With the upcoming launch of a line of DRY Botanical Bitters & Soda, the Dry Soda Co. returns to its roots as a zero-proof lifestyle pioneer at a time when the sober-curious and reduced-sugar movements are gaining momentum and consumers increasingly...
Berkeley-based startup Perfect Day has underscored its sustainability credentials with the release of a lifecycle assessment suggesting its ‘non-animal’ whey protein - produced by microbes - produces up to 97% fewer greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than...
After finetuning a diverse range of plant-based meat and seafood that goes far beyond the burger- and sausage-heavy offerings of today, Hungry Planet is ready to ramp up production and distribution of all nine of its proteins across retail, foodservice...
After being demonized for decades and hitting a 30-year low in 2019, per capita flour consumption is on the rise again thanks in part to consumers’ increasingly sophisticated understanding of diet and health and their duel desire to fill their plates...
Vejii Holdings, an online retailer of plant-based products, has acquired VeganEssentials.com and announced a C$10m capital raise, becoming the largest online marketplace in the US that exclusively sells vegan products, says Vejii CEO Kory Zelickson.
SunOpta has acquired shelf-stable plant-based beverage brands Dream and Westsoy from Hain Celestial in a $33m deal as it ramps up its presence in the dairy alternative segment.
The US House of Representatives has voted on and passed a piece of legislation -- the FASTER Act -- that would make sesame the ninth ingredient subject to mandatory allergen labeling in the US. The bill now heads to President Biden to be signed into law....
Meati Foods and Atlast Food Co - two fungi-fueled startups blazing a trail in the alternative meat market with ‘whole cut’ products made from mycelium, the fibrous root structure of mushrooms – have both announced significant funding this week as they...
With this week’s appointment of industry veteran Paul Nardone as the new CEO of HIPPEAS, the organic chickpea snack brand is building an all-star executive team with a strong track record of high-profile exits to help it leverage pandemic-inspired shifts...
Canadian chickpea pasta brand Chickapea has closed a CAD$9.3m Series C funding round co-led by District Ventures Capital, InvestEco Capital, and Export Development Canada (EDC) to support new product innovation and the brand's distribution growth...
While a downturn in sales for snack bars in the past year suggest consumer demand has softened, snacking behavior has hit a fever pitch and innovation in this set is hotter than ever as brands evolve to meet shifting consumer demands.
Buyers on online discovery platform RangeMe - which is used by retailers from Whole Foods to Walmart to identify new products and suppliers - are increasingly using it as a tool to identify brands that align with corporate social responsibility goals,...
Territory Foods, a fresh-prepared direct-to-consumer (DTC) meal delivery service that partners with local chefs to create flavorful nutritionist-designed dishes, has closed a $22m funding round led by US Venture Partners.
This year promises to be a “blockbuster year” for snacking innovation after 2020 saw drastically fewer new products hit stores than previous years, but of those that did launch the best sellers catered to Americans’ pandemic-influenced demands – portending...
Steve Turner, the former global executive creative director for Apple's Media Arts Labs (where he worked with Steve Jobs to launch a number of iconic Apple products), has been appointed as chief experience officer at Impossible Foods, where he will...
Impossible Foods is exploring going public through an IPO (initial public offering) or a merger with a SPAC* (special purpose acquisition company) in the next 12 months, according to Reuters, which quotes sources familiar with the matter.
With VC-backed food tech startups deploying molecular biologists and astrophysicists now competing for shelf space in the red-hot meat and dairy alternatives market with equally deep-pocketed multinational meat and CPG companies, where do independent...
Kentucky-based agtech and vertical farming company AppHarvest has acquired artificial intelligence firm Root AI and its robotic universal harvester Virgo to maximize its sustainable harvesting methods.
Berkeley-based startup Mission Barns – which has developed a platform to grow fat from animal cells, outside of the animal - has raised $24m in a Series A round to help scale up its technology and build a pilot plant due to become operational later this...
The Plant Based Foods Association has slammed bills proposing restrictions on the use of terms such as ‘milk’ and ‘meat’ on food labels and restaurant menus in Wisconsin, while state lawmakers insist they are urgently required to prevent consumer confusion....
Beyond Meat has opened its first end-to-end manufacturing facility outside the US in the Jiaxing Economic & Technological Development Zone (JXEDZ) near Shanghai.
Gathered Foods, parent company of plant-based seafood brand Good Catch, has secured $26.35m in a B-2 Bridge Funding Round to ramp up product innovation and dramatically increase its retail footprint.
Ag-food tech company Moolec Science is expanding its alternative protein platform to cater to plant-based bakery and beverage categories. “Moving into egg and dairy alternatives was a natural next step for our roadmap,” explained CEO and co-founder Gastón...
