KBW Ventures, created by Chief Executive Officer Prince Khaled Bin Alwaleed, revealed its investment in Furahaa Group, a mission-driven French business, on Tuesday.

The group was created in 2015 by entrepreneur Arthur Devillers in Paris, France, and has three functioning branches: PlantB2B, ViVeg, and its eponymous eating venue, Furahaa.

Plant B2B is a supply chain and distribution firm which also stocks the group's restaurants, while ViVeg is one of the firm's B2C departments with a vegan food subscription box business model and Furahaa is the firm's highly rated vegan fast-food chain.

“This will be my first foray into the French market. Furahaa Group, motivated by Arthur's vision after an inclusive and diverse work environment, while providing customers and other suppliers with a path to pick plant-based solutions, piqued Prince Khaled's interest in the firm right away,” he added of the investment.

“The distribution business is solid, and throughout the pandemic, I witnessed a quick and coordinated shift - something every investor will find extremely appealing in a portfolio company,” he said. KBW Ventures joined private investors in the company's seed phase.

“Furahaa Group was originally looking for like-minded investors to secure the stability of our stock. We intended to address shortages of plant-based meals since substitute proteins — meat and dairy replacements — are not currently commonly accessible at affordable price points in France,” said Devillers.

“Supplying quality ingredients at comparable prices was difficult, so Furahaa Group developed their supply chain and distribution outlets.”

Devillers also stated that new menu items for the fast-food category will be available very soon, to embrace the most recent food science breakthroughs in the vegan environment.

The gGroup also intends to expand in France by building more Furahaa locations and to develop a franchise model: “Furahaa aspires to be France's first plant-based brand. It's simple: we wish to be everywhere that mainstream fast food is, but we want to offer plant-based, tasty, ethical options.”

KBW Ventures has made investments in a variety of food technology firms, encompassing both plant-based options and cultured cellular solutions.

Furahaa Group joins three other plant-based KBW Ventures portfolio companies: Rebellyous Foods, which makes plant-based chicken with B2B and B2C dimensions, Veggie Grill, an American fast food staple, and Moku Foods, a vegan jerky brand.

In parallel to his involvement in the industry, Prince Khaled participates on the Advisory Board of XPRIZE's global Feed The Next Billion Challenge, a four-year challenge concentrating on substitute proteins.