The Urgent Company – best known for Brave Robot ‘animal-free’ ice cream– is moving into new territory with the launch of Modern Kitchen lactose-free cream cheese, its second brand featuring Perfect Day’s animal-free dairy proteins (made with microbes,...
Upton's Naturals has been quietly pioneering the plant-based foods category, first with its seitan products, which were among the first to hit retail fifteen years ago, followed by jackfruit and banana blossom plant-based meat alternatives now sold...
In-store demos are one of the most effective ways to drive new product trial, but they are also one of the most expensive strategies – especially now that some retailers prohibit open sampling due to the pandemic.
From 'whole cuts' of seafood from fungi, to plant-based lamb, to highly functional proteins from brewers' spent grains, here's a quick snapshot of some of the alternative protein startups participating in a virtual pitch slam at last...
Berkeley-based startup Perfect Day – which makes dairy proteins using microbes instead of cows – has made its first move into the foodservice arena via a partnership with Villa Dolce to incorporate ‘animal-free’ whey into two new categories: gelato and...
Marking its first acquisition for its new fund, Charlotte, North Carolina-based private equity firm Falfurrias Capital Partners has acquired raw and unfiltered honey brand, Local Hive Honey. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
New Age Meats has raised $25m in series A round* led by Hanwha Solutions of South Korea that will allow it to begin manufacturing sausage products combining cell-cultured and plant-based meat at a 20,000-square-foot pilot facility in Alameda, California,...
Not many companies would be satisfied with or even strive to produce a food or beverage that tastes ‘normal,’ but the founder of the better-for-you frozen dessert company Killer Creamery couldn’t be happier that the taste of brand’s new ice cream sandwich...
Pea protein-fueled brand Ripple Foods has raised $60m in an oversubscribed Series E round* that takes its cumulative funding to almost $250m, and will help the plant-based firm enter new categories, channels, and overseas markets, and extend its proprietary...
Fueled by its ultra-scalable, modular farm system, indoor farming startup Square Roots has recently acclerated its retail presence where the company aims to disrupt the packaged salad mix category with its unique blend of baby and micro greens.
Iron Ox – one of a flurry of high-tech indoor farming startups attracting significant interest from agtech investors in recent years – has closed a $53m series C round led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures (taking its cumulative funding to $98m) to help...
Supply chain challenges exacerbated by the pandemic have bolstered consumer interest in buying local to better support farmers, ensure product quality and reduce environmental impact, but many do not want to sacrifice the savings or year-around variety...
Plant based meat brand Tofurky has teamed up with San Diego-based Triton Algae Innovations to commercialize new ‘algae-based meat innovations’ featuring Triton’s protein-rich Non-GMO ‘essential red' algae for retail launch in Q1, 2022.
Startup Aqua Cultured Foods is carving out novel territory in the nascent alternative seafood space with a Non-GMO fermentation-based production platform capable of delivering high-protein, nutrient-rich ‘whole cuts’ of fungi-based seafood, with the first...
Berkeley-based startup Perfect Day has underscored its sustainability credentials with the release of an expanded lifecycle assessment suggesting its ‘non-animal’ whey protein - produced by microbes, not cows – has a dramatically lower environmental footprint...
Motif FoodWorks has submitted a GRAS notification for myoglobin, a heme-binding protein found in the muscle tissue of cows that Motif is expressing in a genetically engineered yeast strain. The protein – which the Boston-based firm reckons could be a...
For the co-founders of the better-for-you Asian American food startup immi, the most exciting part of closing their seed fundraise wasn’t the $3.8m that will help them relaunch an improved version of their low-carb, high-protein, plant-based instant ramen...
Interested in meat, dairy, and seafood alternatives? Is all the hype - and the wads of cash - truly justified? Are some formulations (think plant-based cheese and yogurt) really ready for prime time? Are the purchase drivers for plant-based seafood the...
A new platform for whole-cut texturization to produce plant-based meat alternatives and cell-based hybrids has been developed by Israeli firm Alfred’s FoodTech, Ltd.
Outer Aisle Gourmet – which makes sandwich thins, pizza crusts, and wraps using fresh cauliflower as the #1 ingredient – is gearing up to open its third manufacturing facility to meet growing demand for its grain-free, low-carb products.
When it comes to packaging, is it always clear which is the most environmentally-friendly choice? Mixed material packaging combining high levels of paperboard, for example, is often touted as a greener choice than plastic, but if most of it ends up in...
Local Bounti is playing to win in the CEA (controlled environment agriculture) sector with a hybrid approach to growing its leafy greens that combines the best of vertical and horizontal greenhouse farming, which founder and CEO Craig Hurlbert says offers...
Provectus Algae – an Australian startup developing an automated growing platform it claims can unlock algae’s potential as a source of high-value ingredients – is building a large-scale manufacturing facility in Noosaville, Australia, that will start...
Plantible Foods - a startup producing protein from lemna, a fast-growing aquatic plant that can be harvested all year round, has raised $21.5m in a series A round* led by Astanor Ventures, as it gears up for a commercial launch in 2022.
Ari Raz - who helped introduce Americans to fresh baby food via the Once Upon a Farm brand – has taken the helm at The Coconut Cult, another California-based startup attempting to carve out a new category in grocery.
