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Saudi venture capital (VC) firm KBW Ventures has invested in Eclipse Foods, a US-based producer of plant-based dairy products.
The VC firm, owned by Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud, announced on Wednesday that it participated in the Series B funding round of over $40 million led by Sozo Ventures.
The new funding will be used to grow the business in retail and food service and accelerate R&D on Eclipse’s proprietary plant-based dairy platform, which uses a blend of non-GMO plants, including cassava, corn, and potato, to create plant-based dairy products, from cheeses to spreads to desserts.
Other investors taking part in Series B round are Forerunner Ventures, Initialized Capital and Gaingels.
Koichiro Nakamura, Founder and General Partner of Sozo Ventures said: “70 percent of the world’s population is lactose intolerant and with the alternative protein space projected to grow to $1.4 trillion by 2050, Eclipse is positioned to completely transform the dairy industry with its proprietary plant-based dairy platform.”
The latest Series B takes the total funding raised by Eclipse, to date, to more than $60 million.
(Writing by Anoop Menon; editing by Seban Scaria)
