Motif FoodWorks, the Boston-based food technology company making plant-based food better tasting and more nutritious, today announced an investment by Robert Downey Jr.’s FootPrint Coalition Ventures. Along with the investment, the companies will partner on the development of new-to-the-world plant-based food forms.
Separately, Motif also unveiled an expanded product portfolio—in addition to its food technologies—for foodservice providers, distributors, and retailers with private labels. The new products include finished alternative beef, pork and chicken formats that feature its breakthrough food-technologies HEMAMI™ and APPETEX™.
FootPrint Coalition’s investment in Motif comes as the plant-based food category continues to grow. In 2021 alone, U.S. retail plant-based food sales grew three times faster than total food sales to $7.4 billion¹. And investments in the category reached a record of $5 billion, up 60% from 2020².
Motif’s approach as a different kind of food technology company—reinventing the way science and the culinary arts are applied to make plant-based foods better tasting, more nutritious and sustainable—is what caught the celebrity investor’s and FootPrint Coalition’s attention.
“If plant-based foods are going to make a real impact on sustainability, we need an approach that’s both delicious and nutritious,” said Robert Downey Jr., founder of FootPrint Coalition Ventures. “By focusing on both better tasting and healthier options, Motif is not only making a difference in products today, but reimagining the future of tomorrow’s plant-based foods.”
In addition to the investment in Motif, the two parties will work together to shape the next wave of innovation in plant-based foods. This includes moving beyond animal mimicry to create new product categories that provide consumers with healthier, better tasting plant-based options.
“Whether on the store shelf or a menu, we’re focused on making our customer’s plant-based foods so desirable that people actually crave them,” said Jonathan McIntyre, CEO of Motif FoodWorks. “We couldn’t be more excited to have Robert and FootPrint Coalition on board as an investor and a partner in our work to grow the category.“