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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Funding

Noquo Foods Raises $3.6M to Make Plant-based Cheese That Actually Tastes Good

Today Stockholm, Sweden-based Noquo Foods announced it had raised a €3.25 million ($3.6 million USD) seed round. Investors included VC firms Astanor Ventures, Northzone, Inventure, Purple Orange Ventures, and Creandum. Henry Soesanto, CEO of mushroom-based vegan food line Quorn, and a handful of angel investors also participated.

Noquo Foods was founded one year ago by Anja Leissner and Sorosh Tavakoli. The company has a singular goal: make vegan cheese that actually tastes good.

As it turns out, that is surprisingly complicated. (If you don’t believe me, go and taste some of the plant-based cheeses currently on the market — there’s a lot of room for improvement). During a phone call yesterday Tavakoli told me that current vegan cheese offers are usually made from coconut oil and plant starch, or else nuts. Both fall short when it comes to emulating cheese, and nuts have the added burden of being expensive. Animal-free cheese made from fermentation — like that from Perfect Day, Legendairy and New Culture — is certainly promising, but it may be a while before it’s widely available (or cost competitive).

Instead of coconut or cashews, Noquo Foods is making their cheese out of legumes that are formed into what Tavakoli calls a “stable matrix.” This, he claims, will allow their cheese to slice, melt, and taste like the real thing, and also have more protein than some other vegan options.

Nuquo Foods’ cheesy prototypes [Photo: Nuquo Foods]

The key word in that sentence is will. Despite their notable fundraise, Noquo Foods actually doesn’t have a product to market yet. They’ve developed a few prototypes — including one for a feta-like cheese — but haven’t even done a significant public taste test. Tavakoli is aware that they have a ways to go, and told me that the company will funnel most of its new capital into R&D. “We haven’t totally cracked it yet,” he added. At least at first, they’re focusing specifically on cheddar-like cheese meant for melting and slicing. He hopes to bring a product to market by the end of the year.

Initially Noquo Foods will sell its plant-based cheese to foodservice providers in Sweden in a similar model to Impossible Foods or Oatly. Down the road Tavakoli said they would create their own branded product line for retail.

Having $3.6 million in their pocket is certainly helpful, but Noquo Foods still has an uphill battle ahead of them. The company is quite small; Tavakoli and his cofounder just hired their first two employees — food scientists — in November. There’s also the fact that making cheese from plants is hard. If companies with even larger warchests and teams of R&D scientists are struggling to make vegan cheese that tastes like the real thing, I’m guessing Noquo Foods will also face plenty of hurdles.

There might not be many tasty vegan cheeses available right now, but consumers are hungry for them. A study by the Good Food Institute showed that sales of plant-based cheese grew by almost 70 percent from 2017 to 2019.

Looking at Noquo Foods’ seed round, I’d say that investors are pretty hungry for the next generation of vegan cheese, too.

Memphis Meats Raises $161M, Doubling Global Investment in Cultured Meat

Today Memphis Meats, a Berkeley, CA-based startup making cell-based meat, announced it has closed a $161 million Series B funding round. The round was led by SoftBank Group, Norwest and Temasek, with participation from big names like Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Kimbal Musk, Cargill, Vulcan Capital, Fifty Years, and more. In total, Memphis Meats has raised just over $180 million.

Talk about some serious moneys. According to an email from the Good Food Institute, this massive raise more than doubles the total amount invested in cultured meat globally (up until now, all companies combined had only raised $155 million).

With its fresh capital, Memphis Meats plans to build a pilot production facility and continue to push towards launching its first cell-based product.

As to when that will be . . . we don’t exactly know. Despite having the most funding of any cultured meat company, Memphis Meats still has yet to announce when it expects to launch its first product — or even what that product will be.

When I asked David Kay, Memphis Meats’ Senior Communications Manager, at SKS 2019 back in October, he said that there are two reasons they’re holding back on a concrete launch date. First, they want to wait until they can guarantee that their product is both tasty and scalable, so as not to scare off any curious consumers. Second — and perhaps more importantly — they’re going to wait until regulatory frameworks for cultured meat are solidly established.

