Selling direct-to-consumer (DTC) online has emerged as a favorite go-to-market strategy for emerging brands launching during the pandemic, and while it can offer better margins, a more intimate connection with shoppers and flexibility around pricing and...
‘Animal-free dairy’ ice cream brand Brave Robot – which launched in July 2020 - will be in 5,000 stores across the US by Earth Day 2021 (April 22), says brand owner The Urgent Company.
Tovala – a meal service paired with a multi-function smart oven – has closed a $30m in Series C funding led by New York-based investment group, Left Lane Capital, bringing the company’s funding total to over $50m.
Right now, you can extract collagen proteins from animal skin, bones, and connective tissue, or you can produce them via microbial fermentation, without slaughtering animals (engineering bacteria to produce the target proteins). But there’s also a third...
Moku, an emerging mushroom jerky brand, is laying down the foundation to build a highly-scalable, clean label meat alternative platform under a strategic partnership with Siddhi Capital, say co-founders Matt Feldman and Melissa Facchina.
A new business model developed by Milwaukee-based startup Agricycle that combines a vertically-integrated supply chain with a portfolio of upcycled brands is proving that with a little imagination and basic resources small growers can have an outsized...
Geltor – which has developed a computational biology platform to create a range of ‘designer’ functional proteins via microbial fermentation - is gearing up for the commercial launch of the world’s first ingestible ‘animal-free’ vegan collagen for the...
Rising consumer concern about the long-term detrimental impact on children’s health and palate development from baby food overly-sweetened or predominately packed with fruit is opening the door for a new cohort of entrepreneurs promoting vegetable- and...
Post Holdings – which has just taken a minority stake in plant-based meat startup Hungry Planet - has led a $12.5m Series B round at legume-fueled snack brand PeaTos, which offers a higher protein, higher fiber slant on mainstream extruded snack brands...
In the next 12 to 18 months, cultivated meat could become available to the masses, according to some industry players raising funds to scale production of technological and scientific advances that will allow for lower production costs and a lower consumer...
Recognizing that breakthrough technologies that could transform the global food supply chain often originate in academia, Big Idea Ventures has launched a $125m fund to commercialize IP from some of the nation’s leading universities and fuel economic...
Nudge edible coffee bars, ‘bombs,’ and butters – novel products featuring aromatic ‘whole coffee matter’ – are now available in 350 Sprouts stores, says brand owner The Whole Coffee Co, which is still learning what product formats, messaging, and merchandising...
SimplyProtein – a snacking brand acquired from The Simply Good Foods Company by Toronto-based Wellness Natural last September – is generating double digit growth in the US market and has the potential to grow from a $20m to a $100m brand within five years,...
Despite parents' best efforts and new products coming to the market promising critical nutrients from vegetables, the fact remains that the vast majority of children are simply not eating enough vegetables. This reality is the primary motivating...
Post Holdings has dipped its toes into the fast-growing plant-based meat category with an investment in St Louis-based startup Hungry Planet, which makes soy- and wheat-based beef, port, chicken, crab and chorizo for foodservice and retail markets.
JUST Egg, in partnership with sous vide foods manufacturer and distributor Cuisine Solutions, has expanded its plant-based egg portfolio with the launch of frozen sous vide egg bites rolling out to select grocery stores in March.
Structured ‘super-expanding’ natural fibers that can capture fats and sugars in the stomach and prevent their absorption in the small intestine could help reduce calorie intakes and deliver digestive health benefits, claims the CEO of nutritional technology...
After appearing on ABC's Shark Tank last week, Quevos – an emerging brand making egg white-based chips – received an investment from Equilibra Partners Management, the family office of KIND Snacks founder, Daniel Lubetzky, to fuel its next phase...
If high-tech reverse engineering has enabled a second generation of meat analogs that precisely mimic their animal-based counterparts, a third wave of plant-based innovation will meet demand for less processed, more culinary-inspired products featuring...
Vancouver, Canada-based Eat Beyond Global Holdings has completed an investment in Above Food Inc.– a distributor of plant-based ingredients and finished products – adding the company to its publicly-traded portfolio of emerging alternative protein companies.
Leading Canadian organic baby food brand Baby Gourmet is eager to expand its manufacturing capacity and bring its organic meals and snacks for babies and toddlers into the US after joining Hero Group’s “goodness of nature” portfolio, which also includes...
Cell-based seafood startup BlueNalu – which is building a pilot plant, demo kitchen and new HQ at a 40,000 sq ft facility in San Diego – hopes to get its first product (mahi mahi) into a small number of US restaurants by the end of the year, assuming...
AppHarvest -- an indoor vertical farming ag tech company based in Morehead, Kentucky -- is shipping out its first harvest of beefsteak tomatoes to national and regional grocery store chains including Kroger, Publix, Walmart, Food City, and Meijer.
Start-up Slice of Sauce’s promise of a “mess-free” eating experience that won’t compromise on flavor or lead to soggy bread while eating sandwiches and wraps on-the-go helped married founders Emily and Cole Williams secure a $200,000 investment from former...
