OAKLAND, Calif., USA – Voyage Foods, the leading food technology company known for re-creating some of our most beloved foods using sustainable ingredients and sourcing practices, today announced a $36M Series A round, bringing total funding to date to $41.7M. The round was co-led by funds managed by UBS O’Connor and Level One Fund, and also included participation from Horizons Ventures, SOSV’s Indie Bio, and Social Impact Capital.
Voyage Foods was created to address many of the issues that are making common food products increasingly difficult to access: climate change, rising costs, unethical production, and health issues. The company’s three proprietary products – peanut-free spread, cacao-free chocolate, and coffee without the coffee beans – are molecularly similar to their original counterparts, free of the top nine major allergens, and made using a combination of whole, natural ingredients that are sustainably produced, without sacrificing the flavor and experience consumers are familiar with. They are also comparable in price to traditional coffee, peanut butter, and chocolate, demonstrating that revolutionary solutions to the future of food do not have to translate to higher costs.
The closing of this Series A funding round establishes Voyage Foods as a top competitor in the ethical food market, which is projected to grow to $727.86B by 2025 at an annual rate of 5.8% as consumers demand more accountability from popular brands. Coffee prices have been rising in recent years largely due to unstable weather patterms and climate change, while cacao production has the largest water footprint of any other crop and utilizes problematic cultivation practices in the form of child and slave labor.
Meanwhile, severe peanut allergies affect over 6.1 million Americans, corresponding to roughly 2% of the U.S. population, and are rapidly on the rise in both children and adults. Voyage Foods’ products will not only help mitigate these concerns and provide a blueprint for a more just system, but will also preserve the classic foods that are facing challenges in ways that are accessible to everyone.
Voyage Foods is led by a team of esteemed food scientists including CEO Adam Maxwell, who has a strong background working for top food and beverage technology companies such as CHEW Innovation and Endless West, and Head of Operations Kelsey Tenney, who served as Senior Food Scientist at Endless West and Incredible Foods.
“At Voyage, we’re future-proofing time-tested favorite foods so that we can enjoy them for years to come without having to worry about their impact on the environment and unjust labor customs that contributed to making them,” said Voyage Foods CEO Adam Maxwell. “We’re thrilled to be working with dynamic investors who are committed to helping us create delicious versions of traditionally unsustainable food products that won’t be limited by climate change, humanitarian concerns, or immunological issues.”
“Voyage’s ability to deliver true 1:1 replacements for some of the world’s most important food products is a feat unmatched by most food tech companies,” said Kevin Russell, Chief Investment Officer of UBS O’Connor. “Compared to incumbent products this is done at a superior cost and with a significantly reduced environmental impact, and has the potential to transform the food system in a way that benefits all stakeholders.”
“Voyage Foods is a paradigm shift for food tech. It proves that innovations in food don’t need to cost more than incumbent products or be filled with a laundry list of ingredients you’ve never heard of. The unique technology and process behind this quantum leap can liberate us from the volatile commodity prices, humanitarian issues, and negative environmental impacts tied to the mass production of cocoa, coffee, and many other crops,” said James Stewart, Founding Partner of Level One Fund.
Voyage Foods’ future includes a combination of retail and B2B partnerships, with a focus on incorporating products into some of the major food manufacturers in order to help them transition to a more environmentally conscious and equitable food supply. Their first product, the peanut-free spread, will be launching in certain in-store and online retailers in Q2. Voyage’s cacao-free chocolate will be launching as an ingredient with a commercial partner in Q3.
