Here’s a fun fact: Did you know that vanilla is the world’s most popular flavor? In addition, how about the idea that 95% of all vanilla sold is synthetic, generally made from an oil or lab-developed chemical compound. Sounds like a supply and demand issue for a real deal vanilla pod.
Vanilla Vida has done its homework and sees an opportunity to tickle the universal taste buds by using technology and data to produce large quantities of top-quality vanilla anywhere in the world. Madagascar and Indonesia are the top crop producers but face issues with uncertain weather, quality control issues, and a long drying process. With proof of concept completed, Vanilla Vida CEO Oren Zilberman is ready to expand beyond Israel and launch climate-controlled farms worldwide.
Zilberman’s experience as a VC is instrumental in the success of his new company. “When you are building a startup, you are always looking about what is the chance it can do a major impact and some change in the world and at the same time, have a really good business,” the company’s CEO said in a recent interview with The Spoon. He also explained that his experience led him not to want to develop something new or go into an unproven segment. By expanding the opportunity for a wildly popular product, such as vanilla, Vanilla Vida can hit the ground running instead of requiring a great deal of marketing to drive customer awareness.
Vanilla Vida’s approach uses technology in the form of climate-controlled growing centers along with data, including image processing, to ensure disease detection, quality control, and plant behavior pattern identification. Zilberman claims that Vanilla Vida’s technology can yield up to three times the volume of existing methods. Going beyond the farming aspect, the company’s IP allows it to alter the metabolism of vanilla beans in ways that increase and even enhance the end product’s flavor.
Founded in 2020, Vanilla Vida recently raised $11.5 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Ordway Selections, a Swiss investment firm, and money manager for a number of private families. Other investors in the round include PeakBridge, a seed fund specializing in FoodTech, Kibbutz Maagan Michael, and Strauss, which has now made its second investment in the company.
“We are a vertically integrated company,” Zilberman said. Vanilla Vida’s strategy is to create joint ventures with farmers around the globe (although currently solely based in Israel) to place these climate-controlled centers close to flavor houses and food manufacturers.
Zilberman is quick to point out that the global need for vanilla is not a zero-sum game. If 94% of the worldwide supply is synthetic, by entering the market, Vanilla Vida will not endanger the business of existing vanilla producers in countries like Madagascar.
“We are not here to take an existing piece of the cake from countries such as Madagascar and take food out of their mouths,” Zilberman says. “We are expanding the market for everybody, and we want to help the world use fewer synthetic products and more natural.
Zilberman says that the company is now focused on scaling its business with its proof of concept completed. Initially, that scale will be in Israel, but Europe, the U.S., and other regions are all part of the plan after that. That plan includes expanding the uses for top-of-the-line vanilla, such as creating a floral variety that could be used in the cosmetic industry and a flavoring to mask the taste of children’s medicine.
“There’s no real crop in the world like vanilla in the world in both the challenge and opportunity,” Zilberman adds. “It’s an industry with zero innovation, which is unusual when the product has the world’s most popular taste and smell.”
