Brief: Jay-Z fund backs plant-based NUGGS maker Simulate

• Marcy Venture Partners, a VC firm founded by music moguls Shawn ‘Jay-Z’ Carter and Jay Brown alongside Walden Venture Capital‘s Larry Marcus, has invested in plant-based protein startup Simulate, Bloomberg reports.
• New York-based Simulate — which produces chicken analogs NUGGS and DISCS — closed its Series B round earlier this month, securing $50 million in funding from Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six and frozen foods giant McCain, among others [disclosure: AFN‘s parent company, AgFunder, is an investor in Simulate.]
• A Simulate spokesperson confirmed Marcy Venture Partners’ participation in the round — which valued the startup at $250 million — but did not detail the size of the firm’s investment.

Why it matters:

Hip hop star Jay-Z has backed a number of agrifoodtech ventures – either in his capacity as an individual investor, or through Marcy Ventures Partners and Arrive – the VC arm of his Roc Nation label.

He, Brown, and Ohanian are investors in plant-based patty maker Impossible Foods alongside a host of other celebrities including Serena Williams, Katy Perry, and Trevor Noah.

Jay-Z also invested in alt-dairy company Oatly along with Oprah Winfrey and Natalie Portman before it went public last month.

Find out why AgFunder invested in Simulate here

Marcy Venture Partners’ other food-related portfolio companies include vegan cookie brand Partake Foods.

Arrive has invested in US grab-and-go salad chain Sweetgreen and Indonesian ‘new retail’ coffee concept Kopi Kenangan, among others.