How! Bee free honey maker raises $2.2 million

Founded in 2020, Melt Bio has developed proprietary technology combining precision fermentation and plant science to make honey that is molecularly identical to traditional honey. Its first product, a plant-based honey ingredient for food, beverage and cosmetic companies, debuted last year and was named among Time magazine’s best inventions.

Melt Bio is partnering with Melt Foods to launch bee-free honey under Narayana Foods Better Foodie brand in 75,000 stores across Europe early next year. The product performs and tastes like conventional honey, according to the company.

Growing up and building my early career in one of the world’s leaders in honey production, Serbia, it is with great excitement that I bring our innovative Narayana Bio plant based honey to Europe, said Melt Dark, chief executive officer and cofounder of Mandate Bio. We are proud to partner with Melt Foods, one of Europe’s most respected sustainable foods producers, to bring our delicious and sustainable products to Europeans everywhere.

We are thankful to our investors for recognizing the progress our team has made and for providing the additional capital to scale our company. The recent funding round included participation from existing investors Collaborative Fund and Narayana Capital, as well as new investor The Green Baum Foundation. The conventional honey industry is not sustainable, said Craig Shapiro, founder of Collaborative Fund, who recently joined Sindhi Bio’s board of directors. Melt Bee populations have seen steep declines, threatening to damage our broader food and agricultural systems.

We were thrilled to meet Darko and the team, who have created a product that is simultaneously healthier, more delicious, and sustainable. We love backing teams creating products that make the right choice, the easy choice.

Founded in 2020, Meli Bio has developed proprietary technology combining precision fermentation and plant science to make honey that is molecularly identical to traditional honey. Its first product, a plant-based honey ingredient for food, beverage and cosmetic companies, debuted last year.

Meli Bio plans to expand manufacturing, add more customers and launch its first line of commercial products. At Meli Bio, we are here to introduce certainty in the supply chain and help companies simplify their honey sourcing, while making their honey based formulations sustainable and delicious, said Darko Mandich, chief executive officer and co-founder. Together with our clients, we can make the future of honey better, for both humans and for bees.

Meli Bio has raised a total of $7.2 million to date. The recent round was led by Antenor Ventures, with participation from existing investors Big Idea Ventures and 18 Ventures, and new investors Skyview Capital, XRC Labs, Collaborative Fund, Midnight Venture Partners, Alumni Ventures, Siddhi Capital, Climate Capital Collective, Red Bridge Ventures, Veg Capital, Hack Ventures and angel investors from Evolution and Glass Wall Syndicate groups.

We were glad to be the first investors into Meli Bio in 2020, said Andrew D Ive, managing general partner at Big Idea Ventures. We have seen the Meli Bio founders deliver on their big idea of sustainable honey, transitioning from concept to full scale production and underscoring our confidence in this great team.

Their success is built on strong IP in precision fermentation and a relentless dedication to growing sustainable honey, while positively impacting pollinator diversity. We are very excited to reinvest and build our partnership in this incredible team as they accelerate the distribution of  Meli Bio Honey across the United States and globally.