German national rail company Deutsche Bahn has partnered with Planet A Foods to offer cocoa-free chocolate shortbreads during the Euro 2024 football championship and beyond.

As fans travel to Euro 2024 stadiums across Germany, those taking Deutsche Bahn (DB) trains will now be treated to free chocolate shortbreads, but with a twist. The cookies will feature cocoa-free chocolate from ChoViva, the sub-brand of German food tech startup Planet A Foods.

First-class passengers aboard DB’s Intercity Express (ICE) and Intercity (IC) trains will be offered the heart-shaped shortbreads as part of a multi-year collaboration between the two companies, but starts with a Euro 2024-centric version.

Germany is hosting UEFA’s inter-Europe football championship this summer (June 14 to July 14), and, to mark the occasion, the shortbread will be called Lieblingsfan (favourite fan) for the duration of the tournament. The initiative is designed to raise awareness among millions of football fans about chocolate’s impact on deforestation and associated greenhouse gas emissions.

“Deutsche Bahn is the perfect match for us as a partner. We both pursue the same mission: to save several million tons of CO2 per year,” says Planet A Foods CEO Maximilian Marquart, who co-founded the brand with his sister Sara in 2021. “One by offering sustainable mobility solutions, and one by producing sustainable food ingredients that are decoupled from limited resources. It only makes sense that together we can achieve even more.”

Climate-friendly chocolate goes beyond Euro 2024

The collaboration is a summer version of the Lieblingsgast (favourite guest), a small chocolate handed to DB passengers, which is made from fairly traded cocoa and wrapped in FSC-certified recyclable paper. Part of the rail operator’s climate commitments, the initiative has been ongoing since March 2023.

“The goal is to show appreciation, with sustainability being a central focus for both DB and us,” says Maximilian, whose startup participated in a bidding process to win the DB contract. He cites the brand’s taste and sustainability credentials as the reasons why it was selected.

It means the ChoViva chocolate alternative – made from a base of fermented oats and sunflower seeds – will be part of DB’s lineup on the long-distance trains over the next two summers.

“The cookie is a specific development for the German Railway together with one of our partners,” says Sara, the company’s CTO. “We chose a cookie instead of a chocolate bar as they are distributed over the summer months. The idea was to avoid any problems that might occur with melting and distribution.”

So what’s the difference between the Euro and post-Euro versions? “The cookie itself stays the same,” she says. “What changes is that after the European Football Championship is over, we’ll switch to the Lieblingsgast version again with a new branding in terms of packaging design.”

Maximilian adds that ChoViva is already working on a second iteration of the cookie to further its planet-friendliness. He remains tight-lipped on the details, but says the team is “working on improving different areas even further”.

DB’s track record of climate-friendly food

This is far from the only planet-friendly food offering at DB. The railway company has partnered with multiple companies over the years to cater to consumers’ growing demand for more sustainable catering options.

In fact, since March 2022, more than half of the food offered at its onboard eateries has been meatless, featuring vegan meat analogues, vegetarian snacks and seasonal produce. A few months before that, DB introduced Oatly’s barista oat milk for coffee orders.

Over the last few months, it teamed up with two local vegan seafood brands. The first entailed a chilli-cheese-style baguette with BettaF!sh’s tuna, and the other a noodle stir-fry with Happy Ocean Foods’ soy-based shrimp. The latter was introduced during Veganuary, and featured prominently at the beginning of the menu, which extolled the benefits of a plant-based diet.

Cocoa’s climate impact is a problem

But, while meat is the most destructive food for the planet – releasing twice as many greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere than plant-based foods – chocolate itself has a sizeable footprint. Dark chocolate, for example, is the second most polluting food, second only to beef. Intensive deforestation plays a big part here, and the countereffects of climate change mean a third of all cocoa trees could die out by 2050.

By using traditional fermentation and roasting methods – but eschewing the cocoa bean – ChoViva (formerly NoCoa/QOA) manages to bring down carbon emissions by 90% per kg of chocolate. This has been recognised by CPG behemoths like Lindt, Kölln, Rewe, and Griesson de Beukelaer, which have released various products using the cocoa-free chocolate.

However, ChoViva’s chocolate for the DB cookies does still use palm oil, though this is RSPO-certified, which suggests it’s sourced from certified production units and is produced according to strict ecological and social criteria. In an interview with Green Queen last year, Maximilian explained that palm oil can become essential for some of its collaborations. “If we [use it], we support sustainable palm oil cultivation and work with partners who do the same,” he explained.

“For some special applications, we couldn’t yet get rid of palm oil due to technical reasons. We try to limit those applications,” added Sara. She had revealed that the company was working on its own alternatives to palm oil and other cocoa fats.

Asked about progress on this front, she now says: “We put a lot of effort and budget into our cocoa fat alternative. We’re progressing according to our time plan right now, in terms of development.”

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Israeli startup Kokomodo has emerged from stealth with a $750,000 investment to produce cocoa and chocolate products via cellular agriculture.

As the future of chocolate becomes increasingly uncertain, Kokomodo is the latest startup innovating to protect cocoa from climate change, and climate change from cocoa.

Armed with a $750,000 investment from The Kitchen FoodTech Hub and the Israeli Innovation Authority, the Rehovot-based player has come out of stealth to produce cell-based cocoa for the food and beverage, supplements and cosmetics industries.

Kokomodo derives its climate-resilient product from the cells of premium cocoa beans grown in Central and South America. Having successfully completed lab-scale production, it will use the capital to expand to pilot scale and utilise its bioprocessing systems to get closer to price parity with conventional chocolate, according to co-founder and CEO Tal Govrin.

“We are moving to produce biomass in a scalable bioreactor to further increase production volume and optimise it,” she tells Green Queen. “In 18 to 24 months, we plan to produce hundreds of litres in bioreactors, working toward reaching commercial scale.”

Speaking about the funding round, she added: “We will also focus on client engagement and widening our range of products, as well as regulations and IP submissions to extend our go-to-market.”

Why Kokomodo is making cell-based chocolate

Kokomodo is the result of a joint venture between The Kitchen FoodTech Hub and Tel Aviv-based Plantae Bioscience, whose technology has been developed behind closed doors for the last two years. “Kokomodo is promoting a variety of causes such as preservation of cacao, fair trade and shorter supply chains, to name only a few,” said Amir Zaidman, chief business officer of The Kitchen FoodTech Hub.

As an industry, cocoa is getting decimated by climate change, with scientists saying a third of cocoa trees could die out by 2050. Extreme weather events have ruined harvests and led to a shortage of cocoa, pushing prices up to all-time highs this year. In April, a tonne of cocoa was priced at over $12,000 – for context, it was under $2,500 in January 2023. Farmers in Ivory Coast, the largest cocoa producer, are truly feeling the heat, where more than 85% of the forest has been lost since 1960.

Meanwhile, producing cocoa products themselves has a highly detrimental impact on the planet. Only beef pollutes the atmosphere more than dark chocolate, and cocoa beans have one of the highest carbon opportunity costs (the amount of carbon lost from native vegetation and soils to produce food).

