Meat-alternative startup Meati signs lease for major production facility in Thornton, raises $18M

BOULDER and THORNTON — Meati Foods has signed a lease to take 76,500 square feet in a new Thornton industrial building to scale up its production of plant-based meat products, and raised $18 million in loans to finance the expansion.

Meati, which is registered as Emergy Inc. and went by that name before rebranding last summer, will occupy two-thirds of the 114,700-square-foot building at 14831 Washington St., according to a statement from broker Cushman & Wakefield. The building was delivered in 2020.

Emergy was founded in Chicago under a U.S. Department of Energy grant but relocated to Boulder since co-founders Tyler…