Dive Brief:
- Newly-formed organizations, The Good Food Institute (GFI) and New Crop Capital (NCC), are dedicated to creating clean plant and culture-based alternatives to animal products, as well as making them widely available and cost-competitive with traditional animal products.
- The groups support companies such as Memphis Meats and Gelzen, which have recently disrupted the food industry with the world’s first cultured meatball and gelatin grown in fermenters, respectively. They are doing so without using animal products.
- GFI will host events at colleges and universities and hold contests to find budding entrepreneurs at business and science schools. NCC is a $25 million venture capital fund that makes angel, seed and Series A investments exclusively in firms dedicated to developing plant and culture-based alternatives to animal agriculture.
Dive Insight:
These organizations are part of a growing category of capital investors and corporate R&D programs aimed at funding innovative food startups.
Another firm, AccelFoods LLC, manages a $20 million venture fund and has invested in 20 high-growth companies. Company officials find that the most exceptional, high-growth companies entering the food and beverage space offer natural and/or organic products. "Our expectation is that we will continue on that path going forward," Lauren Jupiter, co-founder and managing partner, AccelFoods, told Food Dive.
Contents for cash prizes and business assistance are another approach to developing innovative natural and organic products. Ganeden is taking submissions through May 6 for its Probiotic Innovation Jumpstart competition. The winner will receive $25,000 to utilize GanedenBC30 probiotics, as well as guidance to develop and launch the product in the retail market.