New year, and the newest member of the Better Bite family, bean-free coffee startup Prefer Bio.
We have invested in Prefer’s $2M seed round alongside Forge Ventures, 500 Global, A*ccelerate (A*STAR), Sopoong Ventures , SEEDS Capital and PICKUP COFFEE.
Our goal at Better Bite Ventures is to support startups that are reducing the climate impact of food and agriculture.
To date we have backed 20+ startups in Asia using tech to make better alternatives to meat, seafood and dairy, which are among the highest-emitting foods.
But coffee production also has a high carbon footprint per kg.
And extreme weather caused by climate change = lower yields and higher prices for coffee.
Enter Singapore-based startup Prefer, founded by Jake Berber and Ding Jie Tan. They are making fermentation-derived beanless coffee products.
Their innovative platform uses surplus and side streams of bread, beer and soy milk manufacturing, tackling another big source of emissions - food waste.
Prefer's bean-free coffee is already available at some Singapore cafes - with more rolling out soon, and supermarkets and new markets later this year.
The co-founders' long-term vision? Using the same proprietary fermentation tech to create climate-friendly alternatives for cacao, vanilla, hazelnuts, and more.
More: https://www.greenqueen.com.hk/prefer-coffee-beanless-alternative-fermentation-funding/