According to multiple experts I’ve spoken to in the cell ag field, regulatory hurdles are the main reason that cell-based meat and seafood has not already gone to market (and one of the reasons it might first be sold in Asia). As the first cellular agriculture company in the U.S., Memphis Meats is operating with an abundance of caution so as not to derail the regulatory approval process. In fact, the startup is one of the founders of a new coalition to speed up cell-based meats’ path to market.

It may not have announced plans about when it’ll bring its meat to market, but Memphis is clearly already planning for a future where it’ll make massive amounts of product. The company joins BlueNalu and Israel-based Future Meat Technologies, both of whom have also announced plans to build large facilities to produce massive quantities of cell-based meat and seafood.

With $161 million more in its pocket, that future is looking a lot closer for Memphis Meats.

Food Tech News: Califia Farms Raises $225M, Tyson Instant Pot Kits and Corn Fiber Chocolate

After a week of frigid winds and school closures in the PNW, we at the Spoon are looking forward to a long weekend. Hopefully you have a break too.

But before you start queuing up a Netflix series to binge, catch up on our latest food tech news roundup. We’ve got stories on Tyson’s new Instant Pot meal kits, a patent to reduce the sugar in chocolate, and a massive fundraise for plant-based dairy. Enjoy!

Tyson rolls out Instant Pot Kits
This week Tyson and Instant Pot announced their new speedy-cook collaboration: Tyson Instant Pot Kits. The kits contain prepped ingredients, including Tyson chicken. You dump all the ingredients into an Instant Pot and the meal is ready to serve in 20 minutes. Tyson Instant Pot Kits are currently available at select retailers and will roll out nationwide this spring. Pricing has not been disclosed.

Mondelez patents tech to reduce sugar in chocolate
If you’re trying to cut down on sugar in the new year, we might have good news for you. Mondelez has patented a process to reduce the sugar content in chocolate by up to 50 percent (h/t GroceryDive). The new technology uses soluble corn fiber as a stand-in for sugar, and apparently does not significantly affect chocolate’s sweet taste or physical appearance. Mondelez owns brands Cadbury, Toblerone, Chip’s Ahoy and more, so we could see reduced-sugar chocolate popping up in those products sometime soon.

Califia Farms raises $225 million Series D
Plant-based food & bev company Califia Farms announced this week that it had completed $225 million in Series D financing. The round was led by Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) with participation from Temasek, Claridge, Green Monday Ventures, and more. This brings the company’s total funding to a whopping $340 million. Founded in 2010, Califia Farms is known for its dairy-free milks, yogurts, and cold-brew coffee blends. The company will use the new capital to build on its popular oat-based platform, increase production, and ramp up global expansion.

General Mills Invests in Good Catch’s $32M Series B to Expand Plant-based Seafood

Today Gathered Foods, makers of Good Catch plant-based seafood, announced it has closed a $32 million Series B round. Led by Stray Dog Capital and Rocana Ventures, other participants included Greenleaf Foods, New Crop Capital, Almanac Investments, CPT Capital and 301 INC (the venture arm of General Mills).

Good Catch’s plant-based tuna — made with 6 different plant proteins and algal oil — is currently available at 4,500 retail locations in the U.S., including Whole Foods. It will be moving into the U.K. market over the next few weeks.

This Series B builds on a $10 million convertible note round that Gathered Foods closed back in June 2019. Combined with its $8.7 million Series A, which it announced in August 2018, the New York-based startup has raised just under $41 million.

According to a press release, the net proceeds from the investment will go towards expanding Good Catch’s retail footprint across North America and Europe, as well as a push into Asia. The company will also use its fresh capital to develop new products — like the line of frozen entrées and vegan “crab” cakes it had previously teased for release later this year.

Just after news of the convertible note broke last year, Chris Kerr, co-founder and CEO of Gathered Foods, told NOSH that their upcoming larger round would include a “game changing” new investor.

That’s got to be 301 INC. The Good Catch investment is not the CPG giant’s first foray into the plant-based marketplace. 301 INC has already invested in Kite Hill, maker of animal-free dairy products, and vegan protein bar startup no cow. They were also an early investor in a little old company called Beyond Meat.

