Yofix, a dairy-free yogurt company who aim to reduce the environmental impact of non-dairy products, have raised a huge $2 million from investors. Yofix is an Israeli company however investors are from the UK, US and Israel.
Unlike many non-dairy yogurts, Yofix’s products don’t contain stabilisers and thickeners such as guar gum or carrageenan. Instead Yofix uses a blend of oats, lentils, sunflower seeds, coconut and sesame seeds as a base for their yogurts. They have currently developed three flavours.
In addition to ditching the stabilisers, Yofix has the added benefit of not producing huge amounts of waste. Soy milk, which is often used to make yogurts, creates so much waste that startup Renewal Mill are looking for ways to use the byproducts of soy’s manufacturing process in an attempt to combat the problem.
Ronen Lavee, CEO of Yofix has said that the ‘no-waste’ approach to non-dairy yogurt not only reduces the company’s ‘ecological footprint’, it also increases the amount of beneficial nutrients in their products. ‘[P]roprietary technology allows the product to contain pre and probiotics whilst painting its rich nutritional values,’ says Lavee.
Yofix originated in The Kitchen Hub, along with many other startups. The Kitchen Hub is a Strauss Group initiative, and Strauss are the leading investors for Yofix. The Kitchen Hub ‘invest in an nurture cutting edge technology startups that can add value across the global food chain.’ Other startups to come out of The Kitchen Hub include My FavorEats, a service that customises recipes to fit with an individual’s dietary requirements, and Flying Spark, a company dedicated to finding alternatives to animal protein.
The funds obtained by this Series A round will be invested in a production facility in Israel which will allow Yofix to distribute throughout the country. However, international expansion is on the cards.
Image credit: Yofix