“Kokomodo was born from a profound passion for preserving the supply of cocoa,” says Govrin. “Our cellular agriculture technology ensures a steady flow of premium, health-boosting cocoa, aligning consumer enjoyment with global responsibility.”

Current trends point to price parity potential

The startup chose to source from Latin America as the region is known for its premium cocoa beans. “We aimed to obtain different varieties and genotypes to explore and take advantage of the potential of natural variance. We also obtain different cell lines originating from different parts of the cacao seedling while creating a cacao cell library and analytical capabilities to seek out the best cacao cells to produce,” explains Govrin.

“These carefully chosen cells are then cultivated using state-of-the-art cellular agriculture technology, nurturing them into a thriving cell culture. As the biomass grows, the production process moves to advanced bioreactors, where the cacao is harvested and processed according to the specific requirements of each application.”

She adds that Kokomodo’s “technologically systematic” approach ensures that its cocoa retains the quality and authenticity of the beans. “Through the company’s technology process, Kokomodo ensures cocoa that matches traditional chocolate flavours and textures, offering the genuine taste and characteristics of real cocoa (aroma, flavours, and sweetness), while capturing the nutraceutical values and health benefits of cacao.”

One of the biggest hurdles for any cellular agriculture company – but particularly one aiming to disrupt an already volatile market – is cost. While cocoa prices have been skyrocketing, matching it on price is still a tall order for cell-based producers.

But Govrin believes cell-cultured cocoa can be price-competitive due to two trends. “On one hand, the scalability of cell culture cacao production is expected to increase, leading to lower prices as the technology matures,” she says. “Simultaneously, traditional cocoa farming faces mounting economic and environmental pressures, which could drive up the prices of conventionally grown cocoa.”

She adds: “As the rising prices, costs and supply challenges of traditional cocoa cultivation intensify due to climate change impacts, disease, and overreliance on a few producer countries like Ghana and Ivory Coast, cell-cultured cocoa will provide a more sustainable and resilient solution for the industry.”

Choosing a non-agricultural solution over cocoa-free chocolate

Govrin suggests that Kokomodo is targeting premium brands that prioritise sustainable and ethical cocoa products, while actively exploring innovative technologies for cocoa cultivation. Its first product is a “high-value cocoa powder” that can be integrated into various products, followed by cocoa butter.

The idea is to use its cell-based cocoa products across different CPG categories, including chocolate, beverages, spreads, and protein bars. Its potential customers can get access to “custom-fit cocoa for diverse market demands”, the CEO says.

But, before any of that, the company will need to pass regulatory barriers in the countries it wants to commercialise in. Govrin indicates that a US launch may be more suitable, given that the self-affirmed GRAS process there is much simpler and quicker than the EU’s novel food regulations. “We are currently working with regulation advisors who can provide the required support to build our regulation strategy and application. Submission will take place once the growth process in bioreactors is established,” she reveals.

Kokomodo is among just a handful of companies working on cell-based chocolate, alongside fellow Israeli startup Celleste Bio, US producer California Cultured, and Finnish giant Fazer. More companies – such as Voyage Foods, Planet A Foods, Win-Win and Foreverland – are instead making cocoa-free alternatives to chocolate, using plants and fermentation to create chocolate-like products.

What does Govrin think about this approach? “We master the very essence of cacao as we select and cultivate cacao cells from a variety of real premium beans. It is the real thing. Not ‘like’ cocoa, nor is it a ‘substitute’,” she says, reiterating the nutraceutical values of cocoa to illustrate how Kokomodo’s innovation differs from “chocolate substitutes that contain a high level of refined sugar and vegetable fat”.

“Kokomodo uses science and technology to develop real cocoa in a way that is most impactful to human health and makes it readily available for use in consumer products. Cellular agriculture technology is a game changer in being able to bring cocoa to the market all year round,” she adds.

“With climate change threatening cocoa, a non-agricultural solution to produce it could ensure its survival for future generations, as we don’t want to give up on this powerful plant.”

The post With $750,000 in Funding, Kokomodo Emerges as Latest Cell-Based Chocolate Player appeared first on Green Queen.

Lower sugar, lower emissions, lower waste – it’s a chocolate bar that can do it all, and uses it all. Can this sustainable indulgence save chocolate and the world?

Switzerland is renowned as one of the chocolate capitals of the world, whether we’re talking commodity, high-end, or a bit of both. So as cocoa crops and chocolate bars face an uncertain and increasingly volatile future, it should perhaps come as no surprise that the home of Nestlé, Lindt, Toblerone, Cailler and Frey is hoping to lead the fight for the industry’s survival.

It may sound like an exaggeration – but just look at the data. Thanks to disappointing harvests, cocoa prices have been on a wild ride over the last year, reaching all-time highs in recent months. In April, a ton of cocoa was priced at over $12,000 – for context, it was under $2,500 in January 2023.

Crop failures have driven a third consecutive year of cocoa shortages, and it’s those on the farm who are the hardest hit – large chocolate companies continue to line their pockets. While investment in the sector is dwindling, the climate crisis is a major culprit. Scientists are warning that a third of cocoa trees could die out by 2050, just as chocolate production continues to decimate the planet.

Dark chocolate is the second-most polluting food (behind only beef), thanks in large part to the widespread use of palm oil, a major source of deforestation. While farmers in Ivory Coast, the largest cocoa producer, are truly feeling the heat, more than 85% of the forest has been lost since 1960. This is why the EU and the UK are introducing bans on importing deforestation-linked cocoa – although these come with their own strings attached.

Suffice it to say: chocolate and our sweet tooth are in trouble. Some startups are developing cocoa-free and lab-grown, with future chocolate bars featuring “less cocoa or none at all”, as one writer puts it. But researchers at ETH Zurich, the public research university in the Swiss capital, are going the opposite route, making chocolate that contains all of the cocoa fruit, and just the cocoa fruit.

It’s part of an Innosuisse (the state innovation agency) project, where a research team led by ETH Zurich professor Erich Windhab worked in tandem with cacao fruit startup Koa and Swiss chocolate manufacturer Felchlin to develop a recipe for the novel chocolate.

Finetuning a game-changing cocoa gel

Consider the honeydew melon. It has a large outer shell, and, when you cut it open, you encounter the flesh, as well as the seeds and pulp. Cacao fruit is similar.

Cocoa beans are the seeds of this fruit, but very little of the plant actually ends up in the chocolate bars we buy. It’s why you see cocoa percentages on packaging, as they’re mixed with some kind of sugar, fat and other flavourings.

But ETH Zurich researchers have managed to tap into the flesh as well as the outer shell – or the endocarp – for its ‘cocoa-fruit chocolate’. This is important because they represent 70-80% of the fruit, and are usually discarded, making it one of the world’s most wasted fruits. Making use of these parts of the plant can open up a new income stream for farmers, revive degraded landscapes, and produce clean energy too.