301 INC’s investment in Gathered Food certainly beefs up the CPG giant’s plant-based portfolio. It could also offer significant benefits to Good Catch; the startup will be able to leverage General Mills’ manufacturing expertise, R&D resources and retail relationships to accelerate new product development and gain placement on more grocery shelves.

Alternative seafood will also have the chance to play a larger role as fish stocks dwindle due to overfishing and the rise of ocean mercury levels. Good Catch isn’t the only one trying to get ahead of the curve. Sophie’s Kitchen makes vegan canned tuna and Ocean Hugger Foods turns tomatoes and eggplant into plant-based raw fish for sushi (and is also sold at Whole Foods). Back in September, New Wave Foods, which makes ‘shrimp’ from plants, snagged an investment from Tyson.

The rising investor interest in seafood alternatives mirrors consumers’ rising demand for plant-based everything. While grocery shelves are filling up with meatless burgers, hot dogs, and soon, ground pork, vegan seafood is an area that still has relatively few players — and lots of room for improvement. With this Series B round — and especially General Mills’ participation — Good Catch just got a significant leg — er, fin — up.

Perfect Day Closes $140M Series C to Expand Animal-Free Dairy Production

Perfect Day, a startup producing animal-free dairy using microbes, today announced it has closed a $140 million Series C funding round. The round was led by Temasek with participation from past investors.

This more than doubles the total amount of funding for the Berkeley-based startup, which raised a $34.8 million Series B earlier this year. Its total money raised is now $201.5 million.

Perfect Day uses genetically engineered microbes to ferment the protein building blocks of dairy, like casein and whey. It then combines them with fat and water to create milk that’s genetically identical to the real thing. Since it’s neither made from plants (plant-based) or grown from animal tissue (cell-based), the startup has coined a new term for its products: flora-based.

Perfect Day will use its new funds to accelerate growth by upping its production capacity, deepening partnerships and developing new products. “We’re trying to scale the supply chain and bring this to the world in a big way,” co-founder and CEO Ryan Pandya told me over the phone last week. Their goal is to be making thousands of metric tons of the proteins by 2022 (right now they’re making tens of tons). The company currently works with food giant ADM to help manufacture its dairy proteins in larger quantities.

Photo: Perfect Day

It also debuted its first product earlier this year: a limited line of ice creams made with Perfect Day’s flora-based milk. (I tried them, they were delicious.) Based on photos sent to us by the company, Perfect Day has also developed animal-free cream cheese, feta, and cheese spread, in addition to straight-up milk.

Though its first product was branded by and sold by Perfect Day, the startup actually plans to sell its dairy B2B to large food companies. We won’t have to wait too long to find out whom that will be — Perfect Day will announce its first commercial partnerships early in 2020. The company is also developing animal-free milk fat which will allow it to create a wider range of flora-based dairy products using only its fermentation technology.

The flora-based dairy space is quite young (the only other player is New Culture). Once Perfect Day uses its sizeable hunk of new funding to scale up and establish a few big-name partnerships, however, flora-based dairy might not be such a niche anymore.

Plant-based Ingredient Supplier Nutriati Nets $12.7M Series C

This week Manna Tree Partners announced it had led a $12.7 million Series C investment round in Nutriati, a supplier of plant-based base ingredients like beans and grains. Private equity firm Open Prairie also participated. Based in Virginia, Nutriari sells B2B ingredients meant to go into alternative proteins, like meat and eggs, as well as a gluten-free flour replacement out of chickpeas.

Pulses — like lentils, chickpeas, and beans — may not sound all that revolutionary on their own. However, they’re the key ingredients adding protein to buzzed-about plant-based foods like Beyond Meat burgers and JUST Egg. As rising numbers of flexitarian diners have spurred an increase in alternative meats (and eggs, and milk), and finding consistent, good-tasting base ingredients is critical for plant-based food companies.

There are plenty of other plant protein players cashing in on the flexitarian revolution. Cargill has invested $100 million in pea protein company PURIS. Ingredient company Ingredion recently amped up internal investment in plant-based protein. And last year Innovopro raised $4.25 million for its chickpea protein. On the more bespoke side, Motif FoodWorks has raised almost $120 million to ferment tailored ingredients for alternative meat, eggs, milk, etc.

