billion meat category in the United States, which over time would represent a category size of $35 billion in the United States alone. We also believe that the introduction of our plant-based products is serving as a similar catalyst in the meat industry. As a market leader in the plant-based meats category, we believe we are well-positioned to capture and drive a significant amount of this category growth.

We believe there is significant demand for our products across the globe in retail and restaurant and foodservice channels. In markets excluding the United States, the amount of meat consumed has more than doubled in the past two decades from 120 million tons in 1997 to 280 million tons in 2017, according to the OECD. Our initial target markets include Australia, Europe, Hong Kong, Israel, South Korea, South Africa and parts of the Middle East, where we have received strong inbound interest for our plant-based products.


•	Health and Environmental Impact of Animal-Based Meat Consumption

Consumer interest in plant-based proteins, particularly among millennial and younger generations, has been driven in part by growing awareness of the health and environmental impact of animal-based meat consumption. Now that consumers have access to unprecedented levels of information provided via the Internet and social media channels, we expect global awareness of these issues to grow and have a positive impact on consumer demand for our products.

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Health: The negative impact on health caused by certain meats has been well publicized in recent years. In 2004, the WHO-FAO Report highlighted that dietary factors, including consumption of certain meats, accounted for at least 30% of most cancers in developed countries and up to 20% in developing countries. The WHO has since added processed meats such as hot dogs, ham, bacon and sausage to its Group 1 category of carcinogens, alongside items such as alcohol, asbestos, and tobacco smoke. A similar conclusion was presented at the American Heart Association, where researchers conducting a 2017 dietary study of over 15,000 adults between 2003 to 2013 highlighted that people who eat mostly a plant-based diet were associated with a 42% reduced risk of developing heart failure among people without diagnosed heart disease or heart failure. Additionally, animals and livestock are also susceptible to various diseases such as Mad Cow (beef), Swine Flu (pork) and Avian Influenza (poultry) that may cause further health risks from consuming potentially infected animal meats.

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Climate change: The global livestock industry is estimated to be responsible for a significant portion of global greenhouse gas emissions, such as methane and nitrous oxide. Estimates range from 18 to 51%. The landmark IPCC Report highlighted that climate change is expected to cause “severe, widespread, and irreversible impacts” on the natural environment unless carbon emissions are cut sharply and rapidly. The report highlighted that behavioral changes, including dietary changes such as eating less meat, can have a significant role in cutting emissions.

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Global resource usage: Rising global meat consumption and livestock production has been shown to have major negative impacts on the environment due to the burden placed on land and water resources. According to the FAO and the joint OECD-FAO Report, livestock occupies 30% of the planet’s land surface, accounts for 78% of all agricultural land use and 29% of agricultural water usage. Meat consumption is also burdensome on the environment in terms of production inputs. According to the WRI Report, beef is highly inefficient to produce because only 1% of the feed cattle consumed is converted to calories that people consumed from eating beef while pork converts approximately 10% and poultry converts approximately 11% of their feed to human-edible calories. During 2017 and 2018, Beyond Meat engaged the University of Michigan to conduct a peer-reviewed, third-party-led Life Cycle Analysis, assessing the efficiencies associated with producing a ¼-lb Beyond Burger

versus a ¼-lb, standard 80/20 beef burger (which is a mixture of 80% lean cow muscle and 20% cow fat). The preliminary results of this study show that compared to a beef burger, The Beyond Burger requires 93% less land, 99% less water, and 46% less energy, while generating 90% less greenhouse emissions.

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Animal welfare: Worldwide, it is estimated that about 60-70 billion farm animals are now produced for food each year; with two out of every three being factory farmed. Over the past decade, animal welfare groups have publicized a range of investigations highlighting the issues related to safety, welfare and well-being of animals caused by mass livestock production, which we believe has led to substantial movement toward more plant-based alternatives.

Our Competitive Strengths

We believe that the following strengths position us to generate significant growth and pursue our objective to become a leader in the global meat category.


•	Dedicated Focus on Innovation

We invest significant resources in our innovation capabilities to develop plant-based meat alternatives to popular animal-based meat products. Our innovation team, comprised of approximately 40 scientists, engineers, researchers, technicians and chefs, has delivered multiple first-to-market plant-based meat breakthroughs, as well as continuous improvements to existing products. Both our Beyond Burger and our Beyond Sausage products are the result of this approach. We are able to leverage what we learn about taste, texture and aroma across our platform and apply this knowledge to each of our product offerings. In addition, we recently opened our 30,000 square foot Manhattan Beach Project Innovation Center in El Segundo, California, which is ten times the size of our previous lab space. In our new innovation center we have a strong pipeline of new products in development, and can more rapidly transition our research from bench top to scaled production. As our knowledge and expertise deepens, our pace of innovation is accelerating, allowing for reduced time between new product launches. Our goal is to develop at least one new product a year. After taking multiple years to develop the first Beyond Burger, it took us less than a year to develop a new version, with improved taste, texture and aroma attributes. This newer version of The Beyond Burger is already being sold by A&W Canada, generating enthusiastic comparisons to beef. We expect this faster pace of product introductions and meaningful enhancements to existing products to continue as we innovate within our core plant-based platforms of beef, pork and poultry.


