Recently, the startup Voyage Foods announced a multi-million dollar funding round in May of this year, with investors including Ventech China, Level One, and Horizons Ventures. The funds will be used to expand production capacity and as working capital. This brings Voyage Foods’ total funding to close $100 million.

Founded in 2021 and headquartered in the Bay Area, Voyage Foods is a food tech company committed to developing delicious, sustainable, and accessible foods. In its three years of operation, Voyage Foods has developed and commercialized several innovative products.

Voyage Foods, leveraging its proprietary food innovation technology, focuses on creating alternatives to traditional foods such as nut butters, chocolate, and coffee. By analyzing the microstructure of scarce foods, the company identifies natural, easily accessible, and sustainable alternative ingredients to recreate the desired flavors and textures, then scales up production. The flavors are nearly identical to those of traditional nut butters, chocolate, and coffee. Currently, Voyage Foods has developed and launched alternative products including a peanut-free spread, hazelnut-free spread, cocoa-free chocolate, and bean-free coffee, all made from substitute ingredients.

Voyage Foods' founders, Maxwell, mentioned in a 2021 interview with FOODDIVE that alleviating the social and environmental issues associated with chocolate and coffee production was the inspiration behind Voyage Foods’ founding. The main ingredient in chocolate is cocoa beans. In the two countries that supply nearly 60% of the world's cocoa—Ivory Coast and Ghana—there are still approximately 1.56 million children working as child laborers on cocoa farms. The illegal activities stemming from child labor, such as child trafficking, seriously undermine social stability.

Moreover, the worsening global climate has posed significant threats to the environment suitable for growing cocoa beans. A research report suggests that by 2050, the temperatures in the tropical rainforest regions where cocoa is grown—Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Indonesia—will increase by 2.1°C, significantly reducing the suitable growing area

Coffee beans, also grown in tropical regions, are facing similar challenges. With supply under pressure and demand continually rising, the production gap is widening.

Voyage Foods' alternative products avoid using these "endangered" ingredients by substituting them with natural ingredients like grape seeds and sunflower kernels, which have lower environmental requirements, are more abundant, and are less affected by climate change.

Voyage Foods has launched a cocoa-free chocolate made from a blend of vegetable oils, grape seeds, sunflower protein powder, and natural flavorings. This product does not contain any cocoa or dairy and can be used as a substitute for traditional chocolate, as well as an ingredient in baked goods like cookies and frozen desserts like ice cream, offering a flavor indistinguishable from traditional chocolate.

Voyage Foods claims that Voyage’s Chocolate is a more environmentally sustainable option. Compared to traditional chocolate, Voyage’s Cocoa-Free Semi-sweet Chocolate reduces carbon footprint by 61%, land use impact by 90%, and water footprint by 95%. Voyage’s Cocoa-Free Sweet Chocolate reduces carbon footprint by 67%, land use impact by 78%, and water footprint by 93%. If 5% of global chocolate production were converted to Voyage's cocoa-free sweet chocolate, it could save water equivalent to 468,758 Olympic-sized swimming pools and reduce carbon emissions equivalent to the annual emissions of 1,456,522 cars.

Using a similar development approach, Voyage Foods announced their Bean-Free Coffee—coffee without coffee beans—in July of this year. This Bean-Free Coffee is made from roasted chickpeas, rice hulls, caffeine from green tea, and natural flavorings, blended using their proprietary technology. It contains no coffee beans but has a caffeine content similar to traditional coffee, with a caffeine-free option also available.

Reportedly, this bean-free coffee is over 40% cheaper than traditional coffee. Currently, this product is available in dark roast and medium roast flavors, sold in ground, liquid, concentrate, and instant forms.

Beyond the social and environmental issues surrounding chocolate and coffee production, food allergies present a significant challenge to the food industry today.

