The Mor and Meitav Dash investment houses will invest $3 million in Israeli plant-based meat alternatives company SavorEat and will receive options to invest a further $1 million. The investment by Mor and Meitav Dash is at a company valuation of $25 million and will be conducted in two stages in accordance with the company meeting milestones. $1 million will be invested immediately at a valuation of $13 million and $2 million more will be invested at a valuation of up to $35 million.
This is SavorEat's second financing round within two weeks, with $4.75 million raised. $1.75 million was raised from the Millennium Foodtech Partnership (which held its TASE IPO earlier this month) at a valuation of $7 million.
SavorEat was founded in 2018 by CEO Racheli Vizman, Chief Scientist Prof. Oded Shosayev, and Prof. Ido Braslevsky. The company has eight employees and works with a team of senior consultants and leading partners including the BBB Group, and chef Einav Cohen, who serves as the senior culinary consultant for the Unilever multinational corporation, and others. The technology, which was developed at the Hebrew University's Faculty of Agriculture, has received an exclusive commercialization license from the University's Yissum technology transfer company.
SavorEat has developed technology that combines ingredients from an innovative plant based formula, 3D robot printing, and advanced cooking methods. SavorEat can manufacture and cook products that distinctively imitate the taste and texture of meat (including fat, sinew and fibers) with the manufacturing potential for other foods. The ingredients come from plant sources and are patent protected. Production of each serving is carried out by a "robot chef," integrating automatic and autonomous manufacturing methods with unique 3D printing and heating methods, facilitating the full cooking of servings. The robot allows personalization of many dimensions of the serving, untouched by human hands.
SavorEat can manufacture a range of textures simulating meat with high precision, also allowing individual adaptation of the composition of each serving to the personal preference and health of the customer, longer shelf life, and manufacturing products that do not contain gluten/GMO/ and preservatives.
Mor investment house said, "The food industry from livestock is one of the main reasons for global warming and the main cause of warm gas emissions and damage to the environment, and thus the international interest in reducing pollution and smarter consumption and more nutritious food. Due to this, we believe that there is potential for the development of SavorEat's delicacies."
Meitav Dash said, "The ability of the professional team and rapid rate of growth of SavorEat is expected to provide a unique solution to the developing foodtech market. This is a sector with growth potential due to global trends and the way in which food is consumed and we are happy to take part in this revolution."
SavorEat CEO Racheli Vizman said, "We believe that only a quality and healthy alternative to meat will succeed in leading the wished for change of reducing meat consumption. Through the last financing round, we will work to realize this outlook and bring unique technology to the market that can lead the foodtech market. The fact that significant institutions in the capital market have expressed confidence in us makes us very happy, and we believe that they will see justification in their investment in the not very long-term."
Vizman added, "The unique technology that we have developed will be the next thing in the meat alternatives market. The technology not only simulates taste but also the unique colors, and smells of meat as well as the unique texture and experience of eating meat, and that is without foregoing the nutritional composition of the serving. This is a leap forward compared with the conventional methods of manufacturing with most companies currently producing the same texture."
The financing round was led by Ori Mor of the Mor Langermann investment bank.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on July 27, 2020 © Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2020