Bel Group

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

Plant-based Dairy & Egg

Yofix Probiotics is a clean-label producer of soy-free fermented plant-based prebiotic and probiotic foods such as yogurt, yogurt drinks and cheese from oats, lentils, sunflower, sesame seeds, and coconuts, using a zero-waste proprietary production system. Yofix has developed a fermentation formula it calls “Bio5” that is the result of more than 100 attempts at developing fermented formulas using natural ingredients to create a plant-based yogurt analog without sugar, additives, or colors. The company’s plant-based yogurts are available in berry, apple and cinnamon, banana, and maple flavors. The company also develops yogurt drinks and Kefir, plant based cheeses in sour cream and cream cheese variants as well as premix plant-based dairy products that clients can customize.Yofix currently distributes its products in Israel under the “ONLY” brand. The startup has operated a dedicated production facility in Israel since 2018.In December 2020, Yofix Probiotics made its first international expansion into the UK market and announced plans to expand distribution across large retail supermarket chains in the UK.Key customers and partnershipsThe company partnered with the Strauss Dairy Group to develop its line of plant-based Only yogurts and yogurt drinks.Funding and financialsYofix Probiotics has received backing from a number of incumbents through its funding rounds. In February 2020, two dairy producers—Muller and the Bel group—came on-board in an extended series A round, to leverage their global presence to accelerate the startup's global expansion and move into additional plant-based categories such as yogurt drinks, cheese, frozen desserts, coffee creamers, and milk. In November 2021, BayWa, a German-based global player with interests in energy, agriculture, and building materials, invested in Yofix Probiotics via its investment arm- BayWa Venture. In July 2021, Yofix Probiotics raised USD 3.5 million in a venture funding round led by the Millennium Food-Tech Partnership with a USD 2 million contribution. Other investors include Big Idea Ventures (New Protein Fund I) and the Strauss Group's The Kitchen FoodTech Hub incubator. More investors are expected to participate later in the venture round.

Founded in 2020, Climax Foods develops plant-based dairy products by using its deep plant intelligence platform. This method uses ML frameworks to gather molecular-level information about animal products and combines it with a proprietary plant ingredient functionality database to select optimized plant combinations and develop products. The company claims these are indistinguishable from real dairy products. To further capitalize on this tech, the company was building its first production facility in Petaluma, California, which was slated to begin operations in early 2023.Climax Foods’ product range includes cultured and aged blue, brie, feta, and chevre cheeses made using seeds, legumes, and plant oils. The company claims its cheeses are comparable in terms of taste, nutrition, and price to real cheese and is free from nuts, cholesterol, and GMO ingredients. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16945">March 2023 </a>, Climax Foods launched Climax Blue, its first product offering. The product was slated for its foodservice rollout in April 2023, with retail launch planned for later in the year. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/19336">June 2023 </a>, Climax Foods announced it has developed a plant-based casein ingredient by leveraging AI and a proprietary formulation process. According to the company, the seed-based protein source mimics the functionality, texture, and taste of animal-based casein.Key customers and partnershipsIn <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/20179">July 2023 </a>, the company partnered with Benchling, a data management platform, to leverage data science and machine learning (ML) for creating plant-based foods.Funding and financialsIn September 2020, the company raised USD 7.5 million in a seed funding round with participation from At One Ventures, Manta Ray Ventures, S2G Ventures, Valor Siren Ventures, and others. The funding raised was used to innovate and develop plant-based foods that have the potential to out-compete their animal counterparts, according to the company.

Climax Foods is a data science company innovating the future of food. The company provides plant-based food technology to accelerate food innovation processes through focused experimentation, resulting in the rapid development of dairy alternatives optimized for taste, texture, nutrition, and cost, allowing clients to produce plant-based foods that outperform their animal-based predecessors.

Laojinmofang is a new Chinese-style healthy snack brand, which integrates independent research and development, production and sales.

Yofix develops and manufacture dairy & soy free fermented plant base pre & pro-biotic foods.  Excellent taste and texture, clean label – no artificial or preservative added, made of cereals, lentils, grains and seeds contain high nutritional values at competitive costs & sustainable production process.  The first product ready to market is a plant base yogurt which will be followed by yogurt drinks, deserts, frozen yogurt, ice cream base and more

Bel Group is a multinational cheese marketer centered in France. It manufactures and distributes processed and semi processed cheeses, frequently packaged in individual portions.

Le Bel Groupe

Bel Group Names Arjoon Bose Global Chief Marketing & Digital Officer

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

Le Bel Groupe

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