It’s something startups like Pacha de Cacao, Cabosse Naturals (owned by Barry Callebaut), Blue Stripes and CaPao are already harnessing. However, many of these applications rely on cacao fruit as a byproduct – the team at ETH Zurich is treating it as an ingredient in its own right. This also helps remove the reliance on other industries – like palm oil and sugar – to create end products.

Here’s how they replace everything else to make it an all-cocoa bar. They take the endocarp, dry it, and turn it into a fine powder. This is then mixed with part of the pulp and heated to form a cocoa gel, which is extremely sweet and can replace the sugar used in conventional chocolate. The cocoa mass, meanwhile, is made from the beans – so the only thing left over is part of the thin outer husk, which is traditionally used as fuel or composting material.

While that might sound simple in theory, there was a lot of back-and-forth to find just the right recipe, with various tests assessing the texture of different compositions in the lab. Too much cocoa gel? It’s a clumpy chocolate. Too little? Not sweet enough. Finding the balance between sweetness and texture was hard, something that isn’t an issue when you just use powdered sugar.

Finally, though, they settled on a maximum gel ratio of 20%, which gives you the same amount of sweetness as a bar with 5-10% powdered sugar content. This is still much below the 30-40% threshold of regular dark chocolate, but the perceived sweetness was still palatable to taste testers from the Bern University of Applied Sciences, who tried chocolates weighing 5g each. They contained varying amounts of powdered sugar or cocoa gel.

“This allowed us to empirically determine the sweetness of our recipe as expressed in the equivalent amount of powdered sugar,” said Kim Mishra, lead author of a study based on the research, and R&D lead at plant-based meat pioneer Planted.

Dual benefits of sustainability and health carry mass appeal

Mishra and his team are excited about the health and environmental benefits of their creation. They carried out a life cycle analysis comparing conventional chocolate to their process both at lab-scale and commercial levels, revealing that their cocoa-fruit chocolate would have a lower climate footprint – in terms of global warming potential, and land and water use – if produced at scale.

The nutritional factor is another plus. As new players come up with ways to reduce sugar – either by using novel sweet proteins or by turning it into dietary fibre – the ETH Zurich chocolate boasts a higher fibre content (15g per 100g) compared to average European dark chocolate (12g), thanks to the use of the cocoa gel as a sweetener.

This translates to a 20% increase in fibre, as well as a 30% decrease in saturated fat, at a time when gut health is all the rage. “Fibre is valuable from a physiological perspective because it naturally regulates intestinal activity and prevents blood sugar levels from rising too rapidly when consuming chocolate,” said Mishra.

“Saturated fat can also pose a health risk when too much is consumed. There’s a relationship between increased consumption of saturated fats and increased risk of cardiovascular diseases,” he added.

He argued that small-scale farmers can diversify their offerings and increase incomes if the whole cocoa fruit can be marketed for chocolate production. “Farmers can not only sell the beans, but also dry out the juice from the pulp and the endocarp, grind it into powder and sell that as well,” he said. “This would allow them to generate income from three value-creation streams. And more value creation for the cocoa fruit makes it more sustainable.”

But it may be a while before you see cocoa-fruit chocolate in your local supermarket. “Although we’ve shown that our chocolate is attractive and has a comparable sensory experience to normal chocolate, the entire value creation chain will need to be adapted, starting with the cocoa farmers, who will require drying facilities,” said Mishra.

To that end, ETH Zurich has filed for a patent for its chocolate recipe. “Cocoa-fruit chocolate can only be produced and sold on a large scale by chocolate producers once enough powder is produced by food processing companies.” You can’t help but think that its partnership with Koa and Felchlin will only continue to serve this purpose. And who knows, maybe your Lindor balls will be filled with cocoa gel soon.

The post This Chocolate Is Made With All Parts of the Cocoa Fruit – and Nothing Else appeared first on Green Queen.

Ethical pantry company Voyage Foods, famous for its cocoa-free chocolate and nut-free spreads, has secured $52M in a Series A+ funding round, weeks after signing a commercial deal with Cargill.

Voyage Foods, which says it makes the “most sustainable” chocolate on the market, has closed a sizeable Series A+ investment round totalling $52M. This includes the $22M the company had announced in January, taking its total raised to $94M.

The latest financing round was led by Level One Fund and Horizons Ventures, with SOSV, Nimble Partners and Collaborative Fund also participating. James Stewart, founding partner at Level One, said Voyage Foods had “set a new standard for commercialisation in the food tech space” by producing substitutes of essential ingredients that are both “extremely cost-competitive against, and more sustainable than” their conventional counterparts.

The funding announcement comes a month after the startup penned an exclusive commercial deal with agricultural giant Cargill, the largest privately held company in the US. The partnership will see the latter be a global B2B distributor for Voyage Foods’ allergen-free, climate-friendly ingredients for use in a variety of applications.

Voyage Foods will offer Cargill more stable pricing

Voyage Foods had previously indicated that it would use the capital to scale up manufacturing and launch new products to the market. It’s already building a 300,000 sq ft facility in the midwest, and its collaboration with Cargill will only help accelerate that.

Anne Mertens-Hoyng, Cargill’s category director of chocolate confectionery and ice cream, told Bloomberg that Voyage Foods “offers more stable pricing and reliance on raw materials that are less subject to market volatility”. Chocolate prices have reached an all-time high (up by 250% over last year), with cocoa costing $10,000 per tonne in March.

Cargill is a major player in the confectionery business, with its portfolio including chocolate, coatings and fillings, starches and sweeteners, and oils and fats for bakery, ice cream and chocolate categories. But with access to Voyage Foods’ cocoa-free chocolates and nut-free peanut and hazelnut butters, these can now be complemented with a broader range of ingredient solutions that are vegan-friendly and free from nuts.

“Alternatives to cocoa-based products are a great accompaniment to the traditional chocolate solutions that Cargill offers its customers,” Inge Demeyere, European managing director of bakery, ice cream and chocolate confectionery at Cargill, said last month. “This partnership is just one of the many ways that we are future-proofing our portfolio and meeting consumer demands and market regulations when it comes to even more sustainable options.”

Cargill, which racked up $177B in revenue last year, has invested in a number of climate-friendly food companies, including ENOUGH, UPSIDE Foods, Aleph Farms, Wildtype, Cocuus, Bflike and Cubiq Foods. But it is one of America’s four largest meat producers, and has been linked to deforestation, pollution, climate change and exploitation “at a scale that dwarfs their closest competitors”, according to former US Congressman Henry Waxman, who called it “the worst company in the world” in 2019.

The conglomerate has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions in its North American beef supply chain by 30% by 2030, although this reduction would need to be considerably higher considering its climate footprint was once found to be greater than the entire nation of the Netherlands. Partnering with Voyage Foods will no doubt help its case a little.

“Voyage Foods has always been focused on solving human and environmental health challenges through food. The best way to accomplish this is by supplying the world’s food brands and manufacturers with our impactful ingredients,” Voyage Foods CEO Adam Maxwell said after signing the Cargill agreement, which will see products rolled out in Europe first.

