The Vanilla Vida heating company Strauss’ podtech “The Kitchen” announced today that it has raised $ 11.5 million. Leading the round is Ordway Selection – a Swiss investment body that manages the finances of a number of private families. The company consists of partners with a background in investments in the world of industry, and is for the companies in which it invests an active partner and professional consultant and even one that can open doors for the global food giants. Other investors in the round are: Picridge – an investment fund specializing in Podtech, Kibbutz Maagan Michael and the Strauss Group, which invested in the company for the second time.
Vanilla Vida was founded in 2020 by Oren Zilberman, who currently serves as CEO and comes from the field of agrotech investments, Raz Kryzevsky, who serves as VP of technology, and has a rich background in the worlds of aroma and plant from international companies including Avjin and Teva, and Shlomi Kadosh who manages the agricultural sector Even decades of experience in planting and managing an international operation. The company is the first in the world to develop a commercial solution for the entire vanilla value chain from growth to the final product.
Vanilla is the most popular flavor in the world, and the second most expensive spice in the world. 95% of the world’s vanilla consumption is based on synthetic vanilla (which mainly comes from oil). Natural vanilla suffers from an irregular supply chain and the quality of raw material varies, due to climate change, which makes its price very volatile. The technology developed by Vanilla Vida ensures a frequent crop of vanilla and full transparency. Among other things, the advantage of the technology makes it possible to reach vanilla sticks with as much as 3 vanillins compared to the vanilla available on the market, the highest percentage of vanilla seen so far in the world. In just a year and a half, the company was able to develop a data-based drying method that improves the growth product, without genetic engineering and significantly shortens the traditional process.
Already today the company has significant international customers including food giants and European and American extracts. Today, the company’s offices and development laboratories are located in the Strauss Podtech incubator in Ashdod, and the company is currently building a factory for drying vanilla sticks and offices that include the development laboratories in Or Yehuda. Vanilla growing greenhouses are at the forefront, and will expand to other places in Israel thanks to cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture. The company currently has 15 employees.
Jonathan Berger, CEO of Strauss Podtech Incubator and member of the Vanilla Vida Board of Directors: “One of the side effects of global warming is the high volatility in the weather resulting in crop damage. Vanilla Vida will use technology from the worlds of precision agriculture, in which Israel is a world leader, to grow vanilla frequently and stably. Vanilla Vida’s customers are excited about the expected change and the expected stability in deliveries and product quality. “Strauss is investing in the company for the second time out of great faith in the team and the technology it has developed.”
Ariel Barak, Partner and Head of Food and Agriculture at: Ordway Selection In view of the growing demand of consumers for food products that contain only natural ingredients, the demand for vanilla is significantly greater than the supply. Vanilla market, and will enable a long-term solution that will provide stability, efficiency and quality to one of the most sought-after raw materials in the world. ”
June Glickman, CEO of Pickbridge’s FoodParks Side Fund, and member of the Vanilla Vida Board of Directors: “We are pleased and welcome a significant round of investment by Vanilla Vida and are proud to be one of the company’s first investors. “Natural for flavor development. The company’s unique technology will allow it to expand in the future the range of natural solutions it will provide, beyond Vanilla.”
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