NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NotCo, the fast-growing food tech company with a first-of-its-kind patented A.I. technology (named Giuseppe) that creates plant-based options that taste, feel, cook, and function just like their animal-based counterparts, has raised $235 million in a Series D funding round led by Tiger Global, bringing the company’s valuation to $1.5 billion. The Series D also attracted new funds including DFJ Growth Fund and the social impact foundation, ZOMA Lab. Athletes Lewis Hamilton and Roger Federer and musician and DJ Questlove are also joining, interested in NotCo’s limitless potential to innovate in the plant-based market.
Since its inception five years ago, NotCo has seen explosive growth on the global market, being the only company to disrupt three main animal-based protein categories simultaneously – dairy, eggs, and meat – something no other competitor in the world has achieved so far. The company operates in five countries in both retail and foodservice, and already has five U.S. patents for its proprietary A.I. technology.
“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. “The level of enthusiasm we’ve received from our partners is thrilling and humbling. 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. We are grateful to have the support of Tiger Global as we build a food tech brand with the global reach and capability to reinvent the food industry.”
NotCo has raised more than $350 million to date and the Series D will bolster its expansion into new categories in North America, scale the core of its proprietary A.I. technology, and accelerate plans to launch in Europe and Asia. The round comes just one month after a substantial investment from Enlightened Hospitality Investments (EHI), where Shake Shack founder and QSR trailblazer, Danny Meyer, is a partner; and nine months following an $85 million Series C co-led by Future Positive and L Catterton. The Series D round included follow-ons from NotCo’s roster of industry-leading investment firms, including Bezos Expeditions, EHI, Future Positive, L Catterton and Kaszek Ventures.
"NotCo has created world class plant-based food products that are rapidly gaining market share," said Scott Shleifer, Partner, 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."
NotCo’s accelerated growth is enabled by Giuseppe, its proprietary, one-of-a-kind, artificial intelligence technology that allows the company to create true plant-based replacements faster, better, and more accurately than anyone else in the industry. Giuseppe’s algorithms analyze thousands of plants in its database to come up with unique combinations that replicate animal-based products almost to perfection.
NotCo launched NotMilk™ in the U.S. seven months ago and is on track to reach 8,000 retail doors by end of year, already available nationally in Whole Foods Market, Sprouts, Wegmans and more. This staggering success is also unmatched in Latin America, where the company has become the fastest-growing food tech company offering superior tasting plant-based products in Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Colombia, and quickly expanding to Mexico and more. The company sells NotMilk™, NotBurger™, NotMeat™, NotIceCream™ and NotMayo™ in more than 6,000 retailers globally, runs its own direct to consumer ecommerce, and holds successful partnerships with Burger King and Papa John’s.
To learn more about NotCo please visit www.notco.com.
About NotCo
NotCo is an industry-changing, fast-growth food tech leader and the only global company disrupting massive food and beverage segments including dairy, eggs, and meat simultaneously. NotCo has launched products including NotMilk™, NotBurger™, NotMeat™, NotIceCream™ and NotMayo™ in the U.S., Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Colombia and in less than three years has become the fastest-growing food tech company in Latin America. NotCo utilizes a proprietary artificial intelligence technology, Giuseppe, which matches animal proteins to their ideal replacements among thousands of plant-based ingredients. Its one-of-a-kind technology will eventually enable NotCo to be a powering tool for food and beverage innovation partnering with other companies to accelerate of the transformation of the food industry. For more information, please visit www.notco.com.
About Tiger Global
Tiger Global Management, LLC is an investment firm that focuses on private and public companies in the global Internet, software, consumer, and payments industries. The Firm's private equity strategy was launched in 2003 and has invested in hundreds of companies across more than 30 countries, in all stages of funding – from Series A to pre-IPO. The venture business aims to partner with dynamic entrepreneurs operating market-leading growth companies; examples include JD.com, Meituan, Facebook, LinkedIn, Spotify, Peloton, Credit Karma, Toast, Stripe, ByteDance, Stone, Warby Parker, Flipkart, Despegar, Ola and DiDi. Tiger Global was founded in 2001 and is based in New York with affiliate offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Singapore and Bangalore.
