The last few years have seen many advances toward making quality meat and dairy alternatives that aren’t produced from animals. These products benefit our environment, health, and finances; they are also future-proof against a rapidly expanding global population, and, as such, tech companies in Israel are at the forefront of their development.
The wide variety of alternative meat, dairy and egg products could allow for meals to be prepared without the use of animals. This is no pipe dream, either. The international market has begun to see these alternatives as viable replacements.
Yo-Egg is a company developing plant-based egg products. It was founded by Yosefa Ben-Cohen, an accredited vegan chef with ten years of experience in developing plant-based products.
Following the recent close of a US $5 million seed round, Yo-Egg is set to launch the world’s first plant-based egg dishes in restaurants across the United States. Restaurants and distributors will have the first opportunity to try the Yo-Egg dishes at the National Restaurant Association trade show in Chicago from May 21-24.
Yo-Egg’s products resemble proper eggs, replete with a perfect egg white and runny yolk. This grants consumers who love the taste and texture of eggs a more sustainable and cholesterol-free option.
“The Yo-Egg team has a unique mix of extraordinary product innovation expertise and engineering talent that we believe will help our company revolutionize the way the world produces and consumes eggs,” said Yo-Egg CEO Eran Groner.
Following the company’s US debut at the National Restaurant Association show in May, its products are expected to hit menus in the greater Los Angeles area by the end of this year.
Alternative eggs aren’t the only innovative food product about to hit the US and international market. Redefine Meat, a producer of so-called “New Meat” products, recently partnered with digital marketing agency Moburst. Together, they launched an international advertising campaign that has garnered significant results for the company, indicating a successful entry into the global market.
In just two months, the company accrued over 100 million impressions across various social media platforms and built a subscriber waiting list of 34,000 customers. Redefine Meat products have also appeared on the menus of over 150 restaurants.
Moburts’ campaign success led the company to be shortlisted for the “Advertising” and “New Product Launch Strategy of the Year” categories in the 2022 Drum Marketing Award.
“We are super excited by this recognition of the Drum Awards,” said Gilad Bechar, the CEO and founder of Moburst. “The vision of Redefine inspires us every day and their brilliant team is a pleasure to work with. We genuinely enjoy redefining the new meat industry and helping position Redefine Meat as the category leader.”
Rounding out the trinity of animal products, foodtech start-up Imagindairy, developer of animal-free milk proteins, has secured an additional $15m in an extended seed round. This brings its total investment capital to $28m, making it one of the highest earning seed rounds in the alternative protein space.
The alternative protein innovators have developed a method to create animal-free milk proteins from microorganisms via proprietary precision-fermentation technology. The technology allows the production of a broad spectrum of dairy analogs, from raw milk to cheese, without involving animals.
Imagindairy’s dairy proteins are non-GMO and cholesterol-free, and possess the same flavor, texture, functionality and nutritional value of their cow-based counterparts. More importantly, they alleviate the burden that livestock imposes on the environment.
“This extremely successful seed round reflects a strong vote of confidence in Imagindairy and its vision to lead the animal-free dairy industry,” said Eyal Afergan, co-founder and CEO of Imagindairy. “This substantial injection of capital will serve to advance our ability to make true dairy alternative products a day-to-day reality.”
“We are excited to be able to back the Imagindairy team who have made incredible inroads in creating dairy products that don’t rely on industrialized animal agriculture, but offer the same level of functionality and nutrition,” said Shmuel Chafets, executive chairman and founder at Target Global, which led Imagindairy’s round. “We are strong believers that the Imagindairy team’s vast experience in manufacturing at scale, paired with the cutting-edge technology they have built, will be transformational for this space.”
“It is becoming increasingly clear that, given the climate crisis and growing shortage of food, our dietary patterns and habits must change,” Chafets added. “Animal-free dairy has the potential to become one of the most environmentally impactful industries on the planet.”