Amsterdam, June 9th, 2022: Rockstart, global early stage investor, announces its investment in REDUCED, an existing Rockstart portfolio company. The €2.9m seed round was led by Vækstfonden and VÅR Ventures, alongside Rockstart, Pollen Capital and business angels. The Danish startup plans to utilize the funding to finalize the investment into its unique technology used for the creation of plant-based flavor enhancers, expand its production facilities and attract talent.
REDUCED develops and produces ingredients, flavor enhancers and food products from side streams and excess produce. The Danish food tech startup does this to solve one of the biggest challenges of our time: food waste. The global products from Food Waste was valued at USD 52.91 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 4.6% to reach USD 83.26 billion by 2032.
REDUCED wants to make it as easy as possible for consumers to make the right decision by creating solutions that meet the one thing they care most about in foods: taste. Studies show that taste is the most important consideration for consumers when choosing a food product. REDUCED flavor solutions are centered around umami and match well with plant-based meat analogues. In addition, its flavor solutions are organic, without additives and made from side streams and excess produce. In its production facility in Copenhagen, REDUCED uses fermentation techniques to create its unique products which, unlike traditional other natural plant-based flavor enhancers such as miso and tamari, take significantly less time to produce.
We have now built our production facility in Copenhagen and finalized new production technology for the creation of flavor enhancers from upcycled ingredients. This round will allow us to increase production with more bioreactors, hire great talent, expand distribution and go deep into the plant-based market. We are excited to welcome new investors, Vækstfonden and VÅR ventures on board and see our existing investors, Rockstart, Pollen Capital, and our business angels doing follow up investments. This shows great trust in the company and in our mission to reduce food waste through taste.Emil Munck de Voss, CEO and Co-Founder, REDUCED
It is past time that we valorise food industry side streams into delicious products that consumers and chefs love. Rockstart invested a third time in REDUCED because they are well positioned to make this impact thanks their rare team of chefs, technicians, biochemists and trailblaizers.Mark Durno, Managing Partner AgriFood, Rockstart states:
We are excited to invest in REDUCED and support their efforts in producing sustainable, organic and tasty food products from upcycled ingredients. We are looking forward to the journey ahead along with the Reduced team and the investor syndicate.Eva Buciek Foss, Investment Manager, Vækstfonden
The Rockstart AgriFood fund had its first in 2021 at €22m. Rockstart AgriFood has invested in 33 startups since its launch, making Rockstart one of the most active AgriFood investors in the world. The Rockstart AgriFood portfolio companies have collectively raised more than €25m in total thus far.
REDUCED is an innovative food production company based in Copenhagen, Denmark. REDUCED specializes in creating high quality food products made from organic surplus produce. Their mission is to reduce food waste by using vegetables, protein and other sources of nutrition left over from the conventional food industry. Always with a focus on taste, quality and sustainability.
Vaeksfonden is the Danish state’s investment fund. Working in close collaboration with banks and domestic and international investors, Vaekstfonden discovers and develops the companies that Denmark cannot afford to miss out on. The power of innovation, yield to society and responsibility are the three signposts that guide Vaekstfonden in finding and choosing new projects. Since 1992, Vaekstfonden has contributed more than DKK 33,8 billion (€ 4.5b) to help develop and grow more than 9.200 companies.
About Rockstart
Rockstart is an early stage investor that empowers purpose-driven founders across three domains: Energy, AgriFood, and Emerging Technologies.
Rockstart invests in early-stage startups from each of the three funds and provides access to capital, market, and expertise by connecting founders with co-investors, mentors, partners, corporates, and the wider Rockstart network.
Rockstart has invested in more than 350 startups and its alumni value to date is more than €1.7bn. Rockstart is an international team of 45+ professionals dedicated to empowering purpose-driven founders to become scalable and drive positive change on a global scale. Rockstart has notable exits such asWercker, Dan.com, Hubs.Com, Bouw7, iClinic, and s and Brincr. The company has offices in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Bogota.
Contact details
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- Felipe Santamaria
- Managing Director, Rockstart LatAm
- felipe@rockstart.com
- +57 318 3866940
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