Innovation

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.

Aiming to make single use cans and bottles a thing of the past, former “trend spotter” Max Luthy and event producer-turned-beverage entrepreneur Luke Montgomery-Smith have launched Plink!, a vintage-inspired brand of beverage tablets.

Direct-to-consumer frozen food brand Daily Harvest last week announced the launch of Crumbles, a line of meat alternatives that takes the brand further out of its initial product portfolio of cook-and-eat meals and smoothies.

Plant-based food and beverage maker Laird Superfood introduced a new format to its portfolio with the goal of giving consumers a plastic-free approach to single-serve functional coffee. Today, the company announced the launch of Bright Cups, a proprietary Keurig-compatible pod format made from BPI-certified compostable materials and filled with Laird’s Focus Mushroom Coffee.

Nearly a year after being formally separated from Dean Foods, plant-based food and beverage company Good Karma is beginning a new chapter. The Colorado-based company announced today a brand refresh accompanied by the launch of a new line of refrigerated plant-based milks and a direct-to-consumer ecommerce platform.

After leaving its imprint in the pizza category, Caulipower is looking to grab cauliflower-curious consumers of another favorite food type: pasta. It’s the first salvo in what the company’s CEO said will be a year of innovation.

Sausage and hot dog brand Teton Waters Ranch (TWR) is in the business of beef. So it’s a bit of an anomaly that the company’s latest innovation aims to inspire its consumers to eat less of its core product.

In the battle to attract consumers to clean label products, it’s about more than just ingredient certifications and claims. That’s what Irish global ingredient supplier Kerry Group found out as the result of research into labeling as the company tries to shape strategies that will guide its plans for customers’ innovation pipelines.

A list compiled by market research firm CB Insights of the 15 most well-funded venture capital-backed food and beverage startups reveals the increasing value placed on brands that are offering healthier choices and disrupting established categories like meat and dairy and innovating with plant-based offerings.