Facebook’s revamp
So Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook is to have its biggest revamp in 5 years.
Following a turbulent period where the company has been roundly criticised over data privacy the company will now be shifting emphasis to Facebook Groups that will be self-moderating and will be introducing more encryption across all of its platforms.
Another key feature of the revamp is that users will be able to buy and sell product within Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp.
I suspect that this will be a very popular feature and could give Facebook yet another income stream as it continues to look for ways of monetising its 2.4bn user base.
It remains to be seen how users will react to the revamp, but it went live yesterday and will be rolled out over the next few weeks.
Beyond Meat’s flotation
The other thing I wanted to talk about today was plant based meat substitute company Beyond Meat’s imminent flotation this week as it looks to raise $240m.
It actually increased the offering size from the original $180m and has also hiked up the price from the original $19-21 range to the current $23-25 range.
It intends to spend the money on more manufacturing facilities as well as R&D. Doubters will say that this whole vegan/vegetarian thing is just a passing fad, but I have to say that when meat substitute tastes this good and looks this real I think it’s a compelling long-term proposition.
The popularity of meat-substitutes continue to grow, as evidenced by Impossible Food’s recent distribution agreement with Burger King – and I suspect there’s a great deal of room to grow if this sector is allowed to.
I just wonder whether farmers are going to be to meat-substitutes what the NRA is to gun control because if the plant-based protein momentum continues, farmers’ livelihoods will be in the balance and they aren’t going to like it one bit.