Explosive growth of this five plus year old food tech startup jettisoned NotCo to unicorn status with a $1.5B valuation. Using a first-of-its-kind patented A.I. technology (named Giuseppe), the innovative food tech company develops plant-based options that taste, feel, cook, and function just like their animal-based counterparts.
Based in Chile, NotCo now operates in five countries in both retail and foodservice and has five U.S. patents for its proprietary A.I. technology. The company touts that it has disrupted three main animal-based protein categories simultaneously – dairy, eggs, and meat – besting their competitors around the world that can make no such claim to date.
The rapid scale of NotCo’s growth is reflected in its launch of NotMilk™ seven months ago. By year’s end NotMilk will be in over 8,000 retail doors in the U.S. The company now claims national distribution through Whole Foods Market, Sprouts, Wegmans among others. The company’s NotMilk™, NotBurger™, NotMeat™, NotIceCream™ and NotMayo™ products are in more than 6,000 retailers globally, while they also run their own direct to consumer ecommerce, and have partnerships in place with Burger King and Papa John’s.
The food tech startup’s rapid penetration of the U.S. food industry is dwarfing the food tech startup’s initial success in Latin America. It is the fastest-growing food tech company in Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Colombia with Mexico not far behind.
NotCo attributes its high growth to its proprietary, one-of-a-kind, artificial intelligence technology. The algorithms enable the food tech startup to create true plant-based replacements faster, better, and more accurately than its competitors. The algorithms are enormously empowering, giving NotCo the capability to analyze thousands of plants in its database, resulting in new unique combinations that replicate animal-based products.
“Our patented A.I. gives us a significant competitive advantage due to the speed and accuracy with which we’re able to develop and bring new products to market,” said NotCo Founder and CEO, Matias Muchnick. “We all share the same vision for Giuseppe’s ability to catapult plant-based foods into mainstream adoption at a rapid pace by focusing on taste, sustainability, and infiltrating multiple categories at once.”
With more than $350 million raised to date and completion of the Series D round, NotCo will be expanding its product categories in North America and accelerating its plans to launch in Europe and Asia. Funds will be used to scale the core of its proprietary A.I. technology.
The $235M Series D funding round was led by Tiger Global and attracted new funds, DFJ Growth Fund and the social impact foundation ZOMA Lab. They join Bezos Expeditions, EHI, Future Positive, L Catterton and Kaszek Ventures.
NotCo’s founding team of CTO Karim Pichara Baksai, CSO Pablo Zamora and CEO Muchnick was very excited when one month before the Series D, they received a substantial investment from Enlightened Hospitality Investments, where restauranteur and entrepreneur Danny Meyer is a partner. Meyer is widely known as founder of Shake Shack and being a QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) trailblazer. The food tech startup’s $85 million Series C co-led by Future Positive and L Catterton was completed just nine months ago. Funding became more readily available as the demand for the food tech startup’s product dramatically rose.
“NotCo has created world class plant-based food products that are rapidly gaining market share,” said Scott Shleifer, Partner in Tiger Global. “We are excited to partner with Matias and his team. We expect continued product innovation and expansion into new geographies and food categories will fuel high and sustainable growth for years to come.”