The companies have tasked start-ups, via the next Future Food-Tech innovation challenge, to make products that can mimic whole meat cuts and deliver newer gastronomic experiences to consumers.
Startup Alchemy FoodTech is arming manufacturers of baked goods, pasta, rice and other products high in refined-carbs with a new weapon in the war against carbs led by advocates of the keto, paleo and other low-carb diets.
Sales of plant-based foods that directly replace animal products - including meat, seafood, eggs, dairy, condiments and meals containing plant-based alternatives - grew by 27% to $7bn in measured channels in the year to December 27, 2020, according to...
Impossible Foods has launched its first national advertising campaign targeting meat eaters who haven’t yet tried Impossible products, specifically its flagship product, the plant-based Impossible Burger.
For cell-cultured meat to go mainstream, the cost of the media used to grow animal cells must come down. A lot. And that will require significant movement in the price and availability of recombinant proteins and growth factors. So how much progress is...
After selling to Campbell’s in 2013 for $249m, organic baby food maker Plum Organics has been acquired by Sun-Maid Growers of California, which is expanding its portfolio to provide more options for its target audience: "the balancer mom," says...
Valued at $6.8bn in the US alone (according to Research&Markets), the market for hydroponically-grown produce is no longer niche and poised for strong growth over the next several years, predicts BrightFarms, a company growing a variety of leafy greens...
Oatmilk has taken off like a rocket ship over the past couple of years. However, US retail sales of almondmilk - which accounts for two thirds of category sales – grew a solid 16.9%* last year in measured channels, with market leader Almond Breeze posting...
A new early-stage venture capital fund sees significant upside for financing food and beverage startups that may be too small for many other VC investors, but which in a few years could help meet “pent up demand” for innovation from large CPG players...
MeliBio, the Berkeley-based startup claiming to make real honey without bees, has closed $850,000 in pre-seed funding as it gears up for a soft launch supplying food service companies with its vegan honey as a branded ingredient later this year.
No longer seen as the budget option by consumers, private label brands are continuing to differentiate themselves from national brands in quality and innovation, according to private label market research firm Daymon.
US retail sales of plant-based milk surged 21.9% to $2.542bn in measured channels in the year to Jan. 24, 2021, while sales of plant-based cheese and yogurt (far smaller categories) were up 43.6% to $233.9m and 16.4% to $346.2m respectively in the year...
Indoor vertical farming company, AeroFarms, has entered an agreement to merge with Spring Valley Acquisition Corp to become a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ in a transaction that's expected to close in the second quarter.
Yet another new player has emerged in the burgeoning alternative protein space, this time touting a novel Non GMO complete protein sourced from a single-celled marine microorganism, which it claims can give animal and plant proteins a run for their money.
On track to becoming one of the largest plant-based food companies in the world, LIVEKINDLY Collective has closed additional funding to scale its company into targeted key regions including the US and China.
New Jersey-based Innovation Foods is building a $45m, 71,000-square-foot facility dedicated to producing aseptic and extended shelf-life (ESL) beverages for Oatly, which is projected to open in mid-2022.
Plant-based energy bar brand Quantum Energy Squares has closed $2.5m in funding to ramp up brand awareness, and has brought on Major League Soccer (MLS) All-Star, US Soccer Male Athlete of the Year, and MLS Cup MVP, Jozy Altidore as an investor.
A new player is on the verge of entering the astaxanthin and other markets with the granting of a patent on a ‘dark fermentation’ process for cultivating Haematococcus pluvialis and other algae species.
Marking its largest single fundraise to date, Eat Just Inc. has closed $200m in new funding led by a group of global investors to drive growth and capacity of JUST Egg and GOOD Meat Cultured Chicken.
Two years after acquiring it as part of its $465m deal to buy CytoSport, PepsiCo has embarked on a refresh of plant-based protein brand EVOLVE with new packaging and formulations to help it stand out in a category “experiencing broader acceptance.”
“By 2035, every tenth portion of meat, eggs, and dairy eaten around the globe is very likely to be alternative,” says a new report from Boston Consulting Group and Blue Horizon Corporation predicting alternative proteins could account for 11% ($290bn)...
Intelligentsia, a pioneer in the third wave coffee movement, has entered the ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee category with a line of flash-chilled coffee blended with Oatly oat milk, which will soon expand distribution from its specialty coffeebars to retail...
Dutch cell-cultured meat startup Meatable - which is working with porcine and bovine induced pluripotent stem cells [iPSCs] – has closed a $47m Series A round (bringing its total funding to $60m) to advance small-scale production at the Biotech Campus...
Armies of microscopic single-celled microbial food factories (yeast, bacteria, fungi, algae) are now routinely deployed to produce high-value food ingredients more efficiently than plants or animals. But next-generation ‘cell-free’ biomanufacturing processes...