Israeli Cell Ag Innovator Pluri Raises $6.5M, Announces Lab-Grown Cocoa Startup Acquisition


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Israel’s Pluri has secured a $6.5M investment and entered the cell-based chocolate space with the impending purchase of a majority stake in Rehovot-based Kokomodo.

After innovating with cultivated meat and lab-grown coffee, Haifa-based firm Pluri is dipping into cell-based chocolate.

The cellular agriculture specialist has acquired at least 71% of fellow Israeli company Kokomodo, which makes cell-cultured cocoa, in a transaction with $4.5M.

Pluri is purchasing these shares from Chutzpah Holdings and Plantae, both of which are under the control of health and tech investor Alejandro Weinstein, who has concurrently poured $6.5M into Pluri’s business.

“Pluri has already demonstrated the great potential of cell-based technologies to drive innovation forward in both the regenerative medicine and agtech space,” Weinstein said. “Sustainable and scalable food production is a global priority. I believe that these transactions mark the beginning of a powerful partnership.”

Pluri diversifies cell ag platform

cell based coffee
Courtesy: Pluri

Listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) and Nasdaq, Pluri began as a health tech company in 2001, specialising in stem cell therapy for disease treatments.

Pluri recently expanded its horizons into food and manufacturing, creating cultivated meat startup Ever After Foods in a joint venture with food giant Tnuva in 2022. The firm is working on beef, poultry and seafood cell lines, and offers a 90% reduction in costs for B2B clients.

Meanwhile, early last year, it expanded into cell-based coffee under the new PluriAgTech vertical, which uses breakthrough cell tech to create eco-friendly alternatives to carbon-intensive foods. This project was spun out into a subsidiary called Coffeesai, and the company is targeting regulatory approval in the US via the FDA’s GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) pathway.

The investment from Weinstein is expected to close at the end of this month, and is aimed at strengthening Pluri’s balance sheet and supporting innovation and strategic growth across its cell-based tech platform. The firm added that it will use the funds for working capital and general corporate purposes.

“We believe that Mr Weinstein’s equity investment will strengthen our financial foundation and allow us to advance our entry into the cultivated cacao market, with the goal of positioning Pluri as a leader in this sector, where demand is growing and alternative agricultural solutions are needed to feed our global population,” said Pluri CEO Yaky Yanay.

Banking on the climate-friendly chocolate ecosystem

cell based chocolate
Courtesy: Kokomodo

Both the investment and the Kokomodo deal are subject to approval from Pluri’s shareholders, as well as the European Investment Bank, Nasdaq, and TASE.

Kokomodo came out of stealth last summer with a $750,000 investment from The Kitchen FoodTech Hub and the Israeli Innovation Authority, working to produce cell-based cocoa for the food and beverage, supplements, and cosmetics industries.

The startup uses cells from premium cocoa beans grown in Central and South America and has successfully completed lab-scale production. It has been working to get closer to price parity with conventional chocolate and indicated that a US launch may be on the cards first.

With the impending acquisition – expected to close during Q2 this year – Pluri is looking to drive the growth and expansion of Kokomodo’s operations by leveraging its cultivated cacao solutions to “capitalise on the growing demand for sustainable food technologies”. The deal is also set to strengthen Pluri’s strategic growth and operational capabilities.

“The synergy between Kokomodo’s advancements in cell line development and Pluri’s industrial-scale production creates a strong foundation for innovation, positioning the company to lead the field of cultivated cacao and set new benchmarks in cultivated cacao technologies,” noted Yanay.

Kokomodo is among several firms working to futureproof the $120B chocolate industry, which has a significant impact on the planet. A bar of chocolate requires 1,700 litres of water on average, and growing demand for land has meant that 94% and 80% of deforestation in Ghana and Ivory Coast, respectively, is ascribed to cocoa. In fact, dark chocolate is amongst the most polluting foods (behind only beef).

Meanwhile, the climate crisis is wiping out cocoa yields and hiking up prices, which shot up three to fourfold last year to reach all-time highs, just as global cocoa stocks have dropped to their lowest levels. If things remain the way they are, a third of the world’s cocoa trees might die out by 2050.

Aside from Kokomodo, Swiss startup Food Brewer, US player California Cultured, and fellow Israeli firm Celleste Bio are all developing cell-based chocolate. Others, however, are using more planet-friendly ingredients to make cocoa-free alternatives to chocolate, such as Voyage Foods (US), Planet A Foods (Germany), Win-Win (UK), and Foreverland (Italy).

Author

  • Anay Mridul

    Anay is Green Queen's resident news reporter. Originally from India, he worked as a vegan food writer and editor in London, and is now travelling and reporting from across Asia. He's passionate about coffee, plant-based milk, cooking, eating, veganism, food tech, writing about all that, profiling people, and the Oxford comma.

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