December 15, 2015

California-based Ripple Foods has raised $13.6 million in Series A funding led by Prelude Ventures and including Khosla Ventures, Blueberry Ventures, and Eagle Cliff Partners, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Founded by Adam Lowry and Neil Renninger in Emeryville, California, Ripple Foods creates a plant-based milk-alternative drink that provides superior protein content compared to almond or rice-based dairy alternative products.

As investors take note of healthier-for-you food alternatives and increase their commitments in the segment, technological advances that can deliver new products have been booming.

In October of this year Redwood City, California-based Impossible Foods, which makes next-generation veggie burgers, raised $108 million in a Series D round of funding that involved Bill Gates, and only two months earlier in August, GMO-free, organic fruit and veggie juice maker, Suja Life LLC, raised $150 million.

Alternative products and the companies that make them are also becoming more mainstream. One such example is San Francisco-based egg-free mayonnaise producer, Hampton Creek, which has raised $117.5 million through multiple rounds of fundraising since 2012, now commanding shelf space in Walmart stores.

This year marked a record high for investments in food and beverage startups, with total commitments reaching $542.4 million within just the first three quarters. This rate of investment marks the highest rate of investment in the sector since 1992 when Dow Jones VentureSource began tracking such data, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Ripple Foods is currently organizing its distribution channels and is planning to bring its plant-based milk to market in 2016. Following this product launch, the firm plans to follow with additional dairy-free foods.