•	Brand Mission Aligned with Consumer Trends

Our brand is uniquely positioned to capitalize on growing consumer interest in great-tasting, nutritious, convenient, higher protein and plant-based foods. We have also tapped into growing public awareness of major issues connected to animal protein, including human health, climate change, resource conservation and animal welfare. Simply put, our products aim to enable consumers to “Eat What You Love” without the downsides of conventional animal protein. Consumer research shows that health concerns are some of the key reasons consumers seek plant-based alternatives to meat. Our ¼‑lb retail Beyond Burger contains zero cholesterol and about 40% less saturated fat than a ¼-lb standard 80/20 beef burger.

We have built a powerful brand with broad demographic appeal and a passionate consumer base. Our brand awareness is driven by strong social marketing, with over 1.0 million combined social media and newsletter followers as of August 2018, more than 4.0 billion media impressions in 2017, and 6.8 billion media impressions between January and August 2018. Our audience continues to grow from the attention generated by our large following of celebrities, influencers and brand ambassadors who identify with our mission.


•	Product Portfolio Generates Significant Demand from Retail and Restaurant Customers

Rapidly growing sales of our products by both our retail and restaurant partners have helped us foster strong relationships in a relatively short period of time. We provide our retailers with exciting new products in the meat case, where innovation rarely occurs. Many of our retail customers have experienced increasing levels of velocity of our products, measured by units sold per month per store, as well as repeat purchases. Recent shopper data research demonstrates Beyond Meat’s mainstream consumer appeal, revealing that 93% of Beyond Burger buyers at one national grocery chain also purchase meat over the 51 week period ended June 18, 2018, which indicates that our products appeal to a much wider audience than the niche audience of vegans and vegetarians that typically purchase legacy meat substitutes. Our restaurant customers are excited by the opportunity to differentiate their menu offering and attract new customers by partnering with Beyond Meat, and are seeking new ways to further promote our product. In summer 2018, A&W Canada, the country’s second largest burger chain, ran an advertising campaign promoting The Beyond Burger as an exciting new product offering to drive consumer traffic. We believe their choice to feature The Beyond Burger demonstrates the marketing power of our brand and overall consumer excitement for our product. Additionally, popular restaurants have approached us directly to carry our branded product, despite already carrying our competitors’ products. This type of demand for our products has been a driving force in building strong ties with customers who have been continuously impressed by the impact our brand can make on their business.


•	Experienced and Passionate Executive Management Team

We are led by a proven and experienced executive management team. Prior to founding Beyond Meat, Ethan Brown, our President and Chief Executive Officer, spent over a decade in the clean energy industry working for hydrogen fuel cell leader, Ballard Power Systems, rising from an entry level manager to reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Brown’s significant experience in clean tech, coupled with a natural appreciation for animal agriculture, led him to start a plant-based food company. Seth Goldman, our Executive Chair, has extensive experience working at fast-growing brands in the food and beverage industry, having founded Honest Tea, which was later sold to The Coca-Cola Company. Our management team plays an integral role in Beyond Meat’s success by instilling a culture committed to innovation, customer satisfaction and growth. Over time, we have grown our executive management team with carefully selected individuals who possess substantial industry experience and share our core values. The other members of our executive management team, which include Mark J. Nelson, Chief Financial Officer; Charles Muth, Chief Growth Officer; Dariush Ajami, Chief Innovation Officer; and Stephanie Pullings Hart, Senior Vice President, Operations, have an average of 21 years of industry experience, having driven growth at both consumer packaged goods companies and high growth businesses, such as Clorox, Coca-Cola, Farmer Brothers Coffee and Nestle. We believe this blend of talent gives us tremendous insights and capabilities to create demand and fulfill it in a scalable, profitable and sustainable way.

Our Growth Strategy


•	Pursue Top-line Growth Across our Distribution Channels

We believe there is a significant opportunity to expand Beyond Meat well beyond our current retail and restaurant footprint. Our early focus was to establish a presence in the grocery retail channel, and we have successfully expanded into approximately 27,000 points of distribution across the United States and abroad. In addition to further growth within retail, we are beginning to sell more of our product in restaurants and other foodservice locations and developing relationships with international partners, both of which represent significant new opportunities. We believe increased distribution will lead more consumers to purchase our products and increase the overall size of the plant-based protein category as more consumers shift their diets away from animal-based proteins.

