Private equity firm VMG Partners is betting big on the snacks category with the formation of a new division – Velocity Snacks Brands (VSB) – set up to buy, incubate and grow snack brands, beginning with the acquisition of the popchips* brand from majority...
While venture capital is a popular choice to fund food and beverage brands, other options – such as revenue-based financing* – can provide entrepreneurs with capital necessary to grow without diluting their equity, according to the founder and CEO of...
One of 15 companies selected to pitch at Rabobank’s FoodBytes! competition in Chicago last month, Yolélé Foods is on a mission to introduce Americans to a nutrient-packed, gluten-free ancient African grain called fonio. But is this a niche opportunity...
Investing in food never used to be cool. But with retail buyers increasingly tripping over investors as they walk the floor at food trade shows, and trending diets and ingredients catching fire – and then fizzling out – just as quickly, how do investors...
With a new logo and vision that will serve as a ‘rallying cry,’ the Specialty Food Association wants everyone to know that it is more than the host of the widely popular semi-annual Fancy Food Show, but also a platform for connecting key players and nurturing...
Air Protein – one of a new wave of startups producing proteins via microbes rather than plants or animals – is gearing up to commercialize consumer products featuring a Non GMO whole food ingredient with 80% protein that it claims could blow rivals out...
While media and investor interest in ‘alternative proteins’ is focused on plant-based meat, cell-cultured meat, and proteins produced via microbes, demand for cricket protein is still growing, claims Cowboy Cricket Farms, which will open a new edible...
Cell-cultured or ‘cultivated’ meat offers the promise of ‘real meat’ – not a plant-based approximation – without raising and slaughtering millions of animals. But is it attracting the same level of investment, and how soon might it realistically come...
How should you begin an elevator pitch, and what raises red flags for potential investors? FoodNavigator-USA editor Elaine Watson headed to Chicago to quiz the judges at Rabobank's FoodBytes! pitch competition.
From Perdue’s Chicken Plus nuggets combining chicken, plant proteins and veggies, to Tyson’s Raised & Rooted burgers combining regular and plant-based beef, a new wave of ‘hybrid’ or ‘blended’ products is hitting the meat case. But are these the meaty...
Noblegen is gearing up to enter the burgeoning alternative protein space in October with a complete protein derived from a microorganism that it can coax into producing multiple high-value ingredients via a proprietary technique called ‘facilitated expression’...
With consumer fear of genetic engineering nearing a fever-pitch, the founders of startup ZBiotics want to “dispel the fear of the unknown” and transparently show consumers the technology’s value by delivering GMOs that offer a visceral benefit starting...
LocalCoho, Tia Lupita Foods, and Capro-X scooped the top prizes at FoodBytes! Chicago, a live pitch competition and business mentorship platform for food and ag startups developed by Rabobank, the world’s largest food and agriculture bank.
Barcelona-based start-up Cubiq Foods has developed a mechanical process it claims can convert liquid oils from sunflower to olive oil into solid or semi-solid structured fats that can improve juiciness and reduce saturated fat levels in plant-based burgers,...
Ripple Foods has debuted a new, improved line of creamy plant-based yogurt alternatives (following an abortive launch of a Greek-style product last year); unveiled a new line of ‘superfood’ plant milks infused with matcha, turmeric and acai; and built...
