The news was quite a shock to the region. NotCo, the Chilean startup that uses artificial intelligence to "clone" mayonnaise or milk from vegetables, recently received $ 30 million from Amazon owner Jeff Bezos.
"We are totally opportunistic, we are not so interested in your business plan, you have a competent team and a disruptive technology to completely revolutionize the food system", said Matías Muchnik, CEO of the startup, of a representative of Bezos Expeditions, investment arm of the richest man on the planet.
In this way, Chile began to dream of its first unicorn. That is to say, a technological company with a valuation higher than US $ 1 billion. And the disbursement gave more air to the South American expansion plan, the first step before the jump to the United States.
"He is believing in us people of the highest level," confesses Muchnik, in dialogue with iProUP when he learned that the startup he formed with the doctor in biotechnology Pablo Zamora and the doctor in Computer Science Karim Pichara would be funded by the king of ecommerce global.
Between the three developed the heart of NotCo: Giussepe, an algorithm able to look for chemical equivalences in the vegetal world of almost any food to "clonarlo" without the use of animal ingredients. The name is a tribute to Giussepe Archibold, an Italian painter who recreated faces using fruits and vegetables.
"The funds will be 100% put in the execution, in the workforce and to scale in several countries in order to put in their gondolas this innovative revolution, particularly in Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Mexico and the United States", Muchnick points to iProUP.
In the coming weeks, the startup will make its mark in the two most important markets in South America. An obligatory step to validate your business before landing in US territory, where you will have to face three heavyweights of the foodtech industry, that is, companies that have already advanced in new technologies to make food.
- One of them is Beyond Meat, which creates vegetable meat and has been listed on Wall Street since May 2. Unlike the disappointing stock market debuts of Uber and Lyft, it started its public share offering at $ 25 per share and now that number has shot up to $ 90. That is, it almost quadrupled its value in less than two weeks.
- The other is Imposibble Foods, creator of the vegetable burger that "bleeds", closed a strategic agreement with Burger King to create a vegan combo that can be tasted in the 7,000 branches that the fast-food chain has in the USA. It has the support of Bill Gates and has just raised $ 300 million in its latest round of financing, totaling $ 750 million in investments and accelerating plans to ring the Nasdaq campaign this year.
- The third heavyweight Hampton Creek. Given that its first product is a vegan dressing, it will be the first rival that must overcome NotCo, which markets Just Mayo, a mayonnaise that also uses legumes as a base ingredient.
For now, the countdown began for his arrival in Argentina: the company has everything ready and final details so that this dressing is present in the gondolas of the main supermarkets and health food stores in the country.
Arrival in Argentina
iProUP exclusively informed NotCo's interest in arriving at the gondolas of Argentine supermarkets at the beginning of the year. This incursion is part of its "operational expansion" in the region.
Sebastián Álvarez, an executive with 22 years of experience in the local subsidiary of Unilever, was appointed to take NotMayo -the first of the firm's products- to Argentina and Brazil. But the process started with a series of obstacles that delayed the landing in albicelestes lands.
Although they had received the "OK" from a supermarket of national capitals that was going to import the products from Chile, the exchange instability forced to hurry the strategy towards phase two: produce locally.
As a result, the arrival of NotCo was postponed again, as the firm had to find a local manufacturer that met the company's standards and sanitary standardization in each province where it will be marketed.
In addition, the Argentine Food Code establishes that a mayonnaise must have eggs to be called as such, which also added complications to the process. Due to this same obstacle, the Just Mayo in the USA had to pass: Unilever took her to court for the lack of that product of animal origin but ended up withdrawing the complaint.
In Argentina, the German food giant was not as aggressive, but did not sit idly by: it marked the court to NotCo with the launch at the end of the year of the Hellmann's Vegan. Although the Chilean startup says they have a differential: the competitor has no nutritional value and contains additives.