We have developed a strategy to pursue growth within the following distribution channels:

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Retail: Building on the strong success of The Beyond Burger, we intend to increase our presence as the first plant-based protein offering in the meat case. We have a strong presence at leading food retailers, including Albertsons, Kroger, Wegmans and Whole Foods Market. We have a significant opportunity to grow our sales within US retail by focusing on increasing sales at our existing points of distribution, as well as increasing sales of new products, such as our Beyond Sausage product. We also expect to grow our U.S. retail distribution by establishing commercial relationships with new customers. Examples of customer wins in 2018 include Publix and Sprouts.

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Restaurant and Foodservice: Our 2017 food distribution launch with Sysco for The Beyond Burger has resulted in our products being served in approximately 10,000 restaurant and foodservice outlets. We have established other partnerships with selected restaurant chains, including BurgerFi, Bareburger, TGI Fridays and A&W Canada. We plan to continue to aggressively expand our network of restaurant and foodservice partners. We have received significant interest from new potential partners and are expecting to launch at several prominent restaurant chains in 2019.


•	International: We believe there is significant demand for our products in Canada and Europe across retail and restaurant and foodservice channels and expect to increase production for those regions in 2019. We have established and seek to establish additional relationships with distributors in other geographies, including Australia, Israel, South Korea, South Africa and parts of the Middle East.


•	Invest in Infrastructure and Capabilities

We are committed to prioritizing investment in our infrastructure and capabilities in order to support our strategic expansion plans. As a fast-growing company, we are making significant investments in hiring the best people, maximizing our supply chain capabilities and optimizing our systems in order to establish a sustainable market-leading position for the long-term future. This year, we commenced production at a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility and entered into relationships with several co-manufacturers to significantly increase our production capacity. By the end of the first quarter of 2019, we expect to triple our monthly production capacity as compared to the end of the second quarter of 2018. We have plans to unlock additional capacity both domestically and internationally in 2019. We are continuing to hire experienced employees in our sales, marketing, operations, innovation and finance teams to support our rapid growth. We are constantly evaluating and improving our supply chain processes and partnerships, so that we can increase manufacturing efficiencies and quality, while reducing costs.


•	Expand Our Product Offerings

The successes of The Beyond Burger and Beyond Sausage products have confirmed our belief that there is significant demand for additional plant-based meat alternative products. We intend to strengthen our product offering by improving the formulations for our existing portfolio of products and by creating new products that expand the portfolio. We are continuously refining our products to improve their taste, texture and aroma. In addition, we are committed to increasing our investment in R&D to continue to innovate within our core plant-based platforms of beef, pork and poultry to create exciting new product lines and improve the formulations for our existing portfolio of products.


•	Continue to Grow Our Brand

We intend to continue to develop our brand and increase awareness of Beyond Meat. We plan on highlighting our “Eat What You Love” message and the global environmental benefits that come with consumers eating more of our products. We also plan to continue to create relevant content with our network of celebrities, influencers and brand ambassadors, who have successfully built significant brand awareness by supporting our mission and products and incorporating Beyond Meat into their daily

lifestyle. We intend to expand our field marketing efforts to sample products directly with consumers in stores and at relevant events. We are launching a Beyond Meat food truck in the fall of 2018 that can support consumer sampling, content creation, as well as media, influencer and customer activations.


•	Remain Mission Focused and True to Our Values

We are a mission-driven business with long-standing core values. We strive to operate in an honest, socially responsible and environmentally sustainable manner and are committed to help solve the major health and global environmental issues which we believe are caused by an animal-based protein diet and existing meat industry practices. We believe our authentic and long-standing commitment to these issues better positions us to build loyalty and trust with current consumers and helps attract new ones. Our corporate culture embodies these values and, as a result, we enjoy a highly motivated and skilled work force committed to our mission and our enterprise.

Our Products

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We sell a range of products across the three core plant-based platforms of beef, pork and poultry. They are offered in ready-to-cook formats (merchandised in the meat case), which we refer to as our “fresh” platform, and ready-to-heat formats (merchandised in the freezer), which we refer to as our “frozen” platform. Though the original line of Beyond Meat products were ready-to-heat, our ready-to-cook offerings, such as Beyond Burger and Beyond Sausage, have been the chief drivers of our growth. All of our products are 100% free of gluten and GMOs and are significantly lower in saturated fats than their animal-based equivalents. We are focused on making them nutritionally dense, with minimal negative attributes.

