OurCrowd is a venture investing platform that enables institutions and individuals to invest and engage in emerging companies. OurCrowd was started in 2013, driven by the idea that the business of building startups grows bigger and better when the global 'crowd' gains access to VC-level investment opportunities.

OurCrowd

Prelude Ventures invests in and supports early-stage startups with the greatest potential to mitigate climate change. Our goal is to help build the next generation of category-defining businesses.

Prelude Ventures

Khosla Ventures invests in companies that are bold, early, and impactful. The firm was started in 2004 by Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, to provide venture assistance to entrepreneurs. Khosla Ventures invests in a range of areas including AI, climate, sustainability, enterprise, consumer, fintech, digital health, medtech and diagnostics, therapeutics, and frontier technology.

Khosla Ventures

Blueberry Ventures is a venture firm that invests in brands and business models across food and beverage. It partners with entrepreneurs building the next generation of nutrition by providing early and growth-stage capital and operational support to help empower growth.

Blueberry Ventures

Radicle Impact is an investment fund that partners with exceptional people to build businesses where financial success creates meaningful social change.

Radicle Impact

Evolution VC Partners invest and partner with disruptive companies with a strong team, product, and market opportunity.  They help entrepreneurs build great companies and consider themselves to be investment accelerators and will seek to be active creators of value for their portfolio companies.

Evolution VC Partners

Google Ventures invests in sectors including life sciences, consumer, enterprise, crypto, climate, and frontier technology. With Alphabet as its sole limited partner, Google Ventures focuses on long-term investments. Its operating partners assist startups in design, equity, diversity & inclusion, talent, and engineering and help them connect with Google for technology and expertise. Founded in 2009 as Google Ventures, Google Ventures manages over $8 billion in assets with 400 active portfolio companies in North America and Europe. Some notable investments include Uber, Nest, Slack, GitLab, and One Medical. Google Ventures is based in the San Francisco Bay Area with offices in Cambridge, New York, and London.

Google Ventures

Collaborative Fund is an investment fund that provides funding to companies based on creativity and collaborative consumption. The fund centers around two macro themes which drives business innovation in the coming years: the growth of the creative class and the concept of collaborative consumption. Craig Shapiro founded it in New York in 2010.

Collaborative Fund

Tao Capital Partners invests in technology, transportation, healthcare, education, and food businesses that have a sustainable positive impact. It is an active investor that supports companies through various stages of their life-cycle. Tao Capital Partners was founded in 2002 and is based in San Francisco, California.

Tao Capital Partners

Finn Capital Partners is a family fund born out of a third generation family business and a deep-seated family tradition of entrepreneurship. Led by Founder and Managing Partner Patrick Finn.

Finn Capital Partners

GroundForce Capital is an investment management organization that invests in high-potential firms that aim to promote human and environmental health and longevity.

GroundForce Capital

S2G Ventures is a food and agriculture venture fund that invests in entrepreneurs whose products and services meet the shifting demands for healthy and sustainable food. The firm's mission is to catalyze innovation to meet consumer demands for healthy, sustainable, and local food. S2G will identify sectors across the food system that are ripe for change, and form a multi-stage portfolio including seed, venture, and growth-stage investments. It seeks to invest in agriculture, ingredients, infrastructure and logistics, food safety and technology, retail and restaurants, and consumer brands. S2G Ventures was established in 2014 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

S2G Ventures

Euclidean Capital is an investment firm that invests in individual and family services management.

Euclidean Capital

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. provides investment banking, securities, and investment management services, as well as financial services to corporations, financial institutions, governments, and high-net-worth individuals worldwide. Its Investment Banking segment offers financial advisory services, including advisory assignments concerning mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, corporate defense, risk management, and restructurings and spin-offs; and underwriting services comprising public offerings and private placements of a range of securities, loans, and other financial instruments, and derivative transactions. The company’s Institutional Client Services segment provides client execution services, such as fixed income, currency, and commodities client execution related to making markets in interest rate products, credit products, mortgages, currencies, and commodities; and equities related to making markets in equity products, as well as executes and clears institutional client transactions on stock, options, and futures exchanges. This segment also engages in the securities services business providing financing, securities lending, and other brokerage services to institutional clients, including hedge funds, mutual funds, pension funds, and foundations. Its Investing and Lending segment originates longer-term loans; and invests in debt securities, loans, public and private equity securities, real estate, consolidated investment entities, distressed assets, currencies, commodities, and power generation facilities. The company’s investment management segment provides investment products and services, as well as offers wealth advisory services, including portfolio management and financial counseling, and brokerage and other transaction services.

