Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is the richest man on the planet. Through its investment fund, Bezos Expeditions, and together with investors The Craftory, Kaszek Ventures and Maya Capital announced the investment of US $ 30 million in NotCo, a Chilean startup. This is the first time that The Craftory and Amazon invest in Latin America.
The company was founded in 2015 with an initial capital of US $ 250,000. He is dedicated to creating foods using artificial intelligence, algorithms and a computer program, Giuseppe, “capable of generating well-known food formulas based only on plant ingredients, imitating the taste and texture of foods that they wish to replicate”.
As explained by the company, “vertically integrate science and technology, to produce from plants, healthy and sustainable versions of traditional foods strongly rooted in eating habits, trying not to change the habits or consumption preferences of people.”
Matías Muchnick, CEO of the company and one of its founders spoke with Pulso, and explained how his relationship with Jeff Bezos arose, which today, with the announcement of that millionaire investment, marks a new era in NetCo. The link began at Stanford University, California, during an entrepreneurship program. Muchnick said: “There I made a great friendship with a teacher who knew Melinda Lewison, the general manager of Bezos Expeditions, who told her about us and our potential, but besides that, several investors already knew us in the US, those who surely were telling others about NotCo”.
As La Tercera reported, less than two months ago, the woman called Muchnick and told her that “Bezos does not care if the startup comes from Chile or anywhere in the world. spectacular technology and that has a vocation to make significant changes worldwide”.
So much so that Muchnick “the world can no longer continue with the food industry functioning as it does today.” He added: “We are working tirelessly to lead the food revolution and be the spearhead of a sustainable planet”.
That was how, a week after the call, Melinda Lewison sent her an email to tell her that Bezos wanted to invest in the company. Given this Muchnick said: “We are really happy, not so much because it is the richest person in the world or the CEO of Amazon, but because it is a very intelligent person who has very clear whether a brand and team will be successful or not”.
Therefore, they are organizing a dinner for Bezos to get to know the NotCo products that are opening markets in Argentina and Brazil.
Muchnick referred to the investments and celebrated: “Our technology combined with its experience to build a brand and manufacture and distribute packaged products will allow us to interrupt even more in the food industry and expand our offer to a global audience”.
The company, according to investors
Elio Leoni-Sceti, co-founder of The Craftory, said: “NotCo has the potential to transform the food production industry. NotCo’s healthy line of plant-based alternatives not only has great flavor, it also helps reduce global emissions of greenhouse gases, a global imperative that we support, we are delighted to work with the NotCo team and look forward to supporting them as they grow”.
For his part, as published Medium, Nicolás Szekasy, managing partner of Kaszek Ventures, said: “The unique technology of NotCo showed that it is possible to truly change the food industry, with better and more sustainable products that people really love”.
Also published on Medium.