In the consumer sector, the food and beverage industry has always been favored by capital. Today, we have compiled a list of overseas startups that have recently secured funding, hoping to provide some inspiration for entrepreneurs in the consumer space.

Health: Ingredient Subtraction in Food & Beverage

As health concepts gain traction, consumers are paying more attention to ingredient health in their dietary choices. Foods that are low-calorie, low-fat, low-salt, low-sugar, and low-oil have become popular choices. According to CBNData data, 69% of respondents said they consciously reduce unhealthy ingredients in their daily diet and increase intake of beneficial nutrients. Therefore, many startups are actively investing in "ingredient subtraction." 1. BlueTree Technologies: Sugar Separation as a Technology BlueTree Technologies is a UK-based science and nutrition health company founded in 2017. It is a technology-driven consumer brand that received $15 million in investment this year. The company has created proprietary technology that can remove up to 50% of sugar from fruit juices and other natural beverages. Its innovative method selectively removes specific sugar molecules without damaging the pulp, vitamin C, amino acids, or other important components, preserving the natural taste and health benefits of the beverage. 2. Urban Legend: Lightening Up Donuts Urban Legend was founded in 2021 by scientist Anthony Fletcher, who has a background in food innovation. This year, it completed a £3 million funding round. The company has developed a patented air-frying technology that significantly reduces the fat, sugar, and calorie content of its donuts by 30% to 75% compared to traditional methods. The company's products include various filled and coated donuts, each with fewer than 200 calories. 3. Daily Dose: From Farm to Fridge Daily Dose is a UK cold-pressed juice company that received an additional £3 million investment this year. A key feature of Daily Dose's cold-pressed juices is the sustainability of its raw materials. Since its founding in 2016, the company has worked directly with British farmers to recycle agricultural products that would otherwise be discarded. This not only reduces agricultural waste but also gives these ingredients new value. For example, fruits and vegetables that don't meet size or shape standards but are still of good quality can become ingredients for cold-pressed juices. The company also uses a cold-pressing process to make its juices. Cold-pressing is a technique that presses fruits and vegetables at low temperatures. Compared to traditional juicing methods, this process preserves the maximum amount of nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, and enzymes. At low temperatures, nutrients are not destroyed by heat, resulting in higher nutritional value. 4. Hero Bread: Focus on Healthy Baking Hero Bread is a California-based startup focused on producing healthier baked goods. This year, it secured $21 million in funding. Hero Bread's products include artisan bread, croissants, cookies, tortillas, and other baked goods. Compared to traditional baked goods, these products have significant nutritional advantages. While traditional bread may contain high levels of carbohydrates and sugar, Hero Bread's bread uses special formulas and processes to reduce these components and increase beneficial protein and fiber.