Goldman Sachs

Fall Line Capital primarily seeks investment in broadacre farmland and agricultural technologies. The firm engages in purchasing and actively managing farmland throughout the United States, and by investing in technology companies that are strategic to our landholdings. Fall Line Capital's primary goal is to realize untapped productivity in farmland.

Fall Line Capital

Sand Hill Angels is a group of Silicon Valley angel investors passionate about helping entrepreneurs get to the next level. What makes the group unique is the collective experience of its members building and scaling deep technology companies. The group has been around for more than two decades. Sand Hill Angels works openly and collaboratively with venture capital funds, other angel organizations, and the Bay Area ecosystem that fosters the growth of technology startups.  For additional information, visit www.sandhillangels.com or follow @SandHillAngels.com on Twitter.

Sand Hill Angels

Inventages Venture Capital Investment Inc is an investment arm of Nestle SA specializing in PIPES, seed, early, mid, and late venture investments. The firm seeks to invest in middle market and mature companies. It provides mezzanine and bridge financing. The firm seeks to invest in health care, life sciences, cosmeceuticals, pharmaceuticals, enabling technologies and services, and diagnostic and medical devices. Within the pharmaceutical sector, it typically invests in small molecules, proteins, antibodies, vaccines, phytopharmaceuticals, natural compounds, botanicals, antibiotics, and therapeutics. Within the diagnostic sector, it focuses on genetic materials, biomarkers, pathological markers, genetic profiles, protein profiles, pharmacogenomics, food and environmental safety, genetically modified organism detection and trading, medical monitoring, diagnostic and analytical tools, and quality control. Within enabling technologies and services it primarily invests in novel packaging, process and production technologies, supply chain management, innovative materials and resources, delivery systems for active compounds, encapsulation and prevention, food services, extraction and fractionation of biological materials, consumer relation management, green biotechnology, smell and taste modifying technologies, genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, screen and characterization technologies, chemical and biological engineering, and innovative preventive and therapeutic concepts. It also invests in companies involved in the prevention of medical foods, nutraceuticals, cosmoceuticals, nutrition, innovative food, functional food, dietary and food supplements, oral and skin care, immune modulation and stimulation, and health and disease management.

Inventages Venture Capital Investment Inc.

The Brkfst Club focuses on gathering like-minded individuals to invest in ground breaking ideas.

The Brkfst Club

Empede Capital is a Venture Capital investor with a clear focus on innovation & industry disruption

Empede Capital

Find us on the old frontier, discovering the new.

White Buffalo Capital

Technology, we believe, is critical to closing the gap between our growing needs and diminishing resource supply. They foresee a society where not only is high quality of life widely available and abundant, but also where manufacturing is robust and environmentally sustainable.  To improve the health of our world, it is our obligation to stimulate disruptive breakthroughs in the methods we produce and consume.

Rage Capital

Ajax Strategies’ business consulting, public relations and strategic marketing services provide Forward-Thinking Solutions to professional services firms that are keen on continually challenging the status quo not only to provide exceptional and unparalleled service, but also to expand their business while enhancing profitability and efficiency.

Ajax Strategies

Changer Club is Europe’s premier angel investors community. We unite 150 high-profile businessmen from Scandinavia, the Baltics, Italy, UK, Russia, and South-East Asia curious about future technologies. Together we learn from the world's best venture capitalists, invest with small checks in pre-IPO deals and load ourselves with wisdom from peer members. Offline in Riga, Zurich, Barcelona, Tel Aviv, and other world capitals or online globally but always with great wines, cigars, and jazz. We turned the venture into an adventure.

Changer Club

Ripple Foods

Ripple Foods specializes in making non-dairy milk with just as much protein as milk and half the sugar.  Ripple has 8x the protein of almond milk and half the sugar of dairy milk. It’s high in bioavailable calcium (50% more than milk), potassium and provides a good source of omega-3s. It’s lower in calories than milk and best of all, it has the creamy, delicious texture our dairy-free friends are missing. No more thin, chalky almond/ soy/ cashew milk. It was founded in 2014 and headquartered in Emeryville, California.