Ready-to-cook (“Fresh”)

The Beyond Burger. The Beyond Burger, our flagship product, was our first product merchandised in the meat case of grocery stores. The Beyond Burger is designed to look, cook and taste like traditional ground beef. The Beyond Burger’s primary source of protein comes from yellow peas, providing 20 grams of protein and three grams of fiber per serving, and is free from soy, gluten and GMOs.

Beyond Sausage. Beyond Sausage is a ready-to-cook sausage designed to look, cook and taste like a pork sausage. Beyond Sausage’s primary source of protein comes from yellow peas, providing 16 grams of protein and three grams of fiber per serving, and is free from soy, gluten and GMOs. Beyond Sausage currently comes in three flavors across both retail and foodservice: Brat Original, Hot Italian and Sweet Italian.

Ready-to-heat (“Frozen”)

Beyond Beef Crumbles. Beyond Beef Crumbles are ready-to-heat products designed to look and satisfy like minced or ground beef. Beyond Beef Crumbles’ primary source of protein comes from yellow

peas, providing approximately 13 grams of protein and one gram of fiber per serving, and is free from soy, gluten and GMOs. Beyond Beef Crumbles currently come in two flavors for retail: Beefy and Feisty. The four flavors available for foodservice are Plain, Beefy, Feisty and Sausage.

Beyond Chicken Strips. Beyond Chicken Strips are ready-to-heat products that are intended to shred and satisfy like chicken. Beyond Chicken Strips’ source of protein comes from soy and yellow peas, providing approximately 22 grams of protein and three grams of fiber per serving, and is free from gluten and GMOs. Beyond Chicken Strips currently come in three flavors for retail: Southwest Style, Grilled and Lightly Seasoned. The two flavors available for foodservice are Plain and Lightly Seasoned.

Customers


•	Retail

Since the success of The Beyond Burger, we have created a strong presence at leading food retailers across the country, such as Ahold, Kroger, Safeway, Shop Rite, Stater Brothers, Target, Wegmans and Whole Foods Market. For 2017, sales to our largest customers and their respective percentage of our gross revenues included the following: UNFI, 38%; KeHE, 10%; DOT, 10%; and Whole Foods, 10%.

For 2017, our U.S. retail channel accounted for approximately 78% of our net revenues and has grown approximately 107% since 2016. We have a significant opportunity to grow our sales within U.S. retailers with improved fill rates at new and existing retail partners as we increase our production capacity, as well as increased sales of our innovations, such as our Beyond Sausage.


•	Restaurant and Foodservice

Our 2017 national food distribution launch with Sysco for The Beyond Burger has resulted in its being served in approximately 10,000 restaurant and foodservice outlets. We have established partnerships with selected restaurant chains, including A&W, Bareburger, BurgerFi, TGI Fridays and Veggie Grill. Our products are also available in prominent entertainment and hospitality vendors, such as Cinemark Theatres, Disney World, Hilton, Hyatt, LEGOLAND and Marriott. In 2017, our restaurant and foodservice channel accounted for approximately 22% of our net revenues, and has grown approximately 85% since 2016. We expect to launch The Beyond Burger and other products at additional prominent restaurant chains in 2019.


•	International

We distribute our products internationally, using distributors in Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan, the European Union, the Middle East and the United Kingdom. In 2017, our international channel represented approximately 1% of our net revenues. We expect our international channel to grow substantially in the future, and believe that it will contribute an increasing share of our net revenues in coming periods.

Our Supply Chain


•	Sourcing and Suppliers

The principal ingredients to manufacture our products include pea protein and our plant-based proprietary flavors. We procure the raw materials for our woven protein from a number of different suppliers. Although most of the raw materials we require are typically readily available from multiple sources, we rely on one single source supplier, Roquette America, Inc., or Roquette, for the pea protein used for The Beyond Burger and Beyond Sausage.

We have a second supplier of yellow peas sourced from Canada which we use in our Beef Crumbles and Beyond Chicken Strips, but it is not a single source supplier. This supplier based in China exports the pea protein it processes into the U.S. to an intermediary facility before it is shipped to our facilities in Columbia, Missouri.

We continually seek additional sources of pea protein and other plant-based protein for our products that meet our criteria.

Proprietary flavors consist of product flavors that have been developed by our innovation team in collaboration with our supply partners exclusively for us. The formulas are then produced by our suppliers for use in our products. Ingredients in our proprietary flavors are qualified through trials to ensure manufacturability. Upon receipt of the ingredients, we receive Certificates of Analysis from our suppliers in our quality control process to confirm that our rigorous standards have been met. Flavors are extensively tested prior to introduction to ensure finished product attributes such as taste, texture and appearance are not negatively impacted.