Sustainability: Social Commitment in Food & Beverage

Globally, consumer attention to sustainable development has reached unprecedented levels. According to Bain's survey, about 64% of respondents said they are very concerned about this issue, and this proportion continues to grow. More and more consumers are inclined to make environmentally friendly shopping choices and are willing to pay a premium for eco-friendly products. From sustainable raw materials to sustainable packaging, the food and beverage industry is actively exploring its own green path. 1. NoPalm: Palm Oil Alternatives NoPalm is a Dutch biotech startup founded in 2021. It successfully raised its first funding in 2022 and secured €5 million this year. It uses microbial oils to replace unsustainable palm oil and can be added to various products, foods, and cosmetics. Palm oil is used in about 60% of FMCG products, and the growing demand for palm oil has led to a series of environmental issues. The company uses a unique fermentation process with non-GMO proprietary yeast to convert upcycled local agricultural by-products (such as potato peels and whey permeate) into yeast oils and fats. This technology not only reduces raw material waste but also lowers carbon emissions and land use during production. Compared to traditional palm oil production, it can reduce CO2 emissions by 90% and land use by 99%. 2. Blue Stripes: Full Utilization of Cacao Fruit Blue Stripes is a food brand focused on utilizing the entire cacao fruit, developing sustainable, nutritious, and antioxidant-rich foods. Recently, Blue Stripes completed a $20 million Series B funding round. This American company upcycles the entire cacao pod to make sustainable, nutritious, and antioxidant-rich foods, including cacao water, granola, nuts, whole cacao chocolate bars, chocolate-covered cacao beans, and dried cacao fruit. The company's ingredients and production methods utilize 70% of the cacao fruit that is typically discarded during traditional chocolate making, reducing waste while increasing the value of cacao fruit and creating income growth for cacao farmers. 3. NotPla: Eco-Friendly Plastic-Like Packaging NotPla is an innovative company focused on developing sustainable packaging solutions. In an era of increasing environmental awareness, the company is committed to replacing traditional plastic packaging with bio-based materials to reduce negative environmental impact. This year, it completed a £20 million Series A funding round. NotPla's core technology uses plant-based materials, such as seaweed, to develop packaging materials with plastic-like properties. These materials not only have good flexibility and barrier properties to effectively protect products but also degrade naturally in the environment. For example, its packaging films can be used for food packaging like traditional plastic films, but after disposal, they decompose naturally within a certain period, unlike traditional plastics that persist for a long time and cause white pollution. Its products have a wide range of applications, covering food packaging, catering packaging, and some consumer goods packaging. 4. E.V.A. Biosystems: Biodegradable Plastics E.V.A. Biosystems is a startup originating from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Leveraging academic research, it focuses on developing innovative plastic technologies to address the global environmental issue of plastic pollution. The company has developed a unique plastic product that integrates special bacteria into conventional plastic. When this plastic comes into contact with seawater, the bacteria detect the marine environment and activate enzymes to break down the plastic. Compared to traditional plastics, its biggest advantage is that it can self-degrade in marine environments without producing microplastics. The company has received commercial support from industry partners for further technology development. 5. Vytal: Reusable Packaging Systems Vytal is a Cologne-based company founded in 2019, focusing on software-driven reusable packaging solutions. The company recently raised over €6 million in a funding round led by Emerald Technology Ventures. The company is dedicated to developing software- and data-driven products. Smart reusable cups and food containers are equipped with RFID tags that can be individually tracked, improving checkout efficiency at points of sale and simplifying the return process through unmanned return processes. Additionally, professional cleaning centers benefit from automated container counting, replacing manual counting methods. Vytal's technology platform uses QR codes and RFID chips to efficiently track reusable packaging. The open reusable packaging system allows consumers to borrow and return high-quality reusable containers for free from thousands of partner locations.

Plant-Based: Green Magic in Food & Beverage

Plant-based foods offer three major benefits over animal-based foods: low fat, low sugar, and low calories, meeting health needs; low carbon emissions and low pollution, meeting environmental needs; and no animal ingredients, meeting the needs of vegetarians and religious beliefs. Combining environmental and health attributes, plant-based food innovations are continuously emerging. 1. Plonts: Plant-Based Cheese Plonts is a new plant-based cheese brand that completed a $12 million seed funding round this year and opened a pilot factory in Oakland, California. Plonts was founded in 2019. Its co-founder earned a PhD from MIT, studying the human gut microbiome. He wanted to apply his expertise in microbiology to create fermented foods from sustainable, nutritious, and affordable plant ingredients. Plonts uses traditional fermentation methods to convert soy milk into plant-based cheese. Its first product is a cheddar cheese alternative, currently available at select restaurants in New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area. The startup's cheese-making method involves a specially developed blend of cultures and enzymes that produces a rich cheese flavor as the cheese ages. According to Plonts, the result is a "flavorful" cheddar cheese that slices, shreds, and melts like dairy cheese. 2. Nosh.bio: Alternative Protein Products Nosh.bio is a Berlin-based startup founded in February 2022, focusing on producing fungi-based alternative protein ingredients through fermentation. In 2024, Nosh.bio completed a seed funding round totaling €3.2 million. Nosh.bio's products are used not only in meat, seafood, and dairy alternatives but also in seasonings, confectionery, health foods, and pet foods. In September, Nosh.bio announced a commercial partnership with European large sausage producer Zur Mühlen Group (ZMG) to launch a new product called Koji Chunks, a world-first single-ingredient meat alternative. 3. MicroLub: Plant-Based Protein Microgels MicroLub, a deep-tech spin-off from the University of Leeds in the UK, completed a £3.5 million seed funding round this year. MicroLub's plant-based protein microgels behave like natural lubricants and can be used as fat replacers and texture enhancers in plant-based foods, as well as in other applications, such as replacing saliva for people with dry mouth. Fats and oils make food more attractive in texture, enhancing flavor by adding a "lubricious feel" and creamy mouthfeel. MicroLub's ingredient technology solution adds lubricity to a unique scaffold of protein and water, coated with polysaccharides. This structure mimics the "fat feel" of full-fat products, adding texture, richness, and juiciness in low-fat or plant-based applications. The founder mentioned, "We are not trying to completely remove fat from products; our technology requires some fat to be present, but we can significantly reduce fat content without noticeably changing texture or taste. Additionally, we enable customers to remove thickeners and emulsifiers from their products, shortening ingredient lists and creating clean-label products." 4. Foreverland: Plant-Based Chocolate Under the influence of climate change and rising costs, the global cocoa supply chain is facing severe disruptions. Foreverland is an Italian food tech startup founded in 2023, focusing on developing sustainable chocolate alternatives. Its first innovative product, Choruba, is a plant-based chocolate alternative using carob as the main ingredient. It requires 90% less water and produces 80% less CO2 emissions compared to traditional cocoa, offering significant advantages and aiming to provide a healthy and environmentally friendly choice. This year, the company raised €3.4 million in a seed funding round to support its production plans in Italy.

