6 NOTABLE DEALS
๐ ๐ธ๐ช Melt&Marble, a Swedish startup, raised $5M to produce fats through precision fermentation. These fats aim at bridging the taste gap between plant-based and conventional meats. This deal shows the growing appetite to solve the โtaste and texture challengeโ for plant-based meat alternatives and underlines the strength of the European startups in this area, which are often linked to R&D facilities (this is rare enough to underline it, but maybe this is the sign of a new trend). In the texture area, it follows a similar investment in Slovenia-based Juicy Marbles and the significantly larger investment of $30M in Umiami (French).
๐ ๐ฎ๐ณ Zepto, an Indian quick-commerce startup (less than 10 minutes grocery deliveries), raised $200M. The competition is intense in India, with the leading restaurant delivery startups investing heavily in this new space. Indeed, the potential seems huge, as quick-commerce may already have a 13% penetration rate in India (compared to 3% in Europe) but with a low $6 average order.
๐ซ ๐บ๐ธ Voyage Foods, a US startup, raised $36M for its innovative pantry products. Basically, it reverse-engineers staple foods deemed unsustainable and then recreates them from scratch with other components. It will launch three products to start: peanut-free peanut butter (hence no allergies), chocolate (without cacao), and coffee (without the beans). Voyage Foods is part of a larger group of startups looking to create alternatives to unsustainable foods โbeyond proteinsโ, such as alternatives to coffee, honey, chocolate…
๐ ๐ง๐ท ๐บ๐ธ Solinftec, a US and Brazil-based startup, raised $60M to expand its precision agriculture platform.
๐ฉโ๐ผ ๐บ๐ธ Wile, a US-based startup, raised $3M (notably from Serena Williams) for its range of supplements targeted to help women manage menopause effects. This deal shows that the pipe toward more and more innovative brands in the supplement category is not drying up. The potential for new formulas and products dedicated to specific segments of the population is still huge.
๐ฆ ๐บ๐ธ Blue Apron, one of the leaders in the grocery meal kits area, โraisedโ $70.5M (the company is now public, the financing is then quite different). Like many other public FoodTech startups, Blue Apron is facing rising doubts from investors, and its stock has been 40% down since the start of the year.