We do not have long-term supply agreements with most of our suppliers. However, we secure our supplies on a purchase order basis. As most of the raw materials we use in our proprietary flavors are readily available in the market from many suppliers, we believe that we can within a reasonable period of time make satisfactory alternative arrangements in the event of an interruption of supply from our vendors. As of September 30, 2018, we believe that we had an adequate supply for our proprietary flavors for at least months.

Manufacturing

Our manufacturing process is diagrammed below.

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First, a dry blend containing our pea protein is combined within our manufacturing facility. The dry blend then enters our extruder, where both water and steam are added. We then use a combination of heating, cooling and variations of pressure to weave together the proteins. The formed woven protein is then cut into smaller pieces to expedite the freezing process and assist in the final manufacturing process. The frozen woven protein is used as the basis of all our products. Next, our co-manufacturers further process the frozen woven protein by combining flavorings and other ingredients, after which the co-manufacturer prepares the final packaged product that is then shipped to stores. In order to sustain the quality of our products, we have implemented a “define, measure, analyze, improve and control,” or DMAIC, approach to improve, optimize and stabilize our processes and design.

While we manufacture The Beyond Burgerfor sale to the foodservice channel, we depend on co-manufacturers for all of our other products. Our co-manufacturers are located in California, Texas, Georgia and Pennsylvania. All third-party co-manufacturers sign non-disclosure agreements to ensure that our proprietary intellectual property and trade secrets are protected. We continue to explore establishing relationships with additional co-manufacturers as the business grows to take advantage of more competitive pricing and availability of our products.

Quality Control

In-process quality checks are performed throughout the manufacturing process, including temperature, physical dimension and weight. We provide specific instructions to vendors and restaurants for storing and cooking our products. All products are transported and stored frozen. Frozen products such as the Beyond Beef Crumbles and Beyond Chicken Strips are intended to be prepared from their frozen state, with cooking instructions enclosed on all packaging.

Retail products sold in the meat case as part of our “fresh” platform, such as The Beyond Burgerand Beyond Sausage are shipped to the customer frozen. The foodservice customer is provided instructions on ‘slacking,’ which is typically done by moving frozen food to a refrigerator to allow it to slowly and safely thaw before cooking. For this step, retail customers must apply a “use by date” sticker of seven days for Beyond Sausage or ten days for The Beyond Burger.

Distribution

Distribution of products occurs from our in-house manufacturing facilities in Columbia, Missouri. From our co-manufacturing facilities, products are transferred by third-party logistics providers to cold storage facilities or are directly shipped to the customer.

At present, we do not utilize internal software to track loads but we leverage the systems of our transportation partners to manage our supply chain through retail distribution.

Ingredient and Packaging Suppliers

Packaging supplies are sourced in the United States with the exception of the Beyond Sausage tray which is currently sourced from China. We maintain approximately 10 weeks of inventory on these trays to ensure that we can mitigate any risk of interruption in supply.

We utilize an industry standard Number 3 Modified Atmospheric Packaging, or MAP Tray, that is slotted for the placement of two four ounce patties and used for the retail Beyond Burger. Packaging specifications are clearly defined and shared with our third-party relationships.

Order Fulfillment

Our customer service and logistics functions are responsible for customer-facing activities, order management, customer logistics, 4PL leadership and intra-company distribution. These functional areas reside in the Sales Operations department. We utilize NetSuite (ERP), MS Applications and Cloud interface platforms for these processes. Customer orders are principally transmitted via electronic data interface, or EDI, but may be processed manually if necessary. Orders are accepted in NetSuite, reviewed for accuracy and fulfillment plans are developed. When fulfillment plans are ready, orders are downloaded and emailed to our transportation partners for tendering. The order fulfillment process is led by the Sales Operations Manager and two direct-reports. Metrics for the Customer Service and Logistics team include order fill, on-time shipping, customer scorecards as needed and cost leadership. We have agreements with third-party service providers for all of our shipping needs.

Sales and Marketing and Consumer Outreach


•	Sales

As of June 30, 2018, our 31-person sales and commercial team, led by Chief Growth Officer, Charles Muth, is organized into three divisions, retail, foodservice and international. The sales team has an extensive range of experience from leading natural food, meat and plant-based protein companies. The retail, foodservice and international teams work in close coordination with a national network of broker and distributor sales teams that gives us access to accounts across the United States.


•	Field Marketing Representatives

We have an active field marketing team that samples our products at special events and utilizes a food truck. As of August 2018, we have executed 75 such events, with approximately 45,000 samples distributed.


•	Digital Marketing and Social Media

The primary means by which we drive consumer awareness and interest in our products is via (i) social media, (ii) our digital newsletter, which had over 197,000 subscribers as of August 2018 and (iii) our website, which had on average over 274,000 unique monthly visits through August 2018.