Ripple Foods is a plant-based dairy company specializing in pea protein-based dairy alternatives.

A booming food and beverage segment with a history as rich and varied as its present-day product offerings.

Plant-based Dairy & Egg

Ripple Foods Introduces New Protein Shakes for Kids

Ripple Foods is a plant-based dairy company specializing in pea protein-based dairy alternatives.The startup uses a patented method to extract "Ripptein," a protein from yellow split peas, which it claims to be the world's purest non-dairy alternative. Ripple Foods combines this protein with fat and sweeteners like cane sugar or monk fruit to create a neutral-tasting protein, with a creamy texture similar to dairy protein.Ripple Foods launched its first product, Ripple Milk, which claims to offer 8x more protein and 50% less sugar than dairy milk, in 2016. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/20490">July 2023</a>, the company launched a sugar-free version of its Ripple Kids, followed by <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/31339">Ripple Shake Ups protein</a>, a plant-based protein drink targeting the pre-teenage demographic, in July 2024.As of December 2023, Ripple Foods products are available in over 20,000 outlets in North America.Key customers and partnershipsIn May 2021, Ripple Foods partnered with NBA player Jrue Holiday to highlight the company’s products and "Dairy Free Done Right” slogan.Funding and financialsIn September 2021, Ripple Foods secured USD 60 million in Series E funding led by Rage Capital, Ajax Strategies, S2G Ventures, and others. The funds were earmarked to expand into new product categories and accelerate its growth. Further, in December 2023, the company secured USD 49.2 million via equity, debt, and securities.

Eat JUST (Hampton Creek before 2018) is a food technology company that specializes in egg and meat alternatives. It has large-scale facilities in Germany and North America and in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9243">March 2022</a>, the company announced the groundbreaking of its new manufacturing facility in Singapore. It is the largest of its kind in the country post-completion and was slated to be completed in two years at a cost of USD 120 million.Launched in 2018, the company’s plant-based egg, JUST Egg, is made from mung beans and legumes. It offers an egg alternative for sweet and savory applications, including omelets, scrambled eggs, pancakes, and baked goods. In January 2020, the company announced a new folded plant-based egg, along with an upgrade to its original liquid plant-based egg. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9599">April 2022</a>, the company received exclusive regulatory approval from the European Commission for its mung bean protein, a key ingredient in its JUST Egg product. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/30018">June 2024</a>, JUST Egg debuted the latest addition to its plant-based egg lineup, JUST Egg v5, featuring an improved formulation, taste, and texture.As of February 2024, JUST Egg had sold the equivalent of 500 million eggs and was available at food service outlets, online markets, and major retailers like Whole Foods, Sprouts, Walmart, Target, and Kroger.Key customers and partnershipsIn <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/10634">May 2022</a>, tennis pro Serena Williams and renowned actor Jake Gyllenhaal partnered with the company to appear in its national ad campaign “Really Good Eggs” to promote JUST Egg. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/13770">October 2022</a>, the company partnered with MingsBings to launch four new vegan breakfast items featuring JUST Egg. Also, during the same month, JUST Egg <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/13795">partnered</a> with Starbucks for a limited trial of new vegan menu items. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/20178">July 2023</a>, the company partnered with Alpha Foods as a part of its brand portfolio renovation. Following this, JUST Egg <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21095">partnered</a> with Korean alternative meat company UNLIMEAT to develop Korean-style vegan products.Funding and financialsIn <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/12427">August 2022</a>, the company bagged a USD 25 million investment along with a strategic partnership from Alibaba-Group-backed private equity firm, C2 Capital Partners. Together, the companies are set to work towards expanding Eat Just’s footprint in the Chinese market. Later, in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21471">September 2023</a>, the company raised an undisclosed amount in new funding led by VegInvest/Ahimsa Foundation. The funding was to be deployed towards improving the quality and profitability of Eat JUST's products.

