MeliBio Raises $5.7M In Seed Funding

MeliBio, Inc., a San Francisco, CA-based food-tech company focused on creating real honey without bees, raised $5.7M in seed funding.

The round was led by Astanor Ventures, with participation from existing investors Big Idea Ventures and 18 Ventures, and new investors Skyview Capital, XRC Labs, Collaborative Fund, Midnight Venture Partners, Alumni Ventures, Siddhi Capital, Climate Capital Collective, Red Bridge Ventures, VegCapital, HackVentures and mission driven angel investors from Vevolution and GlassWall Syndicate groups.

The company, which has raised a total of $7.2m to date, intends to use the funds to scale its proprietary technology of precision fermentation and plant science and launch its first line of commercial products.

Founded in 2020 in Berkeley, CA by Latinx scientist and amateur chef Aaron Schaller, PhD, and Serbian immigrant and honey industry executive Darko Mandich, MeliBio unveiled its first product, a plant-based honey ingredient for B2B and foodservice, in October 2021. The ingredient was tested in four restaurant launches in New York City and one CPG company in Washington D.C., paving the way for the company to scale manufacturing and onboard new clients from April 2022. The company aims to provide their product to food, beverage, and cosmetics companies looking to offer a sustainable and vegan product to the demographic of plant-based, environmentally conscious, and clean-beauty consumers.

FinSMEs

17/03/2022