Amsterdam-based Rockstart, a global early-stage investor, announced on Thursday that it has participated in a funding round of €2.9M in its portfolio company, REDUCED, a Denmark-based foodtech startup. The round was led by Vækstfonden and VÅR Ventures, alongside Rockstart, Pollen Capital and business angels.
Eva Buciek Foss, Investment Manager at Vækstfonden, says, “We are excited to invest in REDUCED and support their efforts in producing sustainable, organic and tasty food products from upcycled ingredients. We are looking forward to the journey ahead along with the REDUCED team and the investor syndicate.”
Vaeksfonden is the Danish state’s investment fund that works in close collaboration with banks and domestic and international investors. The firm discovers and develops the companies that Denmark cannot afford to miss out on. Since 1992, Vaekstfonden has contributed more than DKK 33.8B (€4.5B) to develop and grow more than 9,200 companies.
Funds to expand production facilities
According to Futuremarketinsights, food waste products, worth $52.91B in 2022, are expected to expand at a CAGR of 4.6 per cent to $83.26B by 2032. This is where REDUCED wants to make a difference.
The Danish foodtech startup wants to tackle one of the most pressing issues of our time: food waste. The startup develops and produces ingredients, flavor enhancers, and food products from side streams and excess produce.
With this raised capital, REDUCED looks to invest in its technology used for the creation of plant-based flavor enhancers, further expand its production facilities, and increase its workforce.
REDUCED co-founder Emil Munck de Voss says, “We have now built our production facility in Copenhagen and finalised new production technology for the creation of flavour enhancers from upcycled ingredients. This round will allow us to increase production with more bioreactors, hire great talent, expand distribution and go deep into the plant-based market. We are excited to welcome new investors, Vækstfonden and VÅR ventures on board and see our existing investors, Rockstart, Pollen Capital, and our business angels doing follow up investments. This shows great trust in the company and in our mission to reduce food waste through taste.”
“Reducing food waste / More flavor to your food”
Founded in 2020 by Emil Munck de Voss and William Anton Lauf Olsen, REDUCED specialises in creating food products made from surplus produce. The company’s aim is to make it easy for consumers to make the right decision by creating solutions that meet the one thing they care most about in foods: taste.
REDUCED flavour solutions are centred around umami (a category of taste in food – besides sweet, sour, salt, and bitter) and match well with plant-based meat analogues. Additionally, its flavour solutions are organic, without additives and made from side streams and excess produce.
The company’s production facility in Copenhagen uses fermentation techniques to create its products, which take significantly less time to produce, unlike traditional other natural plant-based flavour enhancers such as miso and tamari.
Brief about Rockstart
Rockstart is a domain-focused accelerator venture capital firm that offers follow-on growth capital to help startups become successful across four domains: energy, health, agrifood, and emerging technologies. Besides funding, the firm also provides access to market and expertise by connecting founders with co-investors, mentors, partners, corporates, and the wider Rockstart network.
Mark Durno, Managing Partner AgriFood, Rockstart, says, “It is past time that we valorise food industry side streams into delicious products that consumers and chefs love. Rockstart invested a third time in REDUCED because they are well-positioned to make this impact thanks to their rare team of chefs, technicians, biochemists and trailblaizers.”
The Rockstart AgriFood fund closed its first fund in 2021 at €22M. To date, it has invested in 33 startups, making Rockstart one of the most active AgriFood investors in the world. The Rockstart AgriFood portfolio companies have collectively raised more than €25M in total so far.
Most recently, Rockstart’s Energy fund led a €400K funding round in its existing portfolio company Lanterne, a London-based micromobility platform.
