US-based vegan food developer Ripple Foods raised $65m in series C funding yesterday from investors including GV, a corporate venture capital subsidiary of internet and technology group Alphabet.
The round was led by family office Euclidean Capital and also featured investment banking firm Goldman Sachs, farming and agriculture-focused private equity firm Fall Line Capital, VC fund S2G Ventures and VC firms Prelude Ventures and Khosla Ventures.
Ripple is developing vegan alternatives to dairy food and drinks based on a plant protein it has created called Ripptein. It launched its first product, a milk substitute, in April 2016 before subsequently adding a half and half and a Greek yoghurt product.
The round took Ripple’s total funding to $110m since it was founded in 2014, the company said. GV led its $30m series B round in 2016, which included Khosla Ventures, S2G Ventures and Tao Capital Partners. Its investors also include Eagle Cliff Partners.
Neil Renninger, Ripple’s co-founder and co-CEO, said: “The world wants better food. Right now, food has too many confusing rules, and the food industry happily sells us unhealthy, processed food that have an immense toll on our environment.
“Big Food spends a miniscule amount on R&D trying to alleviate these problems. We are here to change that. We are excited to partner with this set of like-minded investors to continue to bring our innovative products to scale, and make living a healthy and sustainable life easier for everyone.”
– Image courtesy of Ripple Foods.