Functionality: Energy Codes in Food & Beverage

According to Innova's global consumer survey, 26% of consumers prefer products that actively enhance nutrition or benefit body functions. Consumers are gradually shifting from passively reducing unhealthy ingredients to actively seeking products that enhance body functions. The food and beverage industry is actively responding to consumer expectations for functionality. 1. Helaina: Infant Formula Closer to Breast Milk Helaina is a US biotech startup founded in 2019, aiming to use advanced biotechnology to bring innovation to the food and nutrition sector. This year, it raised $45 million in a Series B funding round. Helaina uses precision fermentation to create food proteins similar to human proteins, focusing on developing infant formula products closer to breast milk to provide better nutrition for infants. Its products aim to bridge the nutritional gap between traditional infant formula and breast milk. By adding the company's functional proteins, infant formula becomes closer to breast milk in nutritional composition and function, helping parents provide better nutritional choices for their infants. In addition to infant nutrition products, the company is exploring other functional foods with specific health benefits, such as improving gut health and enhancing immunity, to meet the needs of different populations for healthy foods. 2. Lucky Energy: Healthier Energy Drinks Lucky Energy is an energy drink company founded in the US in 2023, positioned as a "healthier" energy drink. Its main ingredients include maca, licorice, ginseng, beta-alanine, taurine, and caffeine. Among these, beta-alanine helps improve physical and mental endurance; maca can enhance physical strength to some extent; ginseng can boost energy, reduce stress, lower blood sugar and cholesterol; taurine helps with cellular energy production. These ingredients work together to provide consumers with comprehensive functional support. Currently, five flavors have been carefully formulated, with each can containing zero sugar and only 5 calories, meeting the needs of health-conscious consumers. This year, it completed an oversubscribed $11.75 million Series A funding round. 3. Odyssey: Innovative Ready-to-Drink Energy Beverages Odyssey was founded in 2021 and is a brand focused on functional beverages. This year, it completed a $6 million funding round. The company produces ready-to-drink energy beverages infused with a potent blend of lion's mane mushroom and cordyceps. These ingredients not only boost energy but also enhance cognitive clarity and focus, particularly appealing to health-conscious consumers seeking alternatives to traditional energy drinks. Odyssey's products include three beverages with varying caffeine levels, all free from added sugar, preservatives, and artificial ingredients. 4. Create Wellness: Enhancing Creatine Supplement Experience Create Wellness was founded in 2022 and raised $5 million in a Series A funding round led by Unilever Ventures. The company promotes creatine monohydrate gummies, a novel form of creatine supplementation. Unlike traditional powders or tablets, gummies are easier to consume and absorb. Creatine helps increase muscle strength, improve energy, and enhance athletic performance. They are committed to bringing the benefits of creatine to a broader audience through innovative flavors and formats, making creatine supplementation an enjoyable experience, not limited to athletes and fitness enthusiasts.

