Loacker's new corporate VC arm backs bean-free chocolate maker with €1M
What's the deal? Danish food tech startup Endless Food CoDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has raised €1 million ($1.15 million) in an early-stage round from the Loacker Investment Office, the financing arm of Italian confectionery maker Loacker GroupDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. It is one of the first two companies backed by Loacker's new corporate VC programme, alongside Dr Taste, which builds predictive platforms using neuroscientific and sensory data.
What does the company do? Founded in 2022 by Christian Bach, Maximilian Bogenmann, and Matthew Orlando, Endless Food Co upcycles food industry waste into THIC (This Isn't Chocolate), a bean-free alternative to conventional chocolate. Its co-founders previously worked together at Copenhagen's eco-minded Amass Restaurant.
How does it work? The startup turns industrial byproducts — such as brewer's spent grain, cacao husks, and oat milk pulp — into a powder that slots into existing chocolate production lines. Those ingredients make up as much as 40% of THIC, which comes as blocks, chunks, granulates, and powders that manufacturers can use without changing recipes or baking times.
Why now? The cocoa industry is under strain. Stocks hit their lowest levels in a decade and prices reached record highs in 2024, as extreme weather and crop diseases battered plantations in the Ivory Coast and Ghana. Scientists warn that a third of the world's cocoa trees could die out by 2050.
What's the endgame? Endless Food Co pitches THIC as a climate-resilient substitute, saying it cuts emissions by 85% compared to conventional dark chocolate. Chocolate production emits more greenhouse gases than any food except beef, and a single bar requires an average of 1,700 litres of water.
"If anyone knows where indulgence is headed, it's them," Bach, the startup's chief operating officer, said of Loacker in a LinkedIn post. "That they're betting on us to help take it there is one of the most validating things that's happened for us yet."
The signal: A century-old confectioner launching a venture arm to back bean-free chocolate shows how legacy food makers are hedging against a squeezed cocoa supply. For Loacker, the fit is deliberate — its investment priorities span natural ingredients, circular economy solutions, and supply chain transparency.
Read more: greenqueen.com.hk
Image credit: Endless food