Future-proofing climate-threatened ingredients

The cocoa-free chocolate world is heating up, with WNWN Food Labs (UK), ChoViva (Germany) and Foreverland (Italy) all working on such products. As is the beanless coffee space – something Voyage Foods also offers for its foodservice clients – with players like Atomo (US), Northern Wonder (Netherlands) and Prefer (Singapore).

These ingredients have a heavy impact on the planet, driving intensive deforestation, water use and greenhouse gas emissions. Climate change itself affects their production and yields, with a third of all cocoa trees in danger of going extinct by 2050, and the area suitable for growing coffee set to shrink in half by then.

Voyage Foods uses a proprietary technology to turn a base of grape seeds, sunflower protein, RSPO-certified palm oil and shea kernel oil into a chocolate-like compound product. An independent life-cycle assessment found that its non-dairy milk chocolate produces 84% fewer emissions compared to conventional options, while its semi-sweet chocolate reduces GHG emissions by 81%. Plus, these use 99% less water to produce.

In fact, if just 5% of the world switched to its cocoa-free chocolates, it would bring emissions savings equivalent to removing between 1.5 and 1.8 million cars annually, and save between 500,000 and 1.2 million Olympic-sized swimming pools’ worth of water.

“As the only company in the world with the validated ability to make these replicas at scale, Voyage’s newly announced partnership with Cargill makes these products available to the world’s major food companies as an immediate solution to fluctuating commodity prices and supply chain disruptions,” said Stewart.

Voyage Foods’ products are available at 1,400 retail locations, including at Walmart stores nationwide, and Maxwell said the company’s sales are increasing every month. And in March, Colorado-based Rudi’s Rocky Mountain Bakery announced it will launch PB&J sandwiches using its gluten-free bread and Voyage Foods’ peanut-free butter – a sustainable, allergen-friendly take on JM Smucker’s Uncrustables.

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Californian ethical pantry startup Voyage Foods has signed a commercial deal with food conglomerate Cargill to scale up the production and distribution of its cocoa-free chocolate and nut-free spreads.

Cargill has announced a commercial partnership with Voyage Foods to extend its confectionery portfolio by entering the cocoa-free chocolate market for the first time.

The deal means Cargill – the largest privately held company in the US – will be Voyage Foods’ exclusive global distributor for B2B services, providing food manufacturers with allergen-free, climate-friendly ingredients for use in a variety of applications, at a time when chocolate prices are soaring.

“Cargill is proud to partner with Voyage Foods, investing in the next generation of even more sustainable food solutions,” said Inge Demeyere, European managing director of bakery, ice cream and chocolate confectionery at Cargill. “We want to be our customers’ main source of inspiration and growth, setting new standards for innovating and collaborating. To do this, we’re anticipating future trends by focusing on exciting, high-value categories such as ice cream, sweet bakery and chocolate confectionery.”

But it’s not just chocolate – the partnership will also give Cargill’s customers access to Voyage Foods’ nut-free peanut and hazelnut butters. The range will be available in Europe initially, before expanding into other regions later.

Cargill enters cocoa-free confectionery world

Cargill’s extensive confectionery portfolio includes chocolate, coatings and fillings, starches and sweeteners, and oils and fats for bakery, ice cream and chocolate categories – but these can now be complemented with a broader range of ingredient solutions that are vegan-friendly and free from nuts.

“Voyage Foods has always been focused on solving human and environmental health challenges through food. The best way to accomplish this is by supplying the world’s food brands and manufacturers with our impactful ingredients,” said Voyage Foods CEO Adam Maxwell, who co-founded the startup with R&D head Kelsey Tenney in 2021.

The company uses a proprietary technology to turn a base of grape seeds, sunflower protein, RSPO-certified palm oil and shea kernel oil into a chocolate-like compound product. While the cocoa-free chocolate is targeted towards B2B applications, its nut-free hazelnut and peanut spreads are available in over 1,400 retail locations, and it also makes beanless coffee for foodservice.

In January, the company closed a $22M funding round, taking its total amount raised to $64M. The plan is to use the money to scale up manufacturing and launch new products to the market, something that the partnership with Cargill will help facilitate.

“Partnering with Cargill, a leader in the food industry for over 100 years, is the perfect way to scale these solutions globally to offer food manufacturers the ability to integrate cocoa-free confectionery and spreads, produced with no nut or dairy allergens used in the recipe formulation, into their portfolios,” said Maxwell. “Together, we’re amplifying our impact on people and the planet.”

Demeyere added: “Alternatives to cocoa-based products are a great accompaniment to the traditional chocolate solutions that Cargill offers its customers. This partnership is just one of the many ways that we are future-proofing our portfolio and meeting consumer demands and market regulations when it comes to even more sustainable options.”

Voyage Foods will help lower Cargill’s Dutch-sized footprint

Cargill, which raked in $177B in revenue last year, has an extensive record of investing in climate-friendly food companies, including ENOUGH, UPSIDE Foods, Aleph Farms, Wildtype, Cocuus, Bflike, and Cubiq Foods. But it is one of the four largest meat companies in the US, and has driven deforestation, pollution, climate change and exploitation “at a scale that dwarfs their closest competitors”, according to Mighty Earth chair and former US Congressman Henry Waxman, who called it “the worst company in the world” in 2019.

The company has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions in its North American beef supply chain by 30% by 2030, although that could prove tricky considering its climate footprint was once found to be greater than the entire nation of the Netherlands. But partnering with Voyage Foods, whose products have been called “the most sustainable chocolates ever to come to market”, will help its case.

An independent life-cycle assessment of its products found that Voyage Foods’ non-dairy milk chocolate produces 66% fewer GHG emissions from land use change and 84% fewer emissions overall compared to its conventional counterpart, while the cocoa-free semi-sweet chocolate reduces land use change emissions by 88% and overall GHG emissions by 81%.

If only 5% of the world switched to its alt-chocolates, it would be the equivalent of saving emissions from between 1.5 and 1.8 million cars annually. And when it comes to water consumption, Voyage Foods’ chocolates use 99% less water – that’s like saving between 500,000 and 1.2 million Olympic-sized swimming pools’ worth of water, if 5% of the population swapped conventional for cocoa-free chocolate.

Climate change and chocolate have ravaged each other. Producing cocoa generates more emissions than all foods bar beef, while extreme weather events have strained supplies of the crop and put a third of cocoa trees on the brink of extinction. This – alongside increasing demand globally – has pushed the prices of chocolate to an all-time high, with cocoa costing $10,000 per tonne last month.

It makes the case for alternatives like Voyage Foods and its counterparts, which include WNWN Food Labs (UK), ChoViva (Germany) and Foreverland (Italy). California Cultured, meanwhile, is working on cell-based chocolate.

Voyage Foods says it provides manufacturers with supply chain and price stability that enables better margins, thanks to the use of cost-effective upcycled ingredients that are scalable. This enables CPG partners to offer eco-friendly, ethical chocolate with fair and stable prices.