While we enjoy upward growth in our online marketing activities, we have historically done a relatively modest amount of paid targeting. In 2017, we dedicated approximately 4% of our marketing and advertising spend to digital marketing channels. We maintain a registered domain website at www.beyondmeat.com, which serves as the primary source of information regarding our products. Our website had approximately 1.9 million visitors in 2017 based on internal tracking. Our website presence has continued to grow, as we have had approximately 2.2 million new visitors to our website between January and August 2018, based on Google Analytics. Our website is used as a platform to promote our products, provide news, share recipes, highlight nutritional facts and provide general information on where to purchase our products, whether retail or as served in an establishment.

We extensively use social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for online collaboration. These platforms are fundamentally changing the way we engage with our consumers and allow us to directly reach desirable target demographics such as millennials and “Generation Z.” A few examples of how we use social media to connect with our consumers and promote healthy lifestyles are summarized below.


•	Facebook: We maintain a company Facebook page, which we use to facilitate consumer services, distribute brand information and news and publish videos and pictures promoting the brand. We also conduct regular contests and giveaways. As of August 2018, we had over 339,000 Facebook followers.


•	Instagram: We maintain an active company Instagram account, @beyondmeat, which we use to publish content related to our products and company in order to better connect with potential and existing consumers. We frequently publish news, celebrity promotion and content related to our activities. As of August 2018, we had over 429,000 Instagram followers.


•	Twitter: We maintain an active company Twitter account, @BeyondMeat, which we use to disseminate trending news and information, as well as to publish short format tips, tricks and shortcuts. We also regularly interact with our consumers. As of August 2018, we had over 58,000 Twitter followers.


•	LinkedIn: We maintain an active company LinkedIn account, which we use to disseminate news related to Beyond Meat and industry-related media and information. We use our LinkedIn account as a job board for individuals interested in working with us. As of August 2018, we had more than 10,000 LinkedIn followers.

Celebrity Endorsement

We are fortunate to have partnered with celebrities such as Harrison Barnes, Tia Blanco, Leonardo DiCaprio, Snoop Dogg, Kyrie Irving, DeAndre Hopkins, DeAndre Jordan, Maya Moore and April Ross who share our core values. Their organic involvement and interest is helpful to promoting our overall mission.

Competition

We operate in a highly competitive environment. We believe that we compete with both conventional animal-protein companies, such as Cargill, Hormel, JBS, Tyson and WH Group (including its Smithfield division) and also plant-based protein brands, such as Boca Foods, Field Roast Grain Meat Co., Gardein, Impossible Foods, Lightlife, Morningstar Farms and Tofurky. We believe the principal competitive factors in our industry are:


•	taste;


•	nutritional profile;


•	ingredients;


•	texture;


•	ease of integration into the consumer diet;


•	low-carbohydrate, low-sugar, high fiber and protein;


•	lack of soy, gluten and GMOs;


•	convenience;


•	cost;


•	brand awareness and loyalty among consumers;


•	media spending;


•	product variety and packaging;


•	access to major retailer shelf space and retail locations;


•	access to major restaurant and foodservice outlets and integration into menus; and


•	intellectual property protection on products.

We believe we compete effectively with respect to each of these factors. However, many companies in our industry have substantially greater financial resources, more comprehensive product lines, broader market presence, longer standing relationships with distributors and suppliers, longer operating histories, greater production and distribution capabilities, stronger brand recognition and greater marketing resources than we have.

Employees

As of June 30, 2018, we had 281 full-time employees, including 201 in operations, 33 in innovation, research and development, 31 in sales and marketing and six in finance. 108 of these full-time employees are contract workers. None of our employees are represented by a labor union. We have never experienced a labor-related work stoppage.

Facilities

We do not own any real property. We lease our headquarters which includes the Manhattan Beach Project Innovation Center at 1325 East El Segundo Blvd., El Segundo, California pursuant to a lease agreement that expires on January 31, 2022. If we are not in breach of the terms of our lease and provide our landlord with the required notice, we have an option to extend the term for an additional twenty-four month period commencing when the prior term expires upon written notice to our lessor. The

approximately 30,000 square foot space houses our corporate headquarters and the Manhattan Beach Project Innovation Center.

We also lease our industrial manufacturing plant located at 1714 Commerce Ct., Suites A&B, Columbia, Missouri pursuant to a lease agreement, as supplemented by a side letter dated June 10, 2014. The lease expires on June 30, 2019. The approximately 26,000 square foot facility houses our industrial manufacturing plant.

We have recently opened an expanded manufacturing facility located at 2400 Maguire Boulevard, Columbia, Missouri pursuant to a lease agreement that expires on October 1, 2024. The manufacturing facility is approximately 64,000 square feet. If we are not in breach of the terms of our lease, the term of the lease will be automatically renewed for two consecutive three-year option periods.

