Equinom raises $20 million in Series C to boost plant-based nutrition solutions

Israeli plant-based nutrition company Equinom, which leverages a novel approach to improve seeds and deliver high-quality source ingredients, announced on Tuesday that it has raised $20 million in Series C funding led by Phoenix, with participation from Fortissimo, BASF Venture Capital, Trendlines and Maverick.

With the new injection of funds from investors, Equinom will continue to expand its operations in sales, marketing, research and development across the globe. The company currently employs 42 people, 38 of them in Israel.

“With this capital vote of trust from investors, we now have the ability to unleash our products in the market and become a global leader in the agtech space,” said Gil Shalev, founder and CEO of Equinom. “Leveraging our cutting-edge seed-to-plate food-application technology to create source ingredients, Equinom helps market-leading food brands turn regular food into super food. Similar to how consumers use Google, we anticipate they will use Equinom’s AI database to match their needs with non-GMO ingredients that have never been explored before. In Q4 we will be releasing our first batch of Smarter Pea Protein concentrate to the market which will be the highest pea protein concentrate available in the world.”

Equinom has over 100,000 acres across five continents which it uses to grow plant protein and has secured millions of dollars in contracts with market-leading food brands. Using AI-driven technology to naturally breed and grow superior seeds that boost nutrition, Equinom works with its partners to custom-design ingredients and enable local sourcing.

Through its natural non-GMO breeding methods, Equinom maximizes the genetic potential of exotic and ancient crops to fix the broken result of yield focused breeding and low quality ingredients.

“Seven years ago we started exploring the industry and have quickly become a global pioneer in the agtech space,” added Shalev. “Through our collaborations with leading food brands like Pepsico-owned Sabra, we are the first non-GMO/non gene edited breeding company that developed ingredients with multiple traits that are already available in the market.”

Euromonitor evaluated that the global clean label food sales alone has grown by $15 billion from 2015 to date. Recently, the Market Research Future (MRFR) estimated that the Global Plant-Based Food Market is expected to acquire a market value of approximately $380 billion by 2027. To date, Equinom has partnered with some of the most innovative companies in the industry including Pepsico-owned Sabra, Roquette, and Dipasa.

“Equinom is uniquely positioned in the agtech space as a major player who can impact the future of food,” said Elad Givoni, Head of Private Equity at The Phoenix. “Through its proprietary technology, distinct methodology and unique genomic database, Equinom is able to create a wide range of products for a broad spectrum of commercial food applications, while ensuring that the products can be quickly adapted to rapidly changing market needs.”