Strategic investor in $226 Million funding round
Author: Przemek Obloj, CIO
A unique foodtech company
Blue Horizon invests to accelerate the transition to a sustainable food system. Motif FoodWorks Inc. (“Motif”) powers this transition by engineering breakthrough technologies for plant-based foods.
A spin-out of the biotech leader, Ginkgo Bioworks, Motif combines science and consumer insights to uncover opportunities to transform and improve plant-based foods. It uses a diverse set of cutting-edge technologies from an exclusive network of partners to create ingredients with totally new functionalities.
Those technologies range from synthetic biology to oral processing physics, giving Motif unparalleled insight into how consumers experience and enjoy food, in terms of attributes like mouthfeel, texture, juiciness and melting characteristics and the ability to develop novel ingredients delivering those attributes.
Led by a veteran team of scientists and food executives, Motif is a new breed of science-centric but deeply commercial organisations working across food ecosystem to deliver real change.
A ground-breaking fundraise
Motif $226m fundraise is one of the largest ever for a foodtech company and enables Motif to accelerate R&D and build out its commercial organisation as its products are launched into the global markets.
Blue Horizon joins OTPP and BlackRock, as well as the existing investors including Viking Global, General Atlantic and Breakthrough Energy Ventures.
Addressing the climate imperative
Food system generates a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions, second only to energy – without sustainable food there is no Net Zero.
It also remains relatively under-invested; sustainable food investment has increased but still accounts for only 15% of sustainable energy transition investment. Our investment in Motif is part of redressing that balance, creating outstanding returns for the investors and the planet.
Working together towards a sustainable food revolution
Blue Horizon and Motif will work together to further commercialise the revolutionary food technologies and expand the plant-based category.
Blue Horizon’s ecosystem, including its portfolio companies, is already engaged with Motif – as customers, partners and suppliers, so enable the plant-based segment to close gaps in taste, texture and nutritional value to earn mass appeal. Two in three Americans would be willing to eat more plant-based foods instead of meat if the alternatives tasted better.
Motif’s tasty, nutritious solutions will radically change the production of foods we all love, so we don’t have to trade away the joy of a good meal to save the planet.