BERKELEY, Calif.–MeliBio, Inc. the company using proprietary technology to make real honey without bees has unveiled its first product: world’s first real honey made without bees as a plant-based ingredient for B2B customers and foodservice.
More than 100 members of climate tech, food tech and investor communities in the San Francisco Bay Area had a chance to be among the first in the World to sample MeliBio’s honey made without bees at an event organized at Cell Valley Labs, an incubator and networking space in Berkeley, California.
After extensive R&D, MeliBio successfully scaled their method for making honey without bees on a manufacturing level, showing the ability to serve multiple clients in their needs for non-animal honey ingredients. The California-based company is currently taking orders from existing and new foodservice and B2B customers for deliveries starting from the end of 2021, and the beginning of 2022.
MeliBio, Inc. has developed a scientific approach to replace honeybees as a medium of honey production, and is providing solutions to several sustainability and supply chain issues of the broken honey industry valued at $9 billion in 2020. Recent studies show that the industry’s sole reliance on honeybees is making 20,000 wild and native bees crowded out from their habitats and vanishing at an accelerated rate. Additionally, the global honey supply chain faces difficulties in keeping up with demand with recent honey harvests being heavily affected by climate change causing low yields of honey and price volatility.
Darko Mandich, CEO and Co-Founder of MeliBio said: “MeliBio is founded with the mission to make food in a way to save our planet Earth by ending our use of bees in honey production, and thereby helping to restore bee biodiversity amongst native and wild bees worldwide. Scientific advancements have created a very exciting position where humans can finally make one of their favorite foods without the use of animals. Honey is an ingredient found in every product category, from food to beverage and personal care products for which MeliBio is now providing a plant-based option. By bringing delicious, nutritious and real honey made without bees to the market, we are shaping our present and future in a way that is better for bees and for humans.”
MeliBio is a venture-backed company, founded in 2020 by Darko Mandich and Aaron Schaller, PhD, that raised $1.5M in pre-seed rounds from investors in the US, Europe, Asia and Australia. Recent investors include Cult Food Science from Canada and Javas Venture from Indonesia joining the pool of existing investors: Big Idea Ventures, Joyance Partners, 18.ventures, Sparklabs Cultiv8, Sustainable Food Ventures, Capital V and mission driven family offices and angel investors.
Business and samples inquiries
Foodservice distributors, restaurants and B2B customers looking to incorporate plant-based, non-animal, fully vegan honey in their menus and formulations are welcome to reach out with business inquiries and requests for samples to beeintouch@melibio.com