“We’re proposing that food companies can make more sustainable and ethically sourced products at a cost that on the industrial side is significantly less than current alternatives,” said Maxwell.

The post Voyage Foods Pens Deal with Cargill to Expand Cocoa-Free Chocolate & Nut-Free Spreads appeared first on Green Queen.

US startup California Cultured will see its cell-based cocoa incorporated in products by Japanese chocolate giant Meiji, with a 10-year commercial partnership for the former’s Flavanol Cocoa Powder.

West Sacramento-based food tech company California Cultured has linked up with Meiji, Japan’s largest chocolate company, which will see the startup’s cell-cultured cocoa products appear in packaged goods by the latter.

The partnership is headlined by a 10-year-long deal for the supply of California Cultured’s Flavanol Cocoa Powder to Meiji as part of a co-branded collaboration. “There is a progressively growing supply gap in the cocoa industry. This is the beginning of the future of chocolate,” said California Cultured founder and CEO Alan Perlstein. “It marks the first time cell-cultured chocolate will enter any market worldwide.”

Why California Cultured is making cell-based chocolate

Founded in 2020, California Cultured is one of the only producers (alongside Israel’s Celleste Bio and Finnish giant Fazer) working on cell-based chocolate. The company collects samples from a cocoa plant with ideal organoleptic properties and harvests its cells, which undergo growth in fermentation tanks that mimic the conditions of rainforests where cocoa thrives. Within three to four days, the cells are ready to be harvested, fermented and roasted.

“With our scalable technology, we’re positioned to excel and dominate in the field of plant-based cellular agriculture, where we pioneer the creation and cultivation of cells to redefine how we grow and produce innovative, sustainable products,” explained Perlstein. “Plant cell culture has a far smaller GHG footprint than other types of cell technologies.”

Speaking of footprints, that is a key reason why innovations like cell-cultured cocoa are key: dark chocolate is second only to beef when it comes to the top GHG-emitting foods. Meanwhile, cocoa beans have one of the highest carbon opportunity costs (the amount of carbon lost from native vegetation and soils to produce food).

And partly due to the widespread use of palm oil, the chocolate industry is also associated with mass deforestation – so much so that the EU banned imported cocoa and chocolate linked to deforestation in June last year. Additionally, scientists have warned that cocoa trees are threatened – and a third of them could die out by 2050 – which could lead to a global chocolate shortage.

The industry has been a blight on human rights too, with Indigenous communities losing their lands and workers exploited with poor conditions and pay. There are implications of child slavery as well, with the US government sued in August to block imports of cocoa harvested by children in West Africa, which has been used by the likes of Hershey’s, Mars and Nestlé.

California Cultured claims its process of developing sustainable cocoa in fermentation tanks is a climate-resilient approach to chocolate-making that addresses deforestation and labour exploitation in the industry. This is what sparked its collaboration with Meiji.

“Meiji came to us because unpredictable weather patterns – including heavy rainfall – have disrupted cacao cultivation, leading to a consecutive year of supply shortages,” California Cultured’s head of strategy Steve Stearns told Green Queen. “This scarcity has driven futures prices to unprecedented levels, reflecting the strain on supply and demand dynamics within the chocolate industry.”

Perlstein added: “We need to build a resilient, superior future for chocolate. This partnership is the first step in achieving this.”

Seeking regulatory approval for a targeted late 2024 launch

California Cultured, which raised $4M in a funding round in 2021, is targeting products in the nutraceutical, chocolate, and better-for-you snacks markets with the Meiji deal. “Meiji’s collaboration with California Cultured involves the seamless integration of the startup’s cocoa powder, cultivated from cells rather than traditional cocoa beans, into an array of confectionery and wellness products tailored for both the US and Japanese markets,” explained Stearns.

“This comprehensive product line encompasses chocolates, truffles, and wellness-enhancing chocolate products designed for consumer use,” he added. The company is building its manufacturing both internally and externally based on proprietary tech developed in-house.

In terms of price, Stearn revealed that the first products with Meiji will be “very competitive with high-value nutritional products on the market” in the aforementioned categories. “Gaining traction with customers like Meiji will help us bring down our operating costs rapidly,” he added. The company later plans to release chocolate callets as part of the Meiji collaboration too.

Cellular agriculture versus fermented plants

As a cellular agriculture company, it will also need approval from food safety regulators in the countries it plans to sell in. California Cultured has already begun the process to earn a GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) certification from the US FDA, and Stearn confirmed that the producers expect to release the Flavanol Cocoa Powder – a food that has been found to reduce the risk of major cardiovascular disease by 16% and cardiovascular deaths by 27% – in the country in late 2024.

There has been a deluge of activity in the sustainable chocolate space recently, with many companies focusing on alternatives to cocoa and chocolate – much like plant-based analogues to meat or dairy. These include Planet A Foods (ChoViva), Voyage Foods, Foreverland and WNWN Food Labs. “Alternative chocolate companies are using alternatives like shea butter and carob, which gives a waxy undesirable texture,” said Stearn. “During chocolate’s history, consumers have rejected carob chocolate on several occasions.”

He added: “California Cultured is producing real chocolate and cocoa, which gives us a distinct advantage in taste and texture. From a marketing perspective, these products can not be labelled chocolate, which can harm customer acceptance.”

It will be interesting to see how consumers perceive cell-based products like California Cultured’s cocoa flavanol.

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German fermentation tech startup Planet A Foods, the parent company of cocoa-free chocolate brand ChoViva, has secured $15.4M in a Series A funding round. On the heels of partnerships with industry giants, It plans to introduce its product in the UK this year.

Planet A Foods, founded by twin siblings Max and Sara Marquart and previously known as QOA/NoCoa, has closed an oversubscribed Series A round worth $15.4M, bringing total investment to $23.4M (following $8M in seed funding). The financing round was led by climate VC World Fund, with participation from Omnes Capital, Cherry Ventures, Mudcake, Nucleus Capital, TriplePoint Capital, and Feast Ventures, among others.

The company will use the capital to make strategic hires, fuel mass-market expansion and drive down costs for its cocoa-free chocolate brand, ChoViva. The startup has had a massive 12 months, inking deals with companies like German retailer REWE, where it has launched several products in collaboration with other manufacturers, as well as Griesson-de Beukelaer, Peter Kölln, Lufthansa and Lindt.

Planet A Foods has already used some of the funds to scale up production at its facility, which now has the capacity to produce 750kg of product per hour. Speaking to Green Queen, CEO Max Marquart said the business now plans to extend its tech platform to other ingredients (including palm oil alternatives) and expand to the UK and the US.

“Fuelled by the funding, we not only broadened our product portfolio but also enhanced taste and texture, solidifying our position as the leading force in the alternative cocoa and chocolate sector,” said co-founder and CTO Sara Marquart. “The Series A additionally expedited the advancement of our technology platform, allowing us to hire top-tier experts in the realms of lipids, chocolate, and synbio.”