As iProUP announced, the first batch of NotMayo "made in Argentina" left the factory more than a month ago and went through all the controls. In addition, the firm closed several agreements with dietitians and will start commercialization in the next few days.
"In the last week of May, the production and sale to the stores will begin, and in those days it will appear in health food stores and later in supermarkets," a source tells the newspaper. For a matter of commercial ties in Chile, Jumbo would be one of the first chains to market the products.
In effect, they will imitate in those establishments the launch strategy they used in Santiago and other cities in Argentina: there will be tastings for people to try this dressing, under the motto of achieving a healthy diet without losing flavor, since it also does not use other common allergens, like soy, gluten,
In a first phase, NotMayo Original will be available, but the signature has already started with the trials of other presentations: Garlic (garlic) and Spicy (spicy). "As they are already producers with the production, they will leave in two months," the source says.
Due to a commercial issue, the company has not yet publicized the prices, but the pot of 350 grams is expected to cost around 150 pesos, an amount similar to the one it has in the Chilean gondolas.
Strategy
In parallel with the launch in Argentina, NotCo signed an alliance with the Pão de Açúcar chain to market its products in Brazil. The agreement includes exclusivity to sell NotMayo, NotMilk (milk) and Not Ice Cream (ice cream).
The mayonnaise will soon be sold in Rio de Janeiro, while the other two products will be introduced during the year, a plan similar to the one outlined by the Chilean startup for Argentina. "What will take the longest will be the ice cream, because it is necessary to sign a deal for the distribution", indicates to iProUP a person familiar with the negotiations, referring to the need for refrigeration of this type of products.
In the neighboring country, it will start importing the merchandise and then activate the local production. The company's roadmap continues with Mexico for the third quarter and the United States next year.
iProUP agreed exclusively to a video that the firm circulated as "top secret" among its staff linked to its next product, which will be the big bet in the region. It is about the "vegetal meat", that could arrive during this year to Chile, Brazil and Argentina.
There you can see a hamburger on a hot griddle, showing not only the characteristic color, but also the noise (hiss) of the cooking and the "juice" that it gives off when pressed.
"This product will cost us more to change the head of the consumer, especially the Argentine, I do not think it takes us long to convince him," Muchnik says, referring to the tradition maintained by the main countries of the region in the production and consumption of bovine meat.
Their optimism is that reducing the production of animal feed is one of the goals proposed by the main organizations and specialists in ecology for the following reasons:
- The digestion of ruminants generates greenhouse gases: 9% of carbon dioxide, 65% of nitrous oxide and 37% of methane of all human activity
- Intensive use of water not only for feeding livestock, but for cleaning debris, applying chemicals to treat leathers, etc.
- It uses 33% of all the arable land and produced the felling of 70% of the Amazon
"There are changes in food preferences on the part of consumers, we are living a 'Lehman Brothers' of this industry," illustrates Muchnik, comparing the moment of food companies with the crisis of subprime mortgages.
In this sense, the founder of NotCo sees this paradigm shift and Bezos' investment in his company as an opportunity for the region, which historically produced food, to play in the big leagues of biotech and foodtech, as it is called to the specialized technologists in biology and food, respectively.
"It would be a mistake not to feel this as a signal to Latin America that there is an open industry, upside down - no more Free Markets or Cornershops are needed - there is nothing better than entering a meeting and knowing at 5 minutes that your idea liked and can change the world, "adds Muchnick.
But NotCo not only intends to "revolutionize" the food sector with "finished" products, but also its strategy is to offer supplies for food processing companies.
In this way, they could sell butter, cheese, milk and other 100% vegetable ingredients to food manufacturers and even to the final consumer. Indeed, Beyond Meat, which at this time is the spoiled foodtech girl on Wall Street, already sells minced meat in some US supermarkets.
NotCo has already started the "food 4.0" era in the region. It only remains to know if the artificial intelligence will be able to seduce the Argentine palates and if more local startups are added to the promising foodtech revolution.
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