Less than a year after it was founded, the vegan butter manufacturer Fora Foods has received capital of $1.4 million. Various investors see potential in the butter, which will be the first one to be available in US branches of Eataly.
The special thing about the butter is that Fora uses aquafaba, a liquid by-product of soaking chickpeas. Another key ingredient is coconut. Unlike other vegan brands in this category, Fora claims that the use of aquafaba not only gives the product the taste and texture of dairy butter, but also prolongs its shelf life. In using aquafaba, Fora wants to distinguish itself from brands like I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter and Smart Balance. Naturli’ Foods also produces vegan butter. The success of vegan butter brands such as Myokos Creamery, which last year completed an investment round of $6 million, also proves that there is considerable demand for this type of product.
Investors
Amongst the investors were New Crop Capital and Blue Horizon, which led the round. Other investors in the round included Baleine & Bjorn Capital and Everhope Capital, as well as real estate developer John Sobrato. Prior to that, Fora had already received around $26,000 from a Kickstarter campaign.
Inauguration
The capital will be used to support Fora in launching the product line. In addition, the money will be used to establish the product in brick-and-mortar stores and to strengthen its aquafaba supply chain. Fora’s co-founders, Aidan Altman and Andrew McClure, say that Eataly is a good starting partner because it reaches “foodies” who are willing to pay a higher price for quality products. The product costs 7.49 dollars for about 425 grams.
“We’re not really targeting vegans here,” Altman said. “We’re really for flexitarians, just like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat. A product must taste good and work well if it’s to be sold to these people. We sell the experience of butter.”