Tempering chocolate’s climate impact

Founded in 2021, Planet A Foods’ flagship cocoa-free chocolate is made from a base of oats, sunflower seeds and shea butter, leveraging a proprietary fermentation process that turns these ingredients into cocoa mass and cocoa butter. The resulting product is described as having a “melt-in-the-mouth texture” and “full-bodied chocolate flavour”, and can be used as both a 1:1 replacement of conventional chocolate or in hybrid formulations.

ChoViva contains 30% less sugar, and claims to have a “very low” carbon footprint, as a result of using local ingredients and having short supply chains. It speaks to a key problem with the chocolate trade, which has a detrimental effect on the climate. Dark chocolate, for example, is second only to beef in terms of foods with the most emissions, while cocoa beans have one of the highest carbon opportunity costs (the amount of carbon lost from native vegetation and soils to produce food).

Chocolate is also linked to mass deforestation, thanks in large part to the widespread use of palm oil (which is part of products using ChoViva as well. Last June, the EU has enacted legislation that would see cocoa and chocolate linked to deforestation banned in the bloc, while in the US, the Biden administration was sued in August to block imports of cocoa harvested by children in West Africa. Additionally, scientists have warned that cocoa trees are threatened – and a third of them could die out by 2050 – which could lead to a global chocolate shortage.

According to an independent life-cycle assessment by CarbonCloud, the vegan version of ChoViva’s chocolate alternatives (made with oat flour instead of milk powder) can save up to 90% in emissions compared to conventional chocolate, with its lifetime carbon footprint estimated at 0.86 to 1.8 kg of CO2 per kg of product. Plus, if only 5% of the global chocolate consumption (about 10 million tonnes, according to Planet A Foods) would be substituted for ChoViva, it could save the equivalent of 1.5 to 1.9 million cars being driven per year.

The funding round will also help ChoViva become cost-competitive with conventional chocolate. Cocoa futures – standardised trading contracts with predetermined prices for specific cocoa quantities on a future date – have hit a 45-year high, appreciating over 40% year-over-year in the US alone. Still, the global chocolate industry (already worth $254B) is expected to continue growing by 5.6% annually until 2028.

“In the future, chocolate will become more expensive than caviar unless new steps are taken,” said Max. “We are working every day to be part of the solution with ChoViva, through building a second pillar next to chocolate to take some load off the cocoa supply chain.”

He added that the company’s Series A has enabled the business to deliver large-scale production and continuous supplies to customers. “We have become a reliable, trusted industry partner for the German confectionery industry, and demonstrated that we can deliver at price parity with traditional chocolate providers.”

Plans to apply for regulatory approval of precision-fermented fat

Now, Planet A Foods is gearing up for new launches – both in terms of products and ingredients. In September last year, its founders told this publication that it was working on creating its own fats, with plans of developing a precision-fermented ChoViva Butter by converting single-cell oils, agricultural sidestreams and local feedstocks like beet sugar into a fat resembling cocoa butter.

“With ChoViva Butter, we can hit the price point that our customers are used to with conventional cocoa butter, thus offering the benefits of carbon footprint reduction, mitigation of deforestation and offering a local alternative, with short and stable supply chains,” Sara explained at the time.

The latest capital injection will take Planet A Foods a step further. “We are investing 80% of our investments in the development of our technology platforms, such as expanding our ChoViva product portfolio and developing new, fully automated means of production to be even more competitively priced,” Sara told Green Queen.

She added: “We are also expanding our lipid platform to other fats and oils besides cocoa butter, such as palm, and scaling up our production capacity to be the first of a kind to commercialise sustainable lipids as ingredients for the industry.”

Sara confirmed that Planet A Foods has already started testing the precision-fermented fat for pre-commercial applications with its B2B customers. “Since we use GRAS [Generally Recognized as Safe] organisms, we will go for the ‘no questions asked’ letter by the FDA in the US, and for novel food approval in the EU, launching our lipids soon as well,” she revealed.

Major commercial collaborations with Peter Kölln , Lindt and Rewe Group

In the last year, the company has collaborated with the likes of Peter Kölln to debut a vegan muesli range (which sold its one-millionth pack this week), Griesson de Beukelaer for a plant-based Cereola cookie, Rewe’s own-label Spitz for a Neapolitaner Waffeln, Lindt to introduce a hybrid vegan Hello! chocolate for Veganuary, Lambertz to launch an alt-chocolate snack line, as well as Hans Freitag and FruTree. Plus, it linked up with Lufthansa to offer ChoViva milk chocolate as a sweet treat on select flights.

Several of its products have been available at Rewe stores, and it’s now preparing to launch in other German retailers too, alongside an extended portfolio at Rewe.

ChoViva to roll out in the UK later this year

Next up: Planet A Foods is making a move for the UK market now, with the same B2B strategy that has proven so successful in Germany. Max stated that the rollout is already underway, with the first cocoa-free chocolate products expected by Q4 this year. New releases using ChoViva will span confectionery, snacks, cereals and ice creams.

“We are gearing up for our international expansion in 2024 and beyond, and are looking for the next Willy Wonkas to help us scale and enter new markets,” he said. The brand is now kicking off “meaningful conversations” with strategic distribution partners in other European markets, as well as Asia and the US.

It will compete in a global space populated by Italy’s Foreverland, London-based WNWN Food Labs, and US startup Voyage Foods (which itself closed a $22M fundraiser recently) – the latter two have also conducted LCAs that revealed their innovations emit 90% fewer GHG gases than conventional chocolate.

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Californian CPG startup Voyage Foods, which makes ethical and eco-friendly pantry staples, has raised $22M in funding, and released the results of a life-cycle assessment that shows its cocoa-free chocolate produces up to 88% fewer GHG emissions from land use change than its conventional counterpart.

With a burgeoning portfolio of nut-free spreads, cocoa-free chocolate and bean-free coffee, Voyage Foods is doubling down on its eco credentials and potential with an independent life-cycle assessment (LCA) and $22M in funding, which brings total investment in the startup to $64M.

Participants in the latest funding round included Valor Equity Partners, Horizons Ventures, UBS O’Connor, and Level One Fund, among others. Voyage Foods – which sells nut-free hazelnut and peanut butters in over 1,400 retail locations, alongside cocoa-free chocolate for B2B partners and beanless coffee for foodservice – plans to use the capital to scale up manufacturing and develop and launch new products to the market.

Focusing on the chocolate alternative – made from a blend of grape seeds, sunflower protein, RSPO-certified palm oil and shea kernel oil – it commissioned ESG consulting agency Sphera to conduct a third-party validated, ISO-compliant LCA of its ingredient. The LCA claims Voyage Foods’ vegan milk and semi-sweet chocolate alternatives are “the most sustainable chocolates ever to come to market”.

How sustainable is cocoa-free chocolate?

The LCA reveals that the global warming potential (GWP) over 100 years for Voyage Foods’ cocoa-free milk and semi-sweet chocolates is 3.4kg and 3.25 CO2e per kg on average, respectively (depending on whether it’s made with shea butter or palm oil), versus 10kg and 8kg of CO2e per kg of conventional milk and semi-sweet varieties.

