US: Motif FoodWorks closes $226m Series B funding round

  • 18 June 2021
Round led by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board and BlackRock
Close-up of woman's mouth eating a piece of meat
Motif FoodWorks develops technology to improve the taste and texture of plant-based meats and cheeses

Boston-based foodtech company Motif FoodWorks has raised $226 million in a Series B funding round led by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (OTPPB) Teachers’ Innovation Platform (TIP) and BlackRock.

AiiM Partners, Wittington Ventures, Rethink Food, Rage Capital and Rellevant Partners also participated alongside existing investors Breakthrough Energy Ventures, CPT Capital, General Atlantic, Louis Dreyfus Company and Viking Global Investors.

Motif, which focuses on ingredient development to improve taste and texture in plant-based foods, will use the capital to increase its R&D efforts and scale its technology, workforce and facilities.

The company has raised a total of $345 million since it was spun out of biotech company Ginkgo Bioworks two years ago.

In 2020 it established a new office and lab in Boston to support its recent growth.

Motif has licensing partnerships with the University of Guelph and Coasun for technologies developing melting characteristics in plant-based cheeses and healthier fat alternatives that marbleize plant-based meats.

In April, the company hired VP business development and partnerships Chet Baker from consumer-health start-up Entrinsic Bioscience.

Jonathan McIntyre, CEO of Motif FoodWorks, said: “With support from our investors, we’re advancing the understanding of food science and design to make plant-based foods better tasting, more nutritious and so desirable that people actually crave them.”

OTPPB TIP managing director for North America Rick Prostko said the fund was motivated by Motif’s “visionary management team, the strength of its technology platform and the traction they’ve demonstrated in solving some very specific issues with plant-based foods”.