Kingdom Supercultures, a biodesign company that specializes in developing natural microbial cultures – which it calls “Supercultures” – today announced a $25 million Series A funding round led by Shine Capital. This follows a $3.5M seed round with participation from Sequoia, Y-Combinator, Lakehouse Ventures, and Brand Foundry Ventures in 2020. As the plant-based food market shows no signs of slowing down, and more established food companies continue to enter the ring, the investment will enable Kingdom to expand its portfolio of Superculture ingredients that power products with unmatched flavors, textures, and functionalities in the plant-based and natural consumer goods categories.

Kingdom assembles natural microbes into new combinations, yielding plant-based yogurts and cheeses that taste like real dairy, low-alcohol wines and beers with full flavor, and natural preservatives that work better than artificial ones. Inspired by millenia of human tradition, in which our ancestors discovered that natural microbial cultures could transform basic foods like milk, grapes, and wheat into entirely new products like yogurts, cheeses, wines, and beers, Kingdom is reverting to nature with the cutting-edge tools of modern science. For the last hundred years, the world has relied on artificial chemicals for processing food — yielding an abundant food supply, but also unleashing a wide range of detrimental health and environmental consequences.

Kingdom is building out a library of natural microbes that come from food, which it assembles into new specialty ingredients (“Supercultures”) that it sells to consumer goods manufacturers. These Supercultures can be used to improve the flavor, texture and functional properties of consumer products in a healthier and more sustainable manner than chemical alternatives. With this funding, Kingdom will expand its R&D work to meet demand for new Superculture ingredients from the most quickly-growing and innovative CPG brands in the world.

“The last few years have seen tremendous growth in demand for consumer goods that are healthier and more sustainable. This funding will allow us to meet the need for novel, natural ingredients by continuing to build out our world-class team and advancing our Superculture R&D,” said Kendall Dabaghi, CEO of Kingdom Supercultures.

With Kingdom Supercultures’ technology, CPG companies are able to precisely tune the sensory and functional properties of their products using natural ingredients. Much in the same way that the largest ingredient companies built out libraries of artificial chemical isolates to change the properties of consumer goods, Kingdom Supercultures is doing the same thing with microbial strains found in nature.

“We are pioneering an entirely new field of science and class of ingredients by working with biology at the ecosystem and microbiome level. Our Superculture platform allows us to assemble natural microbial cultures into new combinations, delivering healthy and sustainable breakthrough ingredients to our customers — all without genetic modification ” added Ravi Sheth, CSO of Kingdom Supercultures.

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In addition to Shine Capital, this funding round was supported by Valor, Tao, Lux, SALT, Reference, Digitalis, and existing investors – along with recognized names in the future of food, including the founders of Daring Foods, Good Culture, Hungryroot, RXBAR, Waterloo and many others.

“We were drawn to Kingdom’s visionary founders and their use of natural biology coupled with machine learning to help catalyze our move towards natural food, beverage, and beauty products,” said Mo Koyfman, founder and general partner at Shine Capital. “Particularly as the plant-based market continues to expand, Kingdom Supercultures is poised to enable large and small brands alike to deliver the highest quality natural products to consumers. We are in the early stages of this market’s development, and we are thrilled to support the company’s vision from the ground floor.”

Kingdom Supercultures is actively working with some of the largest consumer product manufacturers in the world across the food, beverage, beauty and personal care sectors, and is already supplying ingredients that are powering products being sold nationally. Consumers are evolving and the plant-based food and natural CPG industries are primed for another monumental year ahead, with Kingdom Supercultures delivering better flavor, texture and health benefits than current artificial options can provide.