We believe that our facilities are sufficient to meet our current needs and that suitable additional space will be available as and when needed.

Research and Development

We have dedicated approximately 26,000 square feet of our headquarters (the Manhattan Beach Project Innovation Center) to our research and development team, who create, test and refine our products. We employ in-house scientists, engineers, researchers and testers to help create the next iterations to plant-based meat products. Our team has delivered a number of first-to-market breakthroughs focused on plant-based meat and we are also focused on continuous improvement of existing products. We have and will continue to protect any intellectual property created by us.

As of June 30, 2018, we employed approximately 40 scientists, engineers, researchers, technicians and chefs to help create the next generation of food for our consumers.

Our Beyond Meat Rapid and Relentless Innovation Program defines the details of the product innovation process from ideation and prototype development through commercialization. This process assigns responsibility and accountability of each functional team throughout the process and defines deliverables at each step.

Product Innovation

Innovation is a core competency of ours and important part of our growth strategy. Our goal is to identify large, animal-based meat product categories across our core plant-based platforms of beef, pork and poultry that exhibit long-term consumer trends. We then dedicate significant research and development resources to create authentic plant-based versions for these products that replicate taste, texture and aroma of their animal-based equivalents. We have been able to leverage the success of our existing products and resulting brand equity to launch improved versions our existing products and create new products. We have a range of new products in our pipeline and our goal is to develop at least one new product a year.

The innovation team undertakes extensive research projects to increase our fundamental understanding of animal-based meat and plant-based equivalents. A few examples of where we are focusing on continued refinements of our products include:


•	Better fat adipose tissue and saturated fat mimics: We are researching new materials and technologies capable of mimicking saturated fat in terms of texture and appearance, but without the nutritional drawbacks of saturated fat.


•	Alternative functional proteins: We pursue new non-animal proteins that add function to our food products, including native proteins that can denature during cooking, protein binders and protein emulsifying agents and proteins.


•	Additional connective tissue equivalents: We are seeking materials and methods to introduce additional cartilaginous-like materials and heterogeneity in the form of both texture and appearance in our food products.


•	Encapsulation materials and technology: We are seeking new materials and technologies to expand the scope of controlled-release delivery systems in our food products as it relates to delivering flavor, color and texturizing agents.


•	Materials and technologies to support flavor and texture development: We are seeking non-GMO enzymes that can assist with protein enzymolysis as it relates to flavor reactions.

Seasonality

Trademarks and Other Intellectual Property

We own domestic and international trademarks and other proprietary rights that are important to our business. Depending upon the jurisdiction, trademarks are valid as long as they are used in the regular course of trade and/or their registrations are properly maintained. Our primary trademarks are The Beyond Burger, Beyond Beef, Beyond Chicken, Beyond Meat, Beyond Sausage, The Cookout Classic, The Future of Protein and The Future of Protein Beyond Meat, all of which are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Our trademarks are valuable assets that reinforce the distinctiveness of our brand to our consumers. We have applied for or have trademark registrations internationally as well, including in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Egypt, the European Union, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Mexico, the Middle East, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, South Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. We believe the protection of our trademarks, copyrights, patents, domain names, trade dress and trade secrets are important to our success.

We aggressively protect our intellectual property rights by relying on trademark, copyright, patent, trade dress and trade secret laws and through the domain name dispute resolution system. Our domain name is www.beyondmeat.com, which drew approximately 2.2 million visitors from January through August 2018 based on Google Analytics.

We believe our intellectual property has substantial value and has contributed significantly to our business. We have one issued patent in the United States and have eight pending patent applications in the United States and 12 pending international patent applications.

Pursuant to a license agreement, first entered into on October 22, 2010, and later amended and restated on April 13, 2011, the University of Missouri granted us an exclusive license to certain technology related to the composition and manufacture of a poultry style meat analog comprising vegetable and/or plant protein fibers that are substantially aligned, have a texture, mouthfeel and flavor similar to poultry. The license agreement required us to pay an up-front license fee, an additional fee on the one year anniversary of the effective date of the agreement, a non-refundable fixed fee upon the occurrence of certain events and requires that we pay a sales royalty (with a fixed fee minimum annual royalty payment) for the term of the agreement. Under this royalty-bearing license agreement, we have the exclusive worldwide right and license to use, modify, improve and otherwise exploit the intellectual property rights including all know-how, confidential information and software related to the licensed product. Our exclusive right to this technology is for a term of twenty years terminating on October 22, 2030. This license is used solely with respect to the production of our poultry style products. The percentage of sales of poultry style products as of December 31, 2017 represented less than 20% of gross revenues, and we

expect the proportion of our gross revenues generated by poultry products to decrease, even as absolute gross revenues continue to increase.

