MeliBio, an Oakland, CA-based company focused on creating honey without bees, raised $2.2M in funding.
Backers included Collaborative Fund, Siddhi Capital, new investor The Greenbaum Foundation led by Jim Greenbaum, executive producer of The Game Changers and Seaspiracy.
The company, which has raised $9.4m in funding to date, intends to use the funds to expand its development efforts.
Founded in 2020 in Berkeley, USA by scientist and amateur chef Aaron Schaller, PhD, and honey industry executive Darko Mandich, MeliBio is a food company that makes honey without bees. Leveraging advanced culinary techniques and plant science, the company produces sustainable honey to match taste, quality, and nutrition of animal-derived counterparts. Its plant-based honey addresses critical issues facing the commercial honey industry, including the use of pesticides and adulterants and the steep decline in bee populations due to extreme weather events. The company’s first product, a plant-based honey ingredient for B2B and foodservice, was launched in October 2021. MeliBio is now partnering with Narayan Foods, one of Europe’s largest organic food producers, to reach consumers in up to 75,000 European stores.
