Hailey Swartz, Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Actual Veggies
By some metrics, it’s a bloodbath in the plant-based meat alternative category. But from the perspective of Hailey Swartz, Actual Veggies’ co-founder and co-CEO, there is a lot of opportunity still available. That position was underscored via the $7 million investment round, led by Relentless Consumer Partners, that the brand secured in February. Under Swartz’s leadership, Actual Veggies more than doubled its retail footprint last year while launching new products and expanding into the foodservice channel. Considering the rise and subsequent fall of “second-generation” plant-based meat brands like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, it’s clear consumers are seeking clean, high-protein products crafted with real plants rather than direct analogs made with artificial ingredients – and Actual Veggies is poised to deliver.