Private equity firm VMG Partners is betting big on the snacks category with the formation of a new division – Velocity Snack 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...
Direct to consumer cereal brand Magic Spoon has raised $5.5m in a seed funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners as it seeks to take its keto-friendly wares to a wider audience.
Sustainable Bioproducts - which is developing new-to-the-world protein-packed whole food ingredients from microbes - plans to launch a consumer brand to help familiarize Americans with a new fungal food source that could be used in everything from meat...
Mycelium (the filament-like roots of mushrooms) can create edible 3D structures enabling plant-based brands to tap into a major segment of the meat category – whole cuts – that has historically been closed off, says Atlast Food Co, a new company dedicated...
The success that brands incubated online often enjoy with direct-to-consumer marketing and distribution doesn’t always translate well to brick and mortar, but according to Soylent’s VP of sales Melody Conner building a company online first can provide...
With patent-pending proprietary technology that is more reminiscent of the pharmaceutical industry than that of food and beverage, Bio-Up Mimetic Technologies hopes to take ‘functional’ beverages to a new level.
The first three proteins from Motif FoodWorks’ fermentation-based food ingredient platform will be ready for launch in early 2021, says the company, one of a new breed of synthetic biology companies using microbes as microscopic factories capable of producing...
Brainiac Kids – a new brand focused on delivering 'brainfood' for children – has secured nationwide distribution for its whole milk yogurts and yogurt drinks, picking up business with a flurry of leading retailers including Whole Foods, Hy-Vee,...
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For entrepreneurs with lofty ambitions of disrupting the status quo, partnering with businesses that share their vision can not only help them reach their goals faster, but also can magnify their impact.
With the closing earlier this month of a much-anticipated $500,000 fundraise, the sustainably-minded frozen food brand Rollin Greens is ready to launch two new cauliflower-focused products and expand its marketing and team.
Unlike some fundraising companies that want to accumulate as much financial support as possible, the founder of the Boston-based brain and body nutrition company IQ Bar wants just enough to help him fill his obligations and fuel the next round of growth...
Protein-fueled snack brand Iwon Organics is predicting growth of 300% this year (on top of similar growth last year) as it takes its Stix and Puffs into 5oz bags, and starts to woo more natural and conventional accounts.
Chicago-based Field + Farmer is entering new markets outside the Midwest under a fresh brand name and marketing direction, aiming to make 'clean,' plant-based foods accessible to everyone, shared founder Megan Klein.
Emerging snack brand Amazi Foods is working to popularize jackfruit as snack in the US by drying the tropical fruit into chewy snack-sized pieces when it's at peak ripeness and spicing up the flavor with ginger, lime, turmeric, and chile.
JUST Egg - a plant-based scrambled egg alternative made with mung bean protein – is already outperforming conventional eggs in some accounts, and is now the #1 priority at JUST, Inc given the size of the addressable market, says CEO Josh Tetrick: “Right...
Boston-based Motif FoodWorks (formerly Motif Ingredients) - which is deploying synthetic biology to engineer microbes to produce proteins with a fraction of the environmental footprint of their conventionally-produced counterparts – has raised $27.5m...
If super low carb, zero-sugar, keto-friendly cereal sounds like a super niche opportunity, think again, says Catalina Crunch founder and CEO Krishna Kaliannan, who is already generating “close to a million in monthly sales” via his website just a year...
An $8 million injection of Series B funding led by MAW Investments will help turbocharge plant-based snack company Biena Snacks’ already fast growth by empowering it to expand its marketing team at the same time it expands distribution of its new Chickpea...
Farmwise – the Boston-based firm best-known for adding stealthy servings of beans and veggies to frozen family staples (fries, tots, nuggets) – has moved into the appetizers category with mozzarella and broccoli bites and microwaveable potato skins.
Sir Kensington’s co-founder Mark Ramadan is joining upmarket vegan chocolate maker Hu Products (pronounced ‘hue’ as in ‘human’) as CEO following the departure of Rita Hudetz, who left a week ago to pursue other opportunities.
To beat of the competition or determine whether a new product idea will succeed, food and beverage companies need to stay ahead of consumers quickly changing whims – a task that has never been easy, but which is becoming more difficult as shoppers take...
The inspiration for Zeek – a line of protein bars for children - was less of a Eureka moment than a dawning realization that for sporty kids, pre-game options were basically granola bars “that were not much better than candy,” or adult-oriented nutrition...
Cali'flour Foods is ramping up retail distribution of its gluten-free, grain-free pizza crusts, entering Walmart stores nationwide and expanding its existing Kroger footprint bringing the brand's store count to over 5,000 locations.
When starting out most entrepreneurs could use a hand, especially when it comes to making their products, but finding the right kind of help isn’t always easy and picking the wrong partner can negatively impact the brand – lessons that the founder of...
The new wave of ‘fresh’ plant-based meats from brands such as Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods might be grabbing all the headlines, but there is still a “massive opportunity” in the freezer aisle for quick and convenient plant-based products from pizza...
Instant smoothie brand kencko is helping consumers get their daily five servings of fruits and vegetables (as recommended by the USDA) with an on-the-go solution: shaking up packets of flash-frozen, slow-dried produce with 10-ounces of water, milk, or...
Edible insect pioneer Chapul – which introduced many Americans to the concept of eating bugs by milling them into powder and adding them to protein bars – has pulled out of the bar category for the time being after its co-packer went out of business,...
Nut butter brand Wild Friends Foods and organic instant tea company Cusa Tea have both received undisclosed cash injections from New York-based investor S CAP, which the brands will put towards accelerating distribution and product development.
Unlike most companies that develop new products under a veil of secrecy to protect against competitors stealing their idea before they go to market, the co-founders of the startup Prime Roots are taking a unique community-driven approach to co-create...
Startups selected to pitch at Rabobank’s FoodBytes! competition in Chicago this September include a cell-cultured meat company, a business helping companies develop next generation blended products combining meat and plant-based proteins, and a firm on...
Overnight success stories often are attributed to being in the right place at the right time, but according to the founder of the startup Uplift Food that doesn’t mean the circumstances were serendipitous or that entrepreneurs should wait for an opportunity...
An infusion of $3.5 million in seed funding will help the trio of co-founders behind the startup Verb Energy meet the rapidly growing demand not just for its caffeinated oat- and nut butter-based bars, but also for the human touch the company offers consumers...
PepsiCo has selected five finalists from more than 400 applicants in its inaugural Stacy’s Rise Project, which celebrates female entrepreneurs in the food and beverage space.
Simplified Superfoods founder Jamie Snydel is making breakfast simpler and healthier for busy adults with 'superfood' packets that can be incorporated into smoothies, oatmeal, banana bread, and other breakfast items.
The San Francisco-based food-tech startup Treasure8 is looking for “impatient people with patient capital” to join its ongoing Series B round to help fund its ambitious mission to lead a “Resource Revolution” that uses “regenerative methods, patented...