Climate change, labor shortages, inflation and strained supply chains threaten manufacturers’ and suppliers’ ability to ethically source, safely produce and efficiently deliver the foods consumers want at prices they can afford -- but what if there was...
After an initial launch in Canada, plant-based foods company Nabati Foods is rolling out its plant-based liquid egg product (Nabati Plant Eggz) in the US where it will be sold online through the company's direct-to-consumer website.
Poppi, an emerging prebiotic soda brand, has closed a $13.5m funding round led by CAVU Ventures and further backed by a star-studded investor pool including Ellie Goulding, Halsey, Kevin Love, and Olivia Munn, which will go towards supporting the company's...
Thanks to blockchain and other advances in traceability, it’s tempting to think that in the event of a problem (foodborne illness, adulteration, contamination, child labor question marks), we can trace everything in the food supply chain back to its source...
Asian plant-based meat sensation OmniFoods is making its US retail debut via a launch in Sprouts stores nationwide and select Whole Foods stores with three products: OmniPork Ground, OmniPork Strips and OmniPork Luncheon.
Koia, which launched with plant-based protein shakes in 2016 sold at Whole Foods stores, has unlocked exponential growth in the mass channel with its low-sugar smoothie line that founder and CEO Chris Hunter says is the company's "best performing...
Sugar and healthy usually occupy opposite ends of the spectrum, but startup Bhoomi wants to bring them together in a line of cold-pressed cane water elixirs featuring traditional Ayurvedic ingredients and a compelling mission to “balance health, equitable...
Pandemic-related limitations on key resources, from essential ingredients to packaging to labor, continue to challenge food and beverage manufacturers, and while pressures may ease in one area they simultaneously increase in another – elevating the need...
Best known for renovating the cottage cheese category with a clean-label alternative free from additives and made with milk from pasture-raised dairy cows, Good Culture has its sights set far beyond the $1.2bn cottage cheese category to become a fermented...
Dairy proteins used to come exclusively from cows. Today, people can program microbes or plants to produce them without our farmyard friends, or even deploy bovine mammary cells that ‘lactate’ outside of an animal. But which approach is the most scalable,...
First Bev has acquired a controlling stake in kombucha brand Health-Ade with additional investment from Manna Tree and Vail. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
BrightFarms has been acquired by Cox Enterprises, accelerating the hydroponic indoor farming company's mission of bringing leafy greens to more households throughout the US.
Join Noblegen, Plantible Foods, Superbrewed Food, Mattson and Lever VC to discuss the future of protein
Plant-based proteins such as soy and pea continue to dominate the so-called ‘alternative protein’ category, but they’re not the only game in town. New options are now emerging from ‘animal-free’ collagen and whey to a novel set of proteins produced naturally...
Growing plant-based frozen food brand Tattooed Chef is “firing on all cylinders,” said president and CEO Sam Galletti, as the company exceeds its distribution goal of 10,000 stores and surpasses $50m in revenue in Q2.
Closing out the first half of 2021, HelloFresh reported a year-over-year 83.7% increase in the number of active customers using the meal delivery service worldwide, as well as the continued global expansion of its business in new and existing markets.
Strong Roots is experiencing and witnessing a fundamental consumer shift towards frozen food that has reshaped the way many households eat, claims founder and CEO Sam Dennigan.
Impossible Foods has appointed former San Francisco Giants' chief people officer, Leilani Gayles, as the company’s new chief people officer and technology industry veteran, David Borecky, as its chief financial officer.
The premium ice cream business can be pretty brutal – just ask Three Twins, Clemmy’s and Ample Hills – with regional brands now slugging it out with multinationals and a flurry of VC-backed startups in a market offering a bewildering array of options...
Beyond Meat is predicting a drop in revenues in the third quarter ($120-140m) vs the second quarter ($149.4m) reflecting some recent distribution losses in foodservice, labor issues at some partners, and uncertainty as the Delta variant of COVID-19 spreads....
It's hard to imagine what began as a family pancake recipe, which co-founder Joel Clark would sell to neighbors in brown paper bags from a little red wagon as an 8-year-old, would become a $200m business selling a growing portfolio of better-for-you...
UK-based startup The Supplant Company is targeting the US market with an intriguing new addition to the sugar-reduction toolbox in the form of ‘sugars from fiber,’ a new low-glycemic blend of sugars extracted from upcycled feedstocks that performs like...
Plant-based dairy brand Miyoko’s Creamery has raised $52m in a series C round led by PowerPlant Partners ($40m) that will help fund marketing and innovation at the firm, which generated a 70% increase in revenues in 2020, and is gearing up to launch an...
Online product delivery platform Gopuff, which delivers thousands of household products from snacks to alcohol from its hundreds of micro-fulfillment centers, has secured $1bn in new funding, raising the company's evaluation to $15bn.
From San Diego-based Debut Biotech, which is developing a range of high-value ingredients via a novel ‘cell-free’ biomanufacturing platform, to Virginia-based Bonumose, which has patented technology it claims could enable the “mass market adoption” of...
Once a brand focused solely on meat snacks, The New Primal has extended into a number of adjacent categories in the past three years including sauces and marinades, condiments, salad dressings, and dry seasonings, making it a bonafide platform brand,...