Eat JUST

Zero Egg is an Israel-based developer of egg alternatives in powder form using plant-based ingredients such as soy, potatoes, peas, and chickpeas. The startup initially launched two main products, the EGG Basic, a replacement for scrambled eggs and omelets, and BAKE Basic, an egg replacement for baking. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/13217">September 2022 </a>, the company launched “Zero Egg Scoopable Scramble”, a ready-to-eat frozen plant-based scrambled egg product claimed to be the world’s first of its kind.The company initially only sold to foodservice customers and food manufacturers in 2 lb. bags of around 86 to 130 equivalent eggs. In October 2020, Zero Egg entered the US B2B market following a successful launch in the Netherlands and Israel. As of March 2024, the company’s products can also be purchased online in Patty and Liquid form.In 2021, the company announced that its product is co-manufactured in Cookeville, Tennessee, and would be distributed by Gordon Food Service in the US in 2021.Key customers and partnershipsIn <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/18573">May 2023 </a>, Zero Egg partnered with NYC’s Plantega to become the latter’s exclusive plant-based egg supplier. Plantega, based on a deli-in-store concept, featured Zero Egg’s new Egg Patty in its bodega-style breakfast sandwiches, available via all its outlets and food delivery platforms. The following month, the company <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/19335">partnered with The Friendly Toast </a>, a US restaurant chain, to launch the Vegan Zero Egg Breakfast Sandwich at all of its ten locations.Funding and financialsIn November 2020, the company raised USD 5 million in a Series A funding round led by Powerplant Ventures. The funding was earmarked for new product launches and expanding the company’s US footprint.

Zero Egg

Impossible Foods, a producer of plant-based meat products, demonstrated a prototype of its plant-based milk product in October 2020. The product has been under development by a five-member research and development (R&amp;D) team since 2015. The startup developed the milk alternative using plant-based ingredients, including a special de-flavored and deodorized soy protein. Impossible Foods claims its product tastes like cow’s milk and functions (froth, cook) like cow’s milk. Unlike soy or nut-based milk, the Impossible Foods milk alternative can be mixed with hot beverages without any precipitation.Funding and financialsIn its latest funding round in November 2021, the startup raised USD 500 million in a venture funding round led by Mirae Asset Global Investments, with participation from returning investors. The latest funding is expected to fuel continued retail expansion, growth across its supply chain, product portfolio, technology platforms, and international expansion of its plant based meat products. The company plans to use the USD 700 million funding it raised in its 2020 Series F and Series G funding rounds to double its research and development team, with a focus on launching plant-based milk, steak, bacon, and fish.

Impossible Foods

Perfect Day produces animal-free dairy products using fermentation techniques. The startup uses microflora (microorganisms such as bacteria, yeast, or in this case, fungi) to create the protein blocks of milk-casein and whey via fermentation, which is later combined with fat and water to produce genetically identical substitutes to animal milk. Perfect Day has developed the microflora to produce milk proteins with a similar genetic blueprint corresponding to casein and whey. The startup launched its first product in 2019, a limited line of animal-free ice cream. Perfect Day has also developed animal-free substitutes for cream cheese, feta, and cheese spreads, in addition to milk. Since its first funding round in December 2019, Perfect Day reported a doubling of production capacity while significantly reducing costs. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/14938">November 2022</a>, the company launched its Very Dairy animal-free milk in Singapore which is claimed to be the first precision fermented milk to enter the Asian market. Following this, Perfect Day <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/14989">acquired India’s Sterling Biotech Limited </a>at a value of 638 crore rupees (~USD 78 million). In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/32960">August 2024</a>, 50% of Perfect Day’s stake in Sterling Biotech was acquired by Indian pharmaceutical company Zydus Lifesciences.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/20068">July 2023</a>, Perfect Day exited its consumer-facing business, The Urgent Company (TUC), due to investor pressure and to shift its focus towards R&amp;D innovation, B2B partnerships, and its nth Bio precision fermentation consulting business. 15% of the workforce at TUC was laid off as a part of this move.Key customers and partnershipsThe company entered into partnerships with Tomorrow Farms in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/10605">May 2022 </a>and Strive Nutrition in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/10862">June 2022 </a>to supply fermented animal-free whey protein for the production of alternative milk. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11970">July 2022</a>, the company partnered with sports nutrition brand, Myprotein to launch a precision fermented Whey protein powder. The company partnered with global food and beverage leader, Nestle in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/12953">September 2022 </a>to develop and trial an unnamed alternative milk beverage. Further, during the same month, the company unveiled its <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/13187">enterprise biology business, “nth Bio”</a>, offering precision fermentation expertise and technology to companies worldwide and announced Onego Bio as its first partner in this new venture.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/26920">February 2024</a>, Perfect Day partnered with Unilever-owned ice cream company Breyers, to supply precision-fermented whey protein for developing a lactose-free ice cream product.Funding and financialsIn its latest funding round in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/25248">January 2024</a>, Perfect Day raised up to USD 90 million in pre-Series E funding led by its internal investors. The funding was earmarked for supporting Perfect Day's shift toward manufacturing on a larger scale and paving the path for the commercial release of its fermented whey protein product.

