Atomo announced today that it has raised $2.6 million in seed funding to further develop its molecular coffee that is made without beans. Horizons Ventures, which was an early investor in both Impossible Foods and Perfect Day, provided the entire round.
We covered Atomo when it launched its Kickstarter campaign back in February of this year, explaining the company’s pitch:
Atomo’s so-called “molecular coffee” is made by reverse engineering the flavor and aroma compounds [the] in coffee bean to make a substance that, when brewed, tastes and caffeinates like java. It’s made with natural ingredients and can be brewed one-to-one for coffee in French presses, refillable K-cups, pour-overs, etc.
The end result, Atomo says, is a less bitter, more sustainable cup o’ joe.
Considering the amount of coffee consumed around the world, the environmental pressures around meeting that rising demand and the fact that Atomo blew past its initial Kickstarter goal of $10,000 to crowdfund more than $25,000, it’s no shocker that the company could raise a seed round. Plus, well, molecular coffee is just cool.
Horizons Ventures seems to be the perfect partner for Atomo, as the VC firm has backed some other high-profile future food tech startups such as Impossible, which has been blowing up thanks in part to Burger King’s Impossible Whopper and an impending move into retail. While Perfect Day is just getting off the ground in the market, we tasted its early flora-based “ice cream” and found it to be pretty awesome.
It’s a safe bet that this won’t be the last time we write about Atomo raising money, as the company has ambitious goals for its business. In addition to scaling up development, it plans to be a direct-to-consumer product, launching its own brand via Amazon before selling through retail channels at a price that’s on-par with specialty coffee. That will require plenty of capital, and presumably caffeine-powered days of hard work.
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