Tomorrow Farms Raises $8.5M To Be The ‘Commercial Engine’ for Food Tech Companies
Sustainability-focused food and beverage company Tomorrow Farms announced today the closing of $8.5 million in funding aimed at supporting its first product launch this summer and attracting ingredient companies with which it can partner to bring its technologies to market.
The round was led by Lowercarbon Capital with participation from Maveron, Valor Siren Ventures, Simple Food Ventures, SV Angel, venture capitalist and philanthropist Ron Conway, musician Ryan Tedder and instacart-cofounder Max Mullen, as well as several unnamed celebrity investors. Tomorrow Farms has raised $10.5 since launching in 2021.
“There was a strategic focus on investors whose portfolio contain many of the companies building the future of food who are looking for commercial partners,” founder and CEO Ben Berman said. “We [also] need to make sure that we are better at cutting through the noise and telling an effective and efficient story better than anyone else…this investment round gives us access to, and partnerships with, some people that have large platforms to help us tell this story.”
Amongst the current crop of next gen food companies, many have sought to establish proof of concept for their ingredients by launching branded products. Urgent Company, Modern Kitchen and California Performance are all Perfect Day-owned platforms to showcase the company’s alt-dairy proteins in desserts, cream cheese and protein powder, respectively, while DouxMatok has launched IncredoSugar chocolate spreads to highlight its sugar reduction technologies.
Tomorrow Foods, however, doesn’t develop any of the food technologies used in its products, creating a less capital intensive model that Bermain said allows its ingredient partners to focus exclusively on R&D.
“What we’re trying to do is leverage the technology that is happening in the space right now,” Berman said. “We believe that someone needs to be making those products very quickly and so we’re building that house of brands to be able to bring them to market.”
While these ingredient companies are not currently equity investors in Tomorrow Farms, they will be financially motivated to offer Tomorrow Farms exclusivity as well to promote the brands. For some of these
The company’s goal is to create “incentivized joint venture relationships” with its ingredient suppliers, which Berman said might entail either a revenue sharing agreement, a licensing fee or some other model. Still, even if there’s no exclusivity, he believes Tomorrow Farm’s branding and storytelling skills, with team members bringing experience from Hungryroot, Twitter, Seed Health and Harry’s, will give the company a leg up over competitors.
The first test of this model is slated for early summer with the launch of Tomorrow Farms’ first product line, which will be sold direct-to-consumer. Though Berman declined to provide details, teaser images supplied by the brand suggest the product will be packaged in Tetra Pack cartons. The company also owns the trademark for the name “Bored Cow” when used for “dairy identical” animal-free and plant-based foods and drinks, milk, yogurt, shakes and baby formula as well as cell-based plant-based meats, pepperoni, chicken nuggets and beef jerky.
“We believe that in this paradigm shift, consumers need a trusted partner,” Berman said. “When you walk into your store in a few years, and you pick up that cell-based sausage product that you haven’t seen before, there’s some cool brand on top that made you pick it up for the first time, but it is the Tomorrow Farms monogram that makes you know exactly what it is.”