Peanut allergy is the most common food allergy among children under 18 and the third most common food allergy among adults. A 2021 study reported that the prevalence of peanut allergy in Europe and the U.S. has reached 1.4-2%, having tripled over the past 20 years. Additionally, 20%-30% of those with peanut allergies also have an allergy to one or more tree nuts. Peanuts and tree nuts together account for 70%-90% of food-related anaphylaxis deaths.

Voyage Foods' first product, Voyage’s Peanut-Free Spread, and the subsequent Hazelnut-Free Spread, provide better solutions for those with peanut and tree nut allergies.

Voyage’s Nut-Free Spreads are made from natural ingredients including sunflower kernels, grape seeds, and chickpeas, containing no peanuts or tree nuts, no cocoa or gluten, and free from the top 9 allergens, making them simple substitutes for traditional peanut butter and hazelnut cocoa spreads. These alternatives offer healthier, more diverse options for the large allergic population. As a result, these two products won Fast Company's 2024 World Changing Ideas Award.

To create alternative products that resemble the flavors of traditional foods, Voyage Foods deconstructs traditional foods and studies them at the molecular level. After identifying the molecular composition responsible for the iconic taste of traditional peanut butter, chocolate, and coffee, they begin searching for suitable new ingredients with the same molecules to replace the traditional ingredients and chemically process them into alternative products similar to the traditional ones.

Voyage Foods CEO and Founder Adam Maxwell mentioned in an interview that he previously reverse-engineered alcoholic beverages using food science and chemistry, and these four alternative products were inspired by that work. "By finding a way to recreate the unique flavors and textures of endangered crops, we can ensure these foods remain available even if climate change causes the crops to go extinct."

Voyage Foods currently holds over eight patents. Maxwell has repeatedly told the media that the process of producing alternatives from new ingredients is very similar to the traditional food manufacturing process, if not simpler. 

In October 2023, Voyage Foods' Peanut-Free Spread and Hazelnut-Free Spread were launched in over 1,200 Walmart stores across the U.S. and on Walmart.com, retailing for $4.48, and were also launched in bulk on Amazon this June.

In April of this year, Voyage Foods announced a partnership with Cargill, making Cargill the exclusive global B2B distributor of Voyage Foods' cocoa-free chocolate and nut-free spreads.

In addition to collaborating with retail and food manufacturers, Voyage Foods is looking to expand its partnerships with restaurants, K-12 schools, and airlines.

Before this latest funding round, Voyage Foods had raised money from investors including Horizons Ventures, Level One Fund, and SOSV. These funds have played a crucial role in boosting Voyage Foods' R&D efforts, building factories, and expanding production capacity.

Ventech China has stated that Voyage Foods is expanding its mass production capabilities, and with a new production factory expected to be completed in Q4, production capacity will be significantly increased. In the future, Voyage Foods will continue to expand production capacity, deepen and broaden its partnerships, and continue to develop high-quality sustainable products. Ventech China will also actively support Voyage Foods in entering the Asian market, bringing environmentally friendly and flavorful high-quality products to Asian consumers.

(All images are from Voyage Foods' official website.)

References:

1. Cacao-free chocolate? Voyage Foods aims to make it a reality. Sept. 2, 2021. FDDODIVE

2. Child Labor in the Production of Cocoa. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

3. Climate & Chocolate. Feb. 10, 2016. Climate.gov

4. Voyage Foods

5. US business Voyage Foods enters drinks with beanless coffee. Jul. 18, 2024. Yahoo! Finance

6. What Is Peanut Allergy? FARE

7. Lange, Lars et al. “White paper on peanut allergy - part 1: Epidemiology, burden of disease, health economic aspects.” Allergo journal international vol. 30,8 (2021): 261-269.

8. How Voyage Foods redesigned peanut butter to avoid nut allergies? May. 14, 2024. Fast Company

9. Walmart

10. Voyage Foods Launches its Peanut-Free Butter & Hazelnut-Free Nutella Dupe in Bulk on Amazon. June 11, 2024. Vegconomist