In November, blue horizon invested in Hampton Creek, a company that applies cutting-edge science and technology to create delicious, healthier, more sustainable foods. With this investment, we are one step closer to ushering in a plant-based future.
Most food products available out there are composed of one or more of just a few core crops: soy, corn, processed sugar, and animal protein. These options are far from the healthiest or most environmentally friendly. Yet it’s not easy to break away from the norm, and especially not at the scale that these staple crops are grown. Still, there are so many more plants out there – thousands more – whose ability to make our food better still has yet to be explored. Hampton Creek is seeking to do just that.
The company’s flagship product was the famous Just Mayo, made with Canadian yellow peas instead of egg whites. Today, you can find Just Mayo in about 20,000 stores including major retailers Walmart, Safeway and Whole Foods as well as on Amazon.com. In addition to a variety of mayo flavors, Hampton Creek sells salad dressings, cookies and cookie dough to retail and major foodservice partners like schools, hospitals, sport stadiums and Fortune 500 corporate cafeterias. Most recently, the company has rolled out Just Scramble, an easy plant-based alternative to the breakfast mainstay scrambled eggs.
To accelerate Hampton Creek’s ability to bring new products to market, its team of world-class researchers and scientists built a one-of-a-kind automated discovery platform to explore the molecular and functional properties of the world’s vast plant kingdom. The more data collected, the faster new ingredients for food can be found and incorporated into Just-branded products or licensed to major food companies to make their own products better.
blue horizon hopes that with this investment, Hampton Creek can expand their already impressive line of products and increase access to quality plant-based food for low-income consumers.
“Our mission requires global partnerships across numerous disciplines and we’re excited to have Blue Horizon join our diverse network of investors who’ve provided solid strategic and financial support,” says Hampton Creek cofounder and CEO Josh Tetrick. “Blue Horizon’s vision to accelerate the global transition towards sustainable food and agriculture is a perfect match for our mission to create a world where everyone eats well.”
blue horizon founder and CEO Roger Lienhard adds: “We’re excited to invest in Hampton Creek, which has proven itself to be an innovative and disruptive food company. We look forward to supporting the development of new plant-based products and seeing the Just-branded product line grow.”
About Hampton Creek
Hampton Creek started out with the mission to tap into the 30,000-plus plant species that could help feed our planet. The company’s team, a humble group of scientists, chefs, and entrepreneurs developed a plant-based mayonnaise, Just Mayo, which has shaken up the condiment industry. Five years and four product lines later, Hampton Creek continues to grow with Just Scramble, and will move beyond the traditional food boundaries in the years to come.
About blue horizon
blue horizon was founding in 2015 with the vision that profit-oriented strategies and the common good can be united. blue horizon is a global, mission-driven private sector investment firm focused on scalable ventures that accelerate the global transition towards sustainable food and agriculture. In 2016, the blue horizon Foundation was started to support the transformation of farms from animal factories to sustainable plant production facilities.