The earth's population is growing, the climate is changing and water resources are becoming scarcer. Sustainable growth is therefore high on the agenda of food start-ups around the world. The editorial staff of the Lebensmittelzeitung (dfv Mediagroup) has put together ten exciting newcomers. We present the start-ups and their product innovations in three parts. Two farmers and a cheese dairy of modern times will kick off the event. Part I.
The company operates exclusively in the UK and works closely with the University of Cambridge. The products are distributed by M&S, Waitrose, Whole Foods, Ocado and others.
London's first underground farm was founded in 2015 by Richard Ballard and Steven Dring with the assistance of Chef Michel Roux Jr. The start-up was so well received by the public that a large part of the financing of almost one million GBP was provided by crowdfunding. In early 2020, the company launched a new series of fundraising activities, raising GBP 15 million.
The company's products are available in selected locations of Whole Foods and similar supermarkets in the New York City metropolitan area. They are also on the menus of two restaurants. Expansion is proceeding rapidly, with further cities in the USA being targeted.
Bowery Farming was founded in New Jersey in 2016 by CEO Irving Fain. In less than two years, the startup managed to raise USD 90 million - under the leadership of Google Ventures. In 2018, the output was tripled and the start-up secured another USD 20 million. Bowery now operates three farms and has raised more than USD 172.5 million from leading investors.
Noquo Foods has not yet launched a product on the market, despite a considerable fundraising effort, but has only developed prototypes. A large part of the capital raised goes into research. The first new development should be ready for the market by the end of the year.
Noquo was founded in 2019 by the nutritional researcher Anja Leissner and the entrepreneur Sorosh Tavakoli in Stockholm. In January this year, the company announced that it had received a total of 3.25 million euros from investors such as the VC firms Astanor Ventures, Northzone, Inventure, Purple Orange Ventures and Creandum.
This text first appeared on www.lebensmittelzeitung.net.