Considering how the popularity of plant-based foods is growing by leaps and bounds, there’s room for all of these players and more. Especially as both Big Food and new startups start creating new products in the space. Going forward, ingredient suppliers would be smart to get into the alt-protein game — if they’re not already.

Meatable Raises $10M to Develop Cultivated Pork Prototype

Today cultured meat startup Meatable announced it had raised an additional $10 million in seed funding. The capital came from existing investors including BlueYard Capital, as well as angel investors and the European Commission. This brings Meatable’s total funding to $13 million.

According to the press announcement, the Dutch startup will use its new capital to reach its goal of unveiling its first cultivated pork prototype in the summer of 2020.

So far 2019 has been a boom year for cell-based meat and seafood funding. Shiok Meat raised $5.3 million over two funding rounds, Future Meat secured $14 million, and Wild Type closed a $12.5 million Series A, to name a few fundraises of note.

In the growing crowd of cultured meat companies, Meatable hopes to differentiate itself with speed and versatility. Founded in 2018, the company has been developing a technology that will let it grow meat from a single cell quickly, and without the need for controversial (and expensive) Fetal Bovine Serum.

They do this by using pluripotent stem cells, which can proliferate faster than regular stem cells and are malleable, meaning they can be coaxed to turn into any type of animal cell (muscle, fat, etc). Meatable claims that with its unique technology it can make large batches of animal tissue cells in a matter of days to weeks, whereas most companies need months. The startup has an exclusive license to use their pluripotent cell-based technology, which could give them an advantage in the race to bring tasty, affordable cultured meat to market.

It seems they’re going to reach that goal faster than expected. When I spoke to Meatable’s co-founders last October they told me they were hoping to debut a prototype in three years. With a new release date of next summer, clearly things have accelerated — likely in part thanks to their substantial new funding.

Crikey! Australia’s v2food Raises $35M for Plant-Based Meat

Australian startup v2food announced late yesterday that it has raised a $35 million Series A round. The round was led by Main Sequence Ventures and Horizon Ventures (which has also backed Impossible Foods), with participation from Sequoia Capital China and Marinya Capital.

According to a press release, v2food will use their new dollars to expand R&D and build a new production facility in Australia, which they plan to open in 2020.

The startup claims that theirs is the largest Series A investment in plant-based food to date, and not just in Australia.

v2food works with Australia’s national science agency CSIRO to develop a range of plant-based meat products meant to accurately mimic the real thing. The company’s first product, a meatless patty, is currently sold in the Rebel Whopper at Hungry Jack’s, Australia’s version of Burger King. Next up, they plan to develop their brand and sell to more outlets, though the release didn’t specify if they would be targeting foodservice or retail.

Jack Cowin, founder of Hungry Jack’s, invested $1 million to help v2food and CSIRO develop the plant-based patty for the Rebel Whopper. When we covered the news back in May, I was skeptical that one million would be enough to actually create a good-tasting meat alternative. It seems that the other shoe has dropped, and it’s filled with lots and lots of money.

Right now the Australian alternative protein market is pretty sleepy. Beyond Meat and Moving Mountains are available Down Under, but the region doesn’t have many companies actually developing their own plant-based meat products. So v2food has a clear runway to become the biggest local alternative protein brand.

However, the startup has ambitions outside of its home country, too. In an interview with Smart Company, v2food’s CEO Nick Hazell said that he wants to expand into the Asia-Pacific region over the next 12 months. Considering how gigantic the market is there, and the impending meat price hikes in the wake of China’s African Swine Flu outbreak, that’s a smart idea. But it will require massive cash inputs for scaling and marketing, especially as players like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat make good on their promise to break into Asia.

In short, v2food will need every one of its new $35 million dollars to make it happen.

2ndKitchen Completes $4.35M Seed Round so Places Like Bars Can Serve Food from Nearby Restaurants

2nd Kitchen, the startup that enables establishments with no kitchens like pubs or bars to serve food from nearby restaurants, announced today that it has completed a $4.35 million seed round of funding. The round was led by Hyde Park Venture Partners with participation from MATH Venture Partners, Great North Labs, Bragiel Brothers, and M25.