Consumer and regulatory pressure is mounting once again for the CPG industry to cut back on the use of single-use plastics, Styrofoam, and other non-recyclable packaging despite a temporary reprieve during the pandemic when safety and hygiene fears outweighed...
Speaking at Expo West in 2015 two years after selling his coconut water brand to Coca-Cola, ZICO founder Mark Rampolla observed that his nine years running the business had been “absolutely brutal.” Six years later, he’s back at the helm, after buying...
With in store sampling off the table during the pandemic, the non-alcoholic spirits brand Ritual Zero Proof drove “explosive” growth in 2020 and has high hopes for 2021 with help from partnerships with established CPG brands, including most recently Campbell’s...
GoodSam Foods, a new brand of no-sugar-added, direct-trade chocolate launched by BeyondBrands, has entered the sugar-free chocolate confectionery category with products sweetened with emerging sweetener allulose.
Craft pickle brand SuckerPunch Gourmet’s new look shifts the focus from its iconic prizefighting mascot to the bold flavors and high-quality ingredients that set the brand apart from the competition, while also balancing the visual priorities of in-store...
As consumer taste preferences shift to reflect a deeper understanding of the connection between health and diet during the ongoing pandemic, PepsiCo is expanding the scope of its Greenhouse Accelerator program to embrace emerging science and technology...
Matrix Meats – an Ohio-based startup developing customizable nanofiber scaffolds for cell-cultured (a.k.a. ‘cultivated,’ ‘cell-based’) meat production – has completed a seed round to help expand its team and develop partnerships in the nascent industry.
For many Americans in 2020, pouring a stiff drink at the end of the day – or in the middle of it – was less about socializing with friends and more about coping with the chaos of the pandemic, and while many of the challenges from last year remain – research...
Meal kits have gained fresh impetus during the coronavirus pandemic as consumers have embraced food e-commerce and looked for ways to recreate restaurant-quality meals at home. But will they retain their luster post-COVID-19, and what will distinguish...
Industrialized animal slaughter is something the meat & poultry industry has perfected over the years. Most consumers, however, are blissfully unaware that the egg industry also slaughters billions of animals every year, but not to put meat on the...
Allergy-friendly food company Partake has completed a $4.8m Series A funding round backed by a diverse and star-powered lineup of investors from private equity investment firm CircleUp Growth Partners to Rihanna and Seattle Seahawks' Bobby Wagner.
New brand immi is aiming to bring instant ramen into a new 'better-for-you' era with the launch of its high-protein, low-carb, noodles to shake up the stagnant instant ramen category.
Air Protein – one of a new wave of startups producing proteins via microbes rather than plants or animals – has raised $32m in a Series A as it gears up to commercialize meat alternatives made from a complete protein it argues will blow rivals out of...
When launching a business, founders often are asked to rely on friends, family and their community for financial support and guidance until they have proof of concept – but not all networks are created equally and entrepreneurs without affluent or influential...
For cell-cultured meat to be commercially viable, we’ll need to see significant movement in the price and availability of growth factors (signaling proteins that stimulate cell growth and differentiation) says startup TurtleTree Labs, which has created...
Mondelēz International has acquired full ownership of Hu (pronounced ‘hue’ as in ‘human’) Products, a well-being snack company best known for its premium vegan chocolate bars.
As a long-time coffee lover, Golden Ratio founder Clark Nowlin was unwilling to forgo the beverage indefinitely even though its acidity caused him digestive discomfort and the “burnt and bitter taste didn’t jive” with his taste buds. When he discovered...
Indoor farming? Cell-cultured meat? The rise of DTC e-commerce? FoodNavigator-USA quizzed food & beverage business leaders to find out what trends they are monitoring, and what is keeping them awake at night as we approach 2021...
There are now more than 100 R&D projects in countries all over the world featuring chickpea protein concentrates from Israeli startup InnovoPro, which has just opened a US subsidiary and is currently recruiting account managers in North America as...
Pandemic-fueled consumer demand for food that is healthier, more sustainable, ethically produced and easier to access has fueled a “burst of investment” in food-tech in 2020 that Finistere Ventures predicts will have a lasting impact on the industry long...
Atlast Food Co – a New York-based startup unlocking a new category in the meat alternatives market (whole cuts) by growing huge slabs of fungi-based ‘meat’ from mushroom mycelium – expects construction to begin on a new production facility early next...
If many people feel that their vote won't make much difference given the sclerotic nature of the US Congress, a growing number of consumers believe they can exercise power and enact social change via their purchasing behavior, which has big implications...
Nature’s Fynd - a Chicago-based startup growing protein-packed food from microbes with a fraction of the environmental footprint of meat or dairy – has raised a further $45m and hired a clutch of food industry veterans as it gears up to launch its first...
“When we went on Shark Tank [in late 2018], Rohan Oza [managing partner at CAVU Venture Partners, who agreed to invest in the business] said to us, ‘I absolutely love your liquid, but I hate the packaging,” recalls Poppi co-founder Allison Ellsworth....