Tech
Alternative-protein startups are raising billions. Here’s an exclusive look at the pitch deck a seed startup used to raise $20 million to disrupt plant-based food.
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- Equinom is an Israeli food startup focused on ingredients for meat alternatives.
- The company secured $20 million in Series C funding to scale up its development of non-GMO seeds.
- Take a look at the pitch deck it used to win over backers.
The plant-based-food industry is booming, with startups that are exploring alternative proteins raising more than $3 billion in 2020, according to the Good Food Institute.
One agriculture startup wants to become the go-to source for plant-based foods with what it describes as a non-GMO seed-breeding technology.
Equinom, based in Israel, has secured $20 million in Series C funding to scale its research and development, exploring novel methods to bring out the best flavor and nutritional value of seeds and grains.
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The round was led by The Phoenix, with participation from Fortissimo, BASF Venture Capital, Trendlines, and Maverick Ventures Israel. The new injection of cash, bringing Equinom’s total raised to $36 million, will be used to expand operations in sales, marketing, and research and development across the globe.
After growing up wanting to become a farmer, Equinom’s founder, Gil Shalev, turned to science and technology to try building the future of food.
“The desire to combine science and agriculture was always my life,” he said. “We said, we need to find a very lean and efficient way to implement new technologies into breeding. We said, OK, let’s use our technology where we believe we can bring the highest impact, which is definitely food.”
Equinom’s partners include the PepsiCo-owned dip company Sabra, which sourced a specific line of sesame seed for tahini to use in its hummus, its fellow plant-based ingredients company Roquette, and the sesame supplier Dipasa.
Shalev said food companies often don’t know what they need to make tasty meat alternatives, and added that Equinom “closes the gap between food and biochemistry” in a bid to avoid trial and error.
Breeding better seeds and grains improves the quality of the ingredient, he said.
Equinom is also adding to its “Google-like” database that matches food manufacturers with specific strains of seed based on their needs and enables local sourcing. Shalev is planning to grow his 42-person team to 65, eight of whom are in the US, to do this.
You can see the pitch deck that secured Equinom’s latest round here:
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