Additionally, the business and Cargill just struck a distribution arrangement.
A California business has raised $52 million in a funding round to produce chocolate without cocoa in an effort to avoid the volatility of the commodities markets.

Sunflower protein, sugar, grape seeds, and blended vegetable oils are the ingredients of Voyage Foods’ chocolate. It also creates bean-free coffee and a hazelnut-free Nutella-style spread using a blend of seeds, sugar, legumes, and palm oil instead of peanuts. Adam Maxwell, the company’s founder, sees a chance as consumer demand for commodities like cocoa and coffee beans rises and supply is disrupted by harsh weather, making these resources more valuable.

In an interview, Maxwell stated that as the globe changes, substitutes for coffee and cocoa will become “a material percent of these global commodities,” helping to close the gap between supply and demand. The company wants to market Voyage products to consumer goods and food service industries as ingredient replacements because they are more environmentally friendly than the genuine thing, he continued.

Since Voyage Foods products were introduced to Walmart last year, Maxwell reports that monthly sales have increased. Using Voyage’s peanut-free spread, Boulder, Colorado-based Rudi’s Rocky Mountain Bakery, a producer of gluten-free breads and breakfast sandwiches, is about to introduce its own take on JM Smucker’s beloved Uncrustables sandwiches.

Horizons Ventures and Level One Fund led the investment round; SOSV, Nimble Partners, and Collaborative Fund also took part. To date, the company has raised $94 million in outside capital. The investment comes after Voyage Foods and the massive agriculture corporation Cargill partnered on distribution. As it expands its operations, Voyage is constructing a 300,000-square-foot facility in the Midwest of the United States.

Voyage “offers more stable pricing and reliance on raw materials that are less subject to market volatility,” according to Anne Mertens-Hoyng, category director of chocolate confectionary and ice cream at Cargill, a significant stakeholder in the cocoa industry.

Although plant-based meat substitutes have not yet gained traction with consumers and cell-based meat substitutes are costly and challenging to produce, Gil Horsky, the founding partner of Flora Ventures and the former head of Mondelez International’s venture capital division, noted that cocoa substitutes may offer a number of benefits. In contrast to meat, the cost of cocoa is rising to the point where a substitute could be more affordable, he said. The goal, according to Horsky, isn’t to totally replace chocolate but rather to bridge the gap between supply and demand, as chocolate is also simpler and easier to imitate than meat. Horsky stated that Flora hopes to purchase a chocolate substitute soon, although she hasn’t done so yet.

Not all startups are making chocolate alternatives like Voyage. Israel’s Celleste Bio uses cell-culture technology to generate cocoa butter and powder, while London’s WNWN Food Labs sells chocolate bars free of cocoa. Italy’s Foreverland uses carob as a substitute.

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