Perfect Day

Califia Farms uses almonds to produce a range of plant-based alternatives such as milk, cold-brew coffee, creamers, half-and-half, butter, and yogurt. In February 2019, the US-based startup launched Übermilk, a milk alternative made with oat milk, pea protein, sunflower oil and seeds, flaxseed oils, and other vitamins and minerals. Übermilk contains the same amount of calories, more protein (8 g), and less sugar (2 g) than a serving of cow’s milk.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/14325">November 2022</a>, Califia Farms added plant-based whipping cream to its portfolio with the launch of Heavy Whip. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/15601">January 2023</a>, the company added USDA-certified Organic Oatmilk and Almondmilk–made with only purified water, sea salt, and oats/almonds–to its alternative dairy products. Further, in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/26576">February 2024</a>, the company launched Califia Farms Complete, a plant-based milk claimed to be nutritionally comparable to dairy. It followed this up by launching ‘<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/31054">Complete Kids</a>’, a kid-friendly version of its Complete plant-based milk.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/31925">July 2024</a>, Califia Farms acquired Uproot Inc., a company developing plant milk dispenser systems for foodservice, for an undisclosed sum. With this acquisition, the company aimed to expand its "Away From Home" portfolio and offer plant milk in a convenient dispensing solution at hundreds of colleges, universities, and other dining locations.Califia Farms products are available in the US at Whole Foods, Kroger, Sprouts, and Target outlets.Funding and financialsIn January 2020, Califia Farms raised USD 225 million in Series D funding led by the Qatar Investment Authority to expand its production capacity, R&amp;D efforts, and geographical footprint.

Califia Farms

Producers of plant-based milk alternatives using ingredients such as almonds, cashews, soy, oats, coconuts, peas, etc.

Producers of plant-based cheese alternatives using ingredients such as coconuts, almonds, cashews, soy, hazelnuts, etc. Startups use their proprietary plant-based cultures for the fermentation process

Producers of plant-based butter alternatives using ingredients such as almonds, avocados, olive oil, etc.

Producers of dairy-free ice cream using plant-based milk

Producers of dairy-free yogurt using plant-based milk and cultures

Producers of plant-based egg alternatives for general consumption (used in baking and cooking) using pulses such as mung beans, peas, soy, chickpeas, etc.

Producers of non-dairy (such as plant-based, microflora, cultured, etc.) protein bases that are supplied to dairy alternative manufacturers to produce milk, butter, cheese, ice cream, and yogurt alternatives

Provides sustainable solutions for dairy products and egg farming

ANALYST_QUICK_TAKE

PROMINENT_CATEGORY

<div> 
 Ripple Foods, a producer of plant-based dairy substitutes, introduces Ripple Shake Ups Protein Shakes, aiming at the pre-teen market sector.
 The shakes include 13g of pea protein, 3g of fiber, and 13 crucial nutrients. They advertise to be devoid of the nine most common allergens and have a creamy, milkshake flavor which is appetizing to children, along with being nutritious. 
</div> Analyst QuickTake: 
 Recently, there has been an uptick in products targeting children. Califia Farms launched <a href="https: 
//sp-edge.com/updates/31054"> Complete Kids </a> , a kid-friendly version of its ‘Complete’ plant-based milk, while <a href="https: 
//sp-edge.com/updates/31055"> Oatly and Little Spoon </a> partnered to launch two limited-edition kid-friendly oat smoothies. This new product from Ripple Foods adds to its portfolio of kid-friendly products, which includes Ripple Kids.

Ripple Foods

EDGE Insights

About EDGE

Contact Us

Resources

Area of Focus

Technology Research Made Effortless