While most are familiar with the 'mocktail,' or the non-alcoholic version of a cocktail, foodtech startups are also tapping into the functional beverage market. This mostly non-alcoholic beverage category typically includes added ingredients and health-related supplements, which includes prebiotic/probiotic drinks, protein/nutritional shakes, vitamin waters, and more.
We've looked at 150+ startups that enrich beverages with vitamins, prebiotics, natural ingredients and low-sugar content. With $25B of combined enterprise value, it is still a relatively small category.
In 2021, $649M was raised by startups in the category. About a third of it was contributed by China-based unicorn Genki Forest. There's one more $1B+ company in the category, Celsius. Non-alcoholic beverage companies such as Uncle Nearest and Big Drop Brewing have also raised capital.
Combined EV of Functional and Non-Alcoholic Beverage Startups
With more sober and sober-curious consumers looking to enjoy nonalcoholic drinking options, we're hoping to expand the list of startups in this landscape and will look to create better, specific tagging as this space continues to grow.
If there's a company not featured in the landscape that you think should be included, please reach out to our Senior Innovation Analyst and foodtech specialist, Ivan Draganov.
🌶 McCormick spices up the metaverse with Decentraland. Decentraland users will be able to explore Vietnamese and Cajun style recipes and interact with chefs who inspired the new seasoning flavor. The brand is one of countless others taking to the metaverse to reach the younger demographic. - Marketing Dive
🇨🇳 China’s internet darlings seek growth after zero-Covid. Meituan and Pinduoduo, winners in the pandemic, adapt to renewed competition as curbs are relaxed. Meituan and Pinduoduo also increased sales by 28 per cent and 65 per cent year on year, respectively, beating the country’s tech giants. During the same period, Tencent’s revenues declined while Alibaba’s grew by just 3 per cent. - Financial Times
Latest foodtech deals
Selectdeals from last week:
🇳🇴 Oda, an online grocery retailer, raised $151M and lost its unicorn status. Online grocery delivery was definitely a winner of the pandemic as people practiced social distancing, but it has struggled to adapt to a 'post-pandemic' market. Oda is profitable in Norway and seeks to become profitable in the other markets in operates.
🇨🇦 Good Leaf, a vertical farming company in Canada, raised $110M to expand nationally. The company is shortening the supply chain for greeny leafs, therefore reducing the transportation costs, emissions and risks of food spoilage.
Other notable foodtech deals from around the globe:
🇺🇸 Sound Agriculture, a crop protection and fertilizer company, secured $75M in Series D funding from Leaps by Bayer and Syngenta Ventures, among others.
🇫🇷 Naïo Technologies, an agriculture robotics company, completed a new €32M funding round to double the number of robots in service in the next 2 years.
🇺🇸 MarginEdge, a restaurant operations software company, bagged $45M in Series C funding led by Ten Coves Capital.
Alternative protein has been one of the fastest growing segments in Foodtech. Between 2016 and 2021, VC investment grew 17x to $5.1b.
With $2.7b, this year's VC investment has slowed down compared to 2021 and 2020. However, there are still many promising and investible startups. We’ve ranked the top alternative protein startups to watch globally based on Dealroom Signal.
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