We consider the specifics of our marketing, promotions and products as a trade secret, and information we wish to keep confidential. In addition, we consider proprietary information related to formulas, processes, know-how and methods used in our production and manufacturing as trade secrets, and information we wish to keep confidential. We have taken reasonable measures to keep the above-mentioned items, as well as our business and marketing plans, customer lists and contracts reasonably protected, and they are accordingly not readily ascertainable by the public.

Segments

Operating segments are defined as components of an entity for which separate financial information is available and that is regularly reviewed by its chief operating decision maker, or CODM, in deciding how to allocate resources to an individual segment and in assessing performance. Our CODM is our Chief Executive Officer. We have determined that we operate in one operating segment and one reportable segment, as our CODM reviews financial information presented on an aggregate basis for purposes of making operating decisions, allocating resources, and evaluating financial performance.

Government Regulation

Along with our co-manufacturers, brokers, distributors and ingredients and packaging suppliers, we are subject to extensive laws and regulations in the United States by federal, state and local government authorities. In the United States, the primary federal agencies governing the manufacture, distribution, labeling and advertising of our products are the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, or FTC. Under various federal statutes and implementing regulations, these agencies, among other things, prescribe the requirements and establish the standards for quality and safety and regulate our product composition, manufacturing, labeling and other marketing and advertising to consumers. Among other things, the facilities in which our products and ingredients are manufactured must register with the FDA, comply with current good manufacturing practices, or cGMPs and comply with a range of food safety requirements established by and implemented under the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011. The FDA has the authority to inspect these facilities to evaluate compliance with these requirements. The FDA also requires that certain nutrition and product information appear on our product labels and, more generally, that our labels and labeling be truthful and non-misleading. Similarly, the FTC requires that our marketing and advertising be truthful, non-misleading and not deceptive to consumers. We are also restricted from making certain types of claims about our products, including nutrient content claims, health claims, and claims regarding the effects of our products on any structure or function of the body, whether express or implied, unless we satisfy certain regulatory requirements.

In addition, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA, regulates certain categories of food products, including meat and poultry products. Although our plant-based products are not currently regulated by the USDA, in February 2018, the agency received a petition from industry requesting that it exclude products not derived from the tissue or flesh of animals that have been harvested in the traditional manner from being labeled and marketed as “meat,” and exclude products not derived from cattle born, raised and harvested in the traditional manner from being labeled and marketed as “beef.” The USDA has not yet responded substantively to this petition, but has indicated that the petition is being considered as a petition for a policy change under the USDA’s regulations.

In addition to federal regulatory requirements in the United States, certain states impose their own manufacturing and labeling requirements. For example, every state in which our products are manufactured requires facility registration with the relevant state food safety agency, and those facilities are subject to state inspection as well as federal inspection. Further, states can impose state-specific labeling requirements. For example, this year, the state of Missouri passed a law that prohibits any person engaged in advertising, offering for sale, or sale of food products from misrepresenting products

as meat that are not derived from harvested production livestock or poultry. The state of Missouri Department of Agriculture has clarified its interpretation that products which include prominent disclosure that the product is “made from plants,” or comparable disclosure such as through the use of the phrase “plant-based,” are not misrepresented under Missouri law. We believe that our products are manufactured and labeled in material compliance with all relevant state requirements, including the recent Missouri law, and pay close attention to any developments at the state or federal level that could apply to our products and our labeling claims.

Internationally, we are subject to the laws of Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Israel and the United Kingdom.

We are subject to labor and employment laws, laws governing advertising, privacy laws, safety regulations and other laws, including consumer protection regulations that regulate retailers or govern the promotion and sale of merchandise. Our operations, and those of our co-manufacturers, distributors and suppliers, are subject to various laws and regulations relating to environmental protection and worker health and safety matters. We monitor changes in these laws and believe that we are in material compliance with applicable laws.

Legal Proceedings

We are subject to various legal proceedings and claims that arise in the ordinary course of our business. Although the outcome of these and other claims cannot be predicted with certainty, management does not believe the ultimate resolution of the current matters will have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

On May 25, 2017, Don Lee Farms, a division of Goodman Food Products, Inc., filed a complaint against us in the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles asserting claims for breach of contract, misappropriation of trade secrets, unfair competition under the California Business and Professions Code, money owed and due, declaratory relief and injunctive relief, each arising out of our decision to terminate an exclusive supply agreement between us and Goodman Food Products, Inc. We deny all of these claims and filed counterclaims on July 27, 2017, alleging breach of contract, unfair competition under the California Business and Professions Code and conversion. We are currently in the process of litigating this matter and intend to vigorously defend ourselves against the claims. The relief sought by Don Lee Farms has not been included in its