Electricity generation during manufacturing contributes to 59% of Voyage Foods’ carbon footprint, while the upstream burden of key feedstock to the process – shea butter, palm oil, and sugar – is responsible for a further 33%. As for conventional chocolate feedstock and raw materials make up 77% of the GWP on average, with the main material inputs being skimmed milk powder in milk chocolate (51%) and cocoa liquor in semi-sweet (65%).

Sphera found that Voyage Foods’ non-dairy milk chocolate produces 66% fewer GHG emissions from land use change and 84% fewer emissions overall compared to its conventional counterpart, while the cocoa-free semi-sweet chocolate reduces land use change emissions by 88% and overall GHG emissions by 81%.

If just 5% of the world switched to Voyage’s chocolates, it would be the equivalent of saving emissions from between 1.5 and 1.8 million cars annually. The results are even starker for blue water consumption, with Voyage Foods’ chocolates using 99% less water. It’s like saving between 500,000 and 1.2 million Olympic-sized swimming pools’ worth of water (if 5% of the population swapped conventional for cocoa-free chocolate).

The LCA suggested that even if the electricity requirements of manufacturing regular milk chocolates are halved and Voyage Foods’ versions are doubled, the former would still have a 58% higher GWP than the latter. When relying solely on wind power, the cocoa-free vegan milk chocolate will see its GWP results decrease by 53-58%, and the semi-sweet option by 55-61% (based on the use of palm or shea fats). It means Voyage Foods’ offerings will have a four to six times lower GWP than conventional chocolates if both are produced by wind power, versus 2.8 times if using non-renewable energy sources.

Why chocolate alternatives like Voyage Foods are important

As food commodities go, cocoa and chocolate are up there with the most problematic. Dark chocolate is the second-worst food (after beef) when it comes to supply chain emissions, while cocoa beans have one of the highest carbon opportunity costs, which is the amount of carbon lost from native vegetation and soils to produce food.

Chocolate is also linked to mass deforestation, thanks in large part to the widespread use of palm oil (which is part of Voyage Foods’ ingredients too, albeit one certified by the RSPO). In fact, the EU banned cocoa and chocolate linked to deforestation in June last year, while in the US, the Biden administration was sued in August to block imports of cocoa harvested by children in West Africa.

Plus, scientists have warned that cocoa trees are threatened – and a third of them could die out by 2050 – which could lead to a global chocolate shortage. This makes alternatives like the ones from Voyage Foods vital, and their sustainability credentials even more so.

“We are focused on addressing the environmentally harmful aspects of the chocolate industry and creating more sustainable, scalable, delicious counterparts,” said Voyage Foods co-founder and CEO Adam Maxwell. “Whether you’re looking at water use, land use, greenhouse gas emissions or deforestation, it’s clear that the production of traditional chocolate is problematic – and our cocoa-free chocolate is a much-needed solution.”

In 2023, the price of bulk cocoa rose to its highest in 50 years, as the commodity went through a 150 million lb global shortage. Voyage Foods says it provides manufacturers with supply chain and price stability that enables better margins, thanks to the use of cost-effective upcycled ingredients that are scalable.

This also allows CPG partners to provide consumers with eco-friendly, ethical chocolate with fair and stable prices, as Maxwell explained: “We’re proposing that food companies can make more sustainable and ethically sourced products at a cost that on the industrial side is significantly less than current alternatives.”

Other cocoa-free chocolate innovators include London-based WNWN Food Labs, Germany’s ChoViva – both brands conducted LCAs that revealed their chocolates emit 90% fewer greenhouse gases than conventional chocolate – and Italian startup Foreverland.

The post Voyage Foods Secures $22M in Funding, as LCA Claims It Makes the ‘Most Sustainable Chocolates Ever’ appeared first on Green Queen.

Chocolate giant Lindt has partnered with German cocoa-free brand ChoViva to launch a limited-edition vegan chocolate bar for Veganuary. There are only 1,000 of the Soft & Creamy Hazelnut bars, which feature Lindt’s Hello Vegan chocolate with a hazelnut and oat crème filling from ChoViva.

Lindt has teamed up with German cocoa-free chocolate brand ChoViva to expand its popular Hello range with a limited-edition vegan Soft & Creamy Hazelnut bar.

The new chocolate, whose run is limited to 1,000 pieces, will be available from January 4 exclusively on Lindt’s D2C webstore, and features ChoViva’s creamy hazelnut and oat crème with hazelnut and oat cookie pieces, coated with the Lindt Hello vegan chocolate.

So while it’s not cocoa-free like the other products in ChoViva’s brand collaborations, it does mark a milestone for the German startup, as teaming up with one of the world’s leading chocolate makers is a route for expansion and success. Additionally, it will help shed light on supply chain issues and chocolate’s problematic carbon footprint.

Chocolate’s multi-pronged problems

Formerly known as NoCoa/QOA, ChoViva is a sub-brand of food tech startup Planet A Foods, uses oats and sunflower seeds and employs traditional fermentation and roasting processes to recreate cocoa’s properties, without the cocoa plant.

According to analysis by CarbonCloud, its chocolate alternative emits 90% less carbon per kg than its conventional counterparts. That’s an attractive asset to producers looking to reduce their impact on the environment and ease cocoa supply chains.

Cocoa beans have one of the highest carbon opportunity costs – the amount of carbon lost from native vegetation and soils to produce a specific food – only trailing behind red meat. Dark chocolate, meanwhile, is the second-worst emitter in the food system, after beef.

The chocolate industry is a major driver of deforestation (with the widespread use of palm oil being a factor too), an issue that has become more prominent in policymaking after the EU banned the import of all cocoa linked to deforestation earlier this year (the UK is working on a similar ban on cocoa associated with illegal deforestation).

Chocolate has been linked to human rights abuses in producing countries as well. In fact, the US government was sued in August to block imports of cocoa harvested by children in West Africa, which has allegedly been used by companies like Hershey’s, Mars and Nestlé. Lindt, which launched its own vegan chocolates in early 2022, has been linked to child labour and deforestation as well.

Moreover, there are supply chain issues to contend with. Scientists have warned that cocoa trees are threatened – and a third of them could die out by 2050 – which could lead to a global chocolate shortage. This makes ChoViva’s partnership with Lindt even more pertinent – the use of the cocoa-free brand’s innovations in mainstream products can relieve supply chain pressures and mitigate the “extremely high cocoa prices that are already becoming a problem due to climate change”.

The new Lindt-ChoViva plant-based bar is priced the same (€3.49) as the six other vegan chocolates under the Hello brand, though it weighs 5g less than the standard 100g. (The range also has a plant-based version of its famous Santa chocolate.) Plus, Lindt recently introduced oat milk versions of its famous Lindor truffles.

