Square Roots, an indoor and locally-grown farming company using retrofitted shipping containers to grow a variety of leafy greens and herbs, is unveiling a new brand identity to distinguish it and the added benefits of its products in a competitive category...
jack & annie's, an emerging plant-based meat brand made from whole jackfruit, closed a $23m Series B funding round, setting the stage for the company to expand into more conventional retail accounts and pave the way for a growing "less-processed"...
Plant-based ice cream brand NadaMoo! is exploring moves into adjacent categories after raising almost $10m in a series B round led by District Ventures Capital and InvestEco, and a new partner Killam Investments, a South Texas based family office.
'Animal-free’ protein startup The EVERY Company - which deploys synthetic biology to genetically engineer microbes to produce high-value ingredients such as egg proteins (without chickens) via precision fermentation - has closed a $175m series C...
While some recent foodtech innovations could be described as solutions in search of a problem, ‘animal-free’ dairy products featuring real whey and casein made without cows, give consumers – most of whom are unwilling to compromise at all, especially...
Estonian start-up Gelatex says affordable and scalable cell-cultured meat could ‘soon turn into reality’ thanks to its innovative scaffolding technology.
Meat major JBS has said that it expects to bring cultivated meat to the European market by 2024 after acquiring control of Spanish start-up BioTech Foods,
Eclipse Foods – a plant-based brand on a mission to replicate the taste and functionality of conventional dairy rather than building a brand around ‘hero’ ingredients such as oat, almond or coconut – says early data from Whole Foods suggests its strategy...
New Culture – one of a cluster of startups in the emerging ‘animal-free’ dairy space genetically engineering microbes to produce dairy milk proteins, without cows – has raised $25m in an oversubscribed series A round led by Ahren Innovation Capital and...
From Olipop, Poppi and Mayawell to Health-Ade Pop, Live Soda and Revive, a new category is beginning to emerge in the soda aisle promising fun and functionality, says beverage industry veteran Tom First, who is throwing his hat into the ring again with...
Spero – which is carving out a niche in the plant-based dairy and egg space by using seeds as a base rather than nuts and legumes – has moved into a new 31,000sq ft production facility in the East Bay and is already scouting for a 100,000sq ft facility...
General Mills moves into the emerging ‘animal-free’ dairy category with a brand called Bold Cultr – a lactose-free cream cheese alternative utilizing dairy proteins from Perfect Day made via microbial fermentation (without cows).
GrubMarket, a San Francisco-based food supply chain e-commerce company, has raised $200m in a Series E funding round, bringing its total valuation to over $1.2bn.
Parents are constantly looking for snacks that meet both the nutritional needs, and oftentimes, the picky palates of their child. Brands that can effectively meet both these fundamental demands are best positioned to win in the competitive landscape of...
When it comes to proteins, says Christian Koolloos, chief business development officer at Dutch startup The Protein Brewery, boring is good. In fact, the blander the better: “Fermotein [his firm’s fermented fungi protein] is extremely boring in its profile...
Michroma – a startup building a production platform for natural food colors from fungi – has advanced to pilot-scale production of a heat-stable vibrant red colorant it claims can give synthetic dyes a serious run for their money when it comes to performance...
Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Brown urged analysts to “differentiate between short term variability on the one hand, and ongoing strong progress toward a long term vision of becoming tomorrow's global protein company on the other,” during the plant-based...
Bobo’s is embarking on a major capacity expansion to meet demand for its baked oat bars, bites, and toaster pastries, with a new ‘mega-bakery’ facility set to open in summer 2022 in Loveland, Colorado, that will consolidate manufacturing and warehousing...
'Animal-free’ protein startup The EVERY Company - has teamed up with cold-pressed juice brand Pressed to road test its highly soluble, "nearly invisible" egg protein EVERY ClearEgg, its second product produced via precision fermentation...
The Real Good Food Company is aiming to become a major player in the frozen foods category with its line of comfort foods that many consumers crave but with the nutrition credentials (low-carb, low-sugar, and high-protein) that could help change the health...
“A lot of cricket protein products seem to be bars and powders targeted at 18-35 year old males that are into mountain biking,” observes Shelby Smith, founder of Iowa-based edible insect startup Gym-N-Eat Crickets. “But in my experience, having interacted...
Edible insects were always going to be a slow burn in the alternative protein market in Europe and North America, given the ‘ick’ factor and the lack of infrastructure to farm and process them at scale, says Israeli firm Hargol FoodTech. But while the...
GoodPop Frozen Pops is targeting a growing consumer segment frequenting the frozen novelties aisle in search for products that can serve as a permissably indulgent snack or treat.
Brazilian plant-based meat brand Future Farm (Fazenda Futuro) has raised $58m in a Series C round led by BTG Pactual and supported by Rage Capital, bringing its cumulative funding to $89m as it builds its presence in international markets.
Protein snacks company IWON Organics recently closed a $1m financing round from friends and family, helping to fuel the brand's evolution into becoming an organic legume-based foods company with products that span across salty snacks, cereal, and...