The seed round actually kicked off in February of this year when 2nd Kitchen raised $1.35 million of the round. Here’s how we described the company back then:

It’s expensive for a bar or brewery to add its own kitchen facilities, so 2ndKitchen creates what could almost be considered a virtual food court. It connects a bar (or other business without a kitchen) with restaurants that are within walking or biking distance to curate a menu of items. Customers can order from this mini-menu via kiosks in the kitchenless establishment or a mobile phone app with the food delivered straight to their table.

Since then, 2ndKitchen has added other kitchenless locales like hotels, hospitals and co-working spaces to the place it serves. It’s free for a location to set up, and 2ndKitchen takes care of the menu, payments, and customer support. According to its website, 2ndKitchen charges participating restaurants a commission for orders it generates and restaurants can either make deliveries themselves or work with 2ndKitchen’s “delivery partner network.”

For anyone who’s ever had to cut short a good time at their favorite pub because it didn’t serve food, it’s easy to understand why this is a good idea. For location proprietors like bars, it keeps butts in seats for longer (ideally ordering more drinks) and adds food without needing to add all the expense of adding a kitchen. For restaurants, it’s easy to see some initial pushback in adding yet one more sales channel to its order tablet roster. But if the orders are placed from establishments close by, then it seems like 2ndKitchen could be a boon for restaurants looking to expand their customer base.

In its press release, 2ndKitchen said that it is rapidly expanding across the U.S. and will use the new funds to go after new business categories beyond bars, breweries, and hotels.

Israeli Startup Future Meat Technologies Raises $14M Series A to Grow More Meat from Animal Cells

Today Future Meat Technologies announced it has closed a $14 million Series A funding round led by S2G Ventures and Emerald Technology Ventures, with participation from Manta Ray Ventures, Bits x Bites, and investor Henry Soesanto. This brings Future Meat’s total funding to $16.2 million.

Israel-based Future Meat makes a variety of meats, including beef and chicken, directly from animal cells. The company made waves in 2018 when it snagged a $2.2 million investment from Tyson Ventures. Future Meat’s Series A is the second largest investment round in the cultured meat sector to date, after Memphis Meats’ $17 million fundraise in 2017.

According to a press release from the company, Future Meat will funnel their new funding into R&D as well as construction on what they call “the world’s first cultured meat pilot production facility,” which they hope will begin operations in 2020. The startup is aiming to start selling what it calls “hybrid products,” which I’m guessing will be a combination of cell-based and traditional or plant-based meat, at a competitive cost level with traditional meat by 2021. It’ll then follow that with cultured meat products priced at under $10 per pound by 2022.

Future Meat’s cell-based chicken vs. farmed chicken. (Photo: Yaakov Nahmias)

One thing Future Meat didn’t mention in the press release, however, is how it plans to deal with regulatory hurdles. As I discussed with Lou Cooperhouse of BlueNalu and David Kay of Memphis Meats at SKS 2019 this week, a lack of regulatory standards is the main thing standing in the way of bringing cultured meat to market. At least in the U.S., where the FDA and USDA will jointly regulate the new technology, we have a few years to go before we’ll be able to purchase cell-based meat.

But that’s where its location — Israel — could be a major boon. Israel is a leader in tissue engineering, which means it could be more willing to speed up the regulatory process and get cultured meat to market faster. The country also currently imports the majority of its meat, despite its prioritization of food security and safety. Accelerating the entry of cultured meat and seafood to market could help the country bring more of its protein development within its borders.

Israel has yet to establish any regulatory guidelines for the sale of cultured meat, though it’s currently home to two other later-stage cultured meat startups: the aforementioned Aleph Farms and SuperMeat. The latter company has partnered with Israeli meat producer Soglowek to receive a share of its profits for product development.

Building the world’s first cultured meat production facility in the next few years is an extremely ambitious goal. However, as someone who covers this space a lot, it’s refreshing to see companies deviate from the company line of “we’ll see” and give concrete go-to-market timelines and pricing details. Future Meat may be reaching for the stars, but at least they’ve got $14 million to help them get that much closer.