Personalization: Dream Factory in Food & Beverage

Modern consumers have more diverse lifestyles and are more personalized in their food and beverage choices. In the highly competitive food and beverage industry, capturing unmet niche needs and responding to consumers' personalized expectations can be a good strategy. 1. Daily Crunch: Sprouting Snacks Daily Crunch is a rapidly growing healthy snack company that successfully completed a $4 million Series A funding round led by Launch Tennessee this year. The company uses an innovative sprouting process that enhances the nutritional value and crunchiness of its products, allowing it to stand out in the competitive snack market. Additionally, its products do not contain unhealthy ingredients like seed oils and processed sugars, meeting modern consumers' demand for healthy foods. For consumers concerned about sugar and fat intake, Daily Crunch's products are a healthier choice. 2. Athletic Brewing: Alcohol-Free Beer Founded in 2018, Athletic Brewing has developed a proprietary brewing method that produces fully fermented alcohol-free beer with a taste comparable to alcoholic beer. Recent surveys show a growing trend of moderate drinking among Americans, with 41% actively seeking to reduce alcohol consumption in 2024, up 7% from the previous year. Alcohol-free beer is increasingly seen as a viable alternative, with 58% believing it is suitable for long-term moderate consumption. Market research firm Fact MR projects that the global alcohol-free beer market will grow at a rate of 5.07% annually from 2024 to 2029, reaching a market size of $24.2 billion by 2029. 3. Oats Overnight: Consumer Participation in Product Development Oats Overnight is a brand focused on high-protein overnight oats. The brand raised $35 million in a Series B funding round. During the R&D process, the brand involved over 250,000 active subscribers, with users deciding which new flavors and products could be brought to market. Using a unique model that incorporates direct consumer feedback into product development, the brand has innovatively developed a variety of high-protein oat products in multiple flavors.

Safety: Safety Barriers in Food & Beverage

Globally, the incidence of food allergies is rising. According to analysis reports, the overall prevalence of food allergies is 4.3%, with Asia at 4.2%, the Americas at 3.2%, Europe at 4.8%, Africa at 1.6%, and Oceania at 7.5%. Food allergies have become an increasingly concerning food safety issue. These startups are providing new answers for allergy-prone populations. 1. Voyage Foods: Peanut Butter Without Peanuts Startup Voyage Foods completed a total funding round of $52 million this year. Based on its unique food innovation technology, Voyage Foods primarily develops alternatives to traditional foods such as nut butters, chocolate, and coffee. By analyzing the microstructure of scarce foods, Voyage Foods seeks natural, easily accessible, and sustainable alternative ingredients to recreate the desired flavor and texture, then scales up production. Currently, Voyage Foods has developed and launched alternative products including peanut butter (without peanuts), hazelnut spread (without hazelnuts), chocolate (without cocoa), and coffee (without coffee beans), all made from alternative ingredients while maintaining the original flavor as much as possible. In July of this year, Voyage Foods announced its latest product, Voyage Beanless Coffee—coffee without coffee beans. This coffee is made from roasted chickpeas, rice hulls, caffeine from green tea, and natural flavors through its proprietary technology. It contains no coffee beans but has a caffeine content similar to traditional coffee, and also offers a caffeine-free option. Beyond the social and environmental issues associated with chocolate and coffee production, food allergies are also a severe challenge facing the food industry today. Peanut allergy is the most common food allergy among children under 18 and the third most common among adults. A study reported that the prevalence of peanut allergy in Europe and the US has reached 1.4%-2%, a 3.5-fold increase over the past 20 years. Additionally, 20%-30% of those allergic to peanuts are also allergic to one or more tree nuts. Peanuts and tree nuts together account for 70%-90% of food-related anaphylactic shock deaths. The company has created popular products and flavors free from the nine major allergens. As food allergy concerns grow, this feature enables its products to meet the needs of allergy sufferers and expand its consumer base. 2. Amulet: Portable Allergen Detection Amulet, a company dedicated to improving food safety through innovative detection technology, raised $5.8 million in a Series A funding round led by HealthX Ventures. Its product, Allergy Amulet, is a wearable device designed to allow consumers to test for food allergens while on the go. Research data shows that approximately 33 million Americans are affected by food allergies, and about 40 million more avoid gluten. In the US, someone goes to the emergency room due to a food allergy every three minutes, and cross-contact of allergens in food service establishments causes nearly half of fatal allergic reactions. The portable sensor uses rapid, on-site molecular detection technology to identify food allergens and other harmful substances, improving the safety of the food system.