Six weeks after the publication of an article arguing that cell-cultured meat faces “intractable technical challenges at food scale,” industry pioneer UPSIDE Foods has opened what it claims is the “most advanced cultivated meat production facility in...
On a long-term mission to become the world's leading food solutions group, HelloFresh continues to register strong year-over-year growth in revenue and in key performance metrics including order rates, and active customer acquisition.
Fresh Bellies has pivoted away from its original line of HPP fresh baby food and refocused its resources and efforts on the kids snacking category, a decision CEO and founder Saskia Sorrosa says has put the brand on the map in a big way.
Aspire Food Group - which is on a mission to automate and professionalize edible insect farming – aims to start production at a CAD $90m 100,000sqft automated cricket processing facility near London, Ontario, in Q1/Q2 of next year that will produce 10,000...
Plant-based online retailer Vejii Holdings has received conditional approval for public listing on the Canadian Stock Exchange (CSE) under the symbol “VEJI” once a commencement date of trading is confirmed.
Swedish keto-friendly brand Nick’s – which entered the US in late 2019 with low carb light ice cream pints and has since expanded into ice cream sandwiches and keto snack bars – has raised $100m in a Series C round led by Kinnevik, Ambrosia Investments...
Plant-based foods brand Tattooed Chef has entered into an agreement to acquire Ohio-based Belmont Confections, a private label co-manufacturer of nutrition bars, for approximately $18m in cash and stock.
Chicago-based startup Aqua Cultured Foods – which is carving out new territory in the seafood alternatives space with a Non-GMO fermentation-based production platform capable of delivering high-protein ‘whole cuts’ of fungi-based seafood - has closed...
Shiru - an Emeryville, CA-based startup producing proteins via microbial fermentation to create label-friendly alternatives to everything from methylcellulose to gelatin and casein - has closed a $17m Series A round* led by S2G Ventures that will help...
With an eye towards identifying technologies and innovations that “exemplify the new food economy” by offering scalable solutions that increase nutrition with minimal environmental impact, FoodBytes! by Rabobank has winnowed down from 45 global startups...
Above Food, a vertically-integrated plant-based foods company, has entered into an agreement to acquire Atlantic Natural Foods and its portfolio of shelf-stable, plant-based food brands Loma Linda, TUNO, and Neat for an estimated $30m.
Back in 2013/14, no food innovation conference was complete without at least one session promoting edible insects as the next big thing in ‘alternative protein.’ Since then, the field has become littered with the corpses of bug-fueled startups that ran...
BIOMILQ – a North Carolina-based startup culturing human mammary cells that lactate – has closed an oversubscribed $21m series A round to support its ambitions to bring cell-cultured human milk to market.
Berkeley-based startup Mission Barns – which has developed a platform to cultivate fat from animal cells, outside of the animal - has teamed up with gourmet sausage maker Silva Sausage Co to produce hybrid sausages combining cell-cultured fat and plant...
A consumer study funded by Israeli startup Future Meat Technologies suggests US consumers are surprisingly open to cell-cultured or ‘cultivated’ meat (from animal cells grown outside an animal), although the firm acknowledges the true test will come when...
Online food marketplace BUBBLE – a fast-growing platform enabling new and emerging natural food brands without the bandwidth to set up DTC operations seek new routes to market – has launched a self-service platform enabling vendors to get approved and...
Indoor farming pioneer AeroFarms and Spring Valley Acquisition Corp., a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), have mutually agreed to terminate a previously announced agreement to take the company public.
AgTech startup Pivot Bio, which is retooling bacteria in soil to more effectively convert nitrogen from the air into food – eliminating the need for synthetic nitrogen fertilizer – is taking its sustainability message directly to consumers with the launch...
As Vejii prepares to go public on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) in the coming weeks, co-founder and CEO Kory Zelickson shares how the company is leveraging its data and consumer insights to create the best plant-based shopping experience for...
Can we reverse engineer every dairy product and rebuild it with plants, molecule by molecule, or are there some applications such as yogurts or cheese where plants just don’t deliver the taste, functionality, or nutrition consumers are looking for?
PURIS - a key supplier of pea protein to Beyond Meat – has opened a new facility in Dawson, Minnesota that more than doubles its production capacity, and cements its position as the leading supplier of pea protein in North America.
Oishii, a vertical farm growing Japanese Omakase berries sought after by Michelin star chefs for their unrivaled sweetness, has opened its second indoor growing facility in Los Angeles.
Singapore-based startup Next Gen Foods is gearing up to enter the burgeoning plant-based chicken category in the US next year following a successful debut in restaurants in Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, Kuala Lumpur, and the UAE.
Cauliflower-fueled startup Outer Aisle Gourmet has accused bakery giant Bimbo Bakeries USA of a “behind-the-scenes ambush,” which it claims prompted Amazon to delist its fast-growing cauliflower sandwich thins just as Bimbo was preparing to launch its...
