Food-tech venture fund Sparkalis has taken a minority stake in Fooditive, a food technology business specializing in sustainable plant-based ingredients. 

Fooditive’s innovations include an upcycled calorie-free natural sweetener with the taste and functionality of sugar derived from apple and pear side streams.

In March, Puratos launched Sparkalis, a venture that supports innovation in the bakery, patisserie and chocolate sectors. Its flexible approach means it can offer scalable support to accelerate business growth for food tech innovators. 

Following this investment (the minority stake hasn’t been disclosed) of Fooditive, Sparkalis’ managing director Filip Arnaut has joined Fooditive’s advisory board. 

“Our partnership with Sparkalis will give Fooditive access to many countries worldwide wher we do not already have a market presence. This will enable us to take our innovations to a wider audience and, in doing so, bring about the changes needed to ensure the food supply chains of the future are truly sustainable,” explains Moayad Abushokhedim, Fooditive CEO and founder. 

“Sparkalis has acquired a stake in Fooditive because we share the same vision for the future of the food industry,” adds Arnaut. 

“We are committed to facilitating innovative solutions that will change how we think about food production and create a more sustainable footprint for the industry.”

Precision fermentation and beyond
Fooditive, based in the Netherlands, has risen to prominence for successfully harnessing its precision fermentation technology to produce groundbreaking innovations such as vegan casein and bee-free honey. 

It also recently became the first food industry signatory to the Washington Compact, a new agreement on conducting business operations in outer space. Fooditive is currently developing a 3D printing technology that can produce food from waste plastic called BioPrint. It is planned to be ready for use for the first mission to land humans on Mars, which is expected to launch in the late 2030s or early 2040s.

Moves in animal-free food production
The move toward animal-free produce is gaining traction across many F&B sectors.

Late last year, Fooditive revealed it is on track to begin large-scale production trials of the world’s first 100% bee-free honey. As well as providing all the benefits of traditional honey, this will address consumer concerns about animal welfare and sustainability.

Among Fooditive’s other launches is GoPeasy, a pea-based dairy-free beverage that mimics the taste of milk. The beverage aligns with the company’s strategy to offer healthy and affordable products.