Crisp Launches with $14.5 Million to Curb Food Waste with AI and Big Data

Crisp, a startup which leverages AI and big data to cut down on food waste, launched today from stealth mode with $14.5 million dollars in funding (h/t VentureBeat). The funding was led by FirstMark Capital with $10 million from the cofounders themselves.

Crisp was cofounded in 2016 by Arie Traasdahl, who previously cofounded digital entertainment service Thumbplay (now iHeartMedia) and marketing tech company Tapad. The New York City-based startup gathers data from past consumer purchases, promotions, POS systems and even weather to help suppliers, distributors, and retailers forecast demand for their fresh food inventory, so they can more accurately decide how much of each item to buy. Crisp’s SaaS platform integrates directly into existing retail inventory and PoS systems such as Salesforce and Quickbooks. So far, the company has done one alpha test phase of their technology with 25 retailers and wholesalers, including Scandinavian food supplier/retailer Rema Foods.

Photo: Crisp dashboard

Crisp isn’t totally alone in trying to optimize fresh food ordering in the retail sector. Zest Fresh and Walmart both have monitoring systems that help suppliers figure out where to send produce so it can be consumed as quickly as possible. Most similar to Crisp is Afresh, a company which uses machine learning to analyze consumer data and project demand of fresh foods (produce, fish, etc.) for grocery stores. Crisp is trying to differentiate itself from its competitors with its user-friendliness; its website states that it can be up and running in only 15 minutes.

I’m always a bit skeptical when we hear companies throwing around tech buzzwords like “AI” and “big data” as catchall solutions to entrenched system-wide issues, such as food waste. But it’s still encouraging to see companies tackling food waste in a preventative way. If Crisp can find a way to optimize food ordering and cut down on retail surplus (which, admittedly, is a major task), it would sync up well with services like Karma and Wasteless, which sell soon-to-expire food for discounted prices in grocery stores. Together, these companies could help reduce the roughly 1.3 billion tons of food we waste each year — roughly one-third of all the food produced globally.

Crisp’s platform will launch in beta on October 1.

Redefine Meat Raises $6M for 3D Printed Meat Alternatives

Redefine Meat, the Israeli company developing technology to 3D print plant-based meat, today announced that it had raised a $6 million seed round led by CPT Capital with participation by Hanaco Ventures, angel investors and German poultry company The PHW Group.

The startup will use its new capital to finalize its alternative meat 3D printer and ensure that it hits its timeline release goal of 2020, when it plans to begin selling its 3D printer and corresponding ingredient packs to a handful of meat processing partners and restaurants.

I covered Redefine Meat earlier this year when the startup did the first public tasting of its 3D meat to a restaurant full of unsuspecting diners. From that piece:

Redefine Meat’s “meat” is made with relatively simple ingredients: three plant protein sources, fat, and water. The secret is in the printing production method. Instead of extrusion or pressing, Redefine Meat uses 3D printing to give their products a more realistic texture and mouthfeel. “We can not only mimic the fibers of the meat, but also the way that fat and water is trapped in the meat matrix,” explained [CEO] Ben-Shitrit.

When I spoke to them then the company planned to sell its meat to restaurants and eventually develop their own retail brand. However, since then they’ve changed their go-to-market strategy quite a bit. Speaking with Ben-Shitrit earlier today he told me that now they plan to sell their 3D printing machine and shelf-stable plant protein ingredient packs to meat companies, who can then print their own products to distribute to retail and restaurants. Ben-Shitrit said that their machines currently cost about $100,000 each and only work with his company’s suite of protein packs, which will be a recurring cost for partner companies.

For now Redefine Meat is only focused on beef, though they plan to expand their repertoire to include tuna, pork and more. They will install a handful of machines with their manufacturing partners in 2020 and are planning to do a full launch in 2021.

Something must be in the air since last week another company which 3D prints plant-based meat, Novameat, also raised a chunk of funding. This flurry of investment goes to show that 3D printing might just be the key to making meat alternatives — especially larger cuts like steak — that more accurately replicate the appearance and texture of the real thing. Or at least that investors are willing to bet on it.