Ingredients and plan oil use in the Lindt-ChoViva vegan chocolate

This is ChoViva’s third brand collaboration this year, after rebranding and pivoting to a B2B model (it launched a range of its cocoa-free chocolates at German online retailer Confiserie Seidl in 2021). It has linked up with German oat cereal producer Kölln on three cocoa-free mueslis, as well as biscuit manufacturer De Beukelaer on a vegan cocoa-free Cereola cookie.

“Lindt represents the highest chocolate craftsmanship and best taste, and it feels incredible to create such a great product with such a significant company,” said Planet A Foods co-founder and CTO Sara Marquart.

The new bar contains Lindt’s vegan chocolate base of oat flour, almond paste and millet syrup powder, combined with ingredients like rolled oats, oat kernels and sunflower seeds. Notably, on top of Lindt’s use of cocoa butter, these contain shea fat and palm oil. The latter is a major point of contention, given its links to widespread tropical deforestation and human rights abuses.

Speaking to Green Queen in September, the brand’s co-founder and CEO Max Marquart said palm oil becomes essential for some of its collaborations with industry partners. “If we do so, we support sustainable palm oil cultivation and work with partners who do the same,” he explained, confirming that the palm oil it uses is RSPO-certified, which comes from certified production units and is produced according to strict ecological and social criteria.

“For some special applications, we couldn’t yet get rid of palm oil due to technical reasons. We try to limit those applications,” added Sara, before revealing that ChoViva is working on its own palm oil and fats.

Collaboration over criticism

ChoViva raised $6M in seed financing in 2021, and it hopes its partnership with Lindt will take things to the next level. There are benefits for the Swiss confectionery giant too: cocoa, alongside raw materials like dairy and sugar, and transport and packaging, are the biggest contributors to its climate footprint. It just released its Science Based Targets initiative-approved net-zero goal for 2050, which also involves reducing scope 3 emissions from forest, land and agriculture by 72% from a 2020 baseline. Working with a cocoa-free producer that has a 90% lower footprint is a start.

Another cocoa-free company that boasts 90% lower emissions is London’s WNWN Food Labs. The startup recently released three limited-edition vegan alt-chocolate bars that riffed on the Cadbury Wholenut, Terry’s Orange and Tony’s Chocolonely.

WNWN CEO Ahrum Pak had slammed the “unfair labour practices” and the environmental impact of the originals, but in a statement to trade publication The Grocer, ChoViva’s Max criticised this stance. “Consumers love chocolate and respond poorly to their chocolate being scolded,” he said. “After all, chocolate is a beloved treat for many, and finger-pointing has never been an effective way to change behaviour.”

For ChoViva, collaboration remains a key part of its growth strategy.

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Swiss-Ghanian startup Koa has raised $15M in Series B funding to scale up its upcycled cacao business, develop more products and intensify regenerative agriculture practices to involve over 10,000 more farmers and address the climate footprint of the West African cocoa industry.

Koa’s $15M Series B round takes its total funds raised to $25M. The upcycled cacao startup makes products from the fruit of the plant, and its latest investment round involves both returning and new investors.

It was led by the Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Fund from global asset manager Mirova, who injected $9M (an existing investor). The Regenerative Growth Fund 1, which invests in climate tech solutions, was also a participant, alongside contributions from other new investors and support from existing shareholders, including Haltra, which led the brand’s Series A round in 2021.

“We are proud to have closed our Series B round in this challenging market environment for start-up funding, while at the same time having found once more like-minded investors that are fully aligned with our mission and ambition to expand and create more impact around the cocoa fruit,” said Fabien Nizard, head of corporate finance and investor relations at Koa Switzerland.

Cocoa’s climate question

Koa makes a cacao fruit juice called Koa Pure, alongside a Koa Concentrate 72° (a reduced syrupy version of the juice) and dried cacao fruit powder for other food manufacturers. West Africa is home to the two largest cocoa producers in the world – with Ivory Coast and Ghana accounting for nearly two-thirds (63%) of the global share.

But the cocoa industry is notorious for its impact on the climate (including deforestation) and labour issues. One study found that the UK and Germany are driving deforestation primarily in Ghana and Ivory Coast, where over 85% of forest area has been lost since 1960. And in the US, the Biden administration was sued in August to block imports of cocoa harvested by children in West Africa, which has been linked to the chocolate used by brands like Hershey’s, Mars and Nestlé.

Apart from deforestation, cocoa production comes at a heavy cost to the climate. The only food worse than dark chocolate in terms of supply chain emissions is beef. In addition, cocoa beans have one of the highest carbon opportunity costs – the amount of carbon lost from native vegetation and soils to produce food.

What exacerbates this issue is the non-cocoa bit of the cacao plant. It’s estimated that 70% of the cacao fruit is wasted during production, but it’s a superfood that contains flavonoids and regulates blood pressure, prevents clots and, enhances blood flow to the brain and heart. This is where brands like Koa come in: it works closely with smallholders in Ghana to reduce on-farm food waste, generate extra income, and bring new ingredients to the food industry.

Founded in 2017, the company’s Series B round comes just months after it inaugurated a cacao fruit factory in Akim Achiase in east Ghana. The new plant allows Koa to increase its production by tenfold and generate income for 10,000 additional farmers, while the equity funding will enable it to scale its operations, develop more products and expand its distribution and marketing abilities.

“The Series B round provides Koa with the opportunity to continue our growth path with our existing operations, while at the same time allowing us to further invest into R&D and innovation projects that create a truly sustainable cocoa value chain,” said Francis Appiagyei-Poku, finance and administration director at Koa Impact Ghana.

Helping the West African cocoa industry

The Swiss-Ghanaian startup is further expanding its operations by ramping up its upcycling and regenerative agriculture practices, which it says is “a necessity in light of deteriorating soil fertility and the high carbon footprint associated with traditional cocoa farming in West Africa”.

Koa adds that there are several reasons why farmers have been struggling to uphold their yields in the face of climate change, chief among them being poverty – about a quarter of its population lives below the poverty line – and a lack of training in sustainable agriculture practices. This is why it wants to dig deep into regenerative farming, with which it hopes to increase the resilience of cocoa farms and reduce the industry’s climate impact.

In early 2022, the company partnered with Germany’s Seedtrace and South Africa’s MTN Group to create a blockchain-tech-led approach to enable “tamper-proof” transparency across the value chain. “Instead of having a person enter information on the blockchain, it links the data from mobile money transactions,” explained Appiagyei-Poku. “This combination allows us to verify additional farmer income, deliver full proof and increase trust among stakeholders.”

Koa co-founder and managing director Anian Schreiber added: “We want to get rid of long, non-transparent supply chains. Instead of claiming good practices, we put our cards on the table to let the consumers witness each transaction to farmers.”

Other companies innovating with cacao fruit include Barry Callebaut’s Cabosse Naturals (Switzerland), Blue Stripes, CaPao (both US), and Pacha de Cacao (the Netherlands). Meanwhile, some are forgoing cacao and cocoa altogether, using alternative ingredients with traditional fermentation processes to emulate chocolate, with London-based WNWN Food Labs, Italy’s Foreverland, German startup ChoViva, and US brand Voyage Foods the leading players in this space.

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