Bean-free sustainable coffee startup, Prefer, raises US$2 million ($2.69 million) in its seed round, led by Singapore-based venture capital firm Forge Ventures.
The investment round was joined by 500 Global, A*ccelerate, Better Bite Ventures, Sopoong Ventures, SEEDS Capital, Entrepreneur First and Pickup Coffee.
Prefer, which is available in 12 locations across Singapore, was founded by food scientist Tan Ding Jie and Jake Berber in 2022, to combat the vulnerability of coffee bean farming to climate change.
The food-tech startup uses its own proprietary fermentation technology, which upcycles surplus bread, soy pulp, and spent grain to create a coffee substitute that offers the same aroma, taste, and brewing experience as traditional coffee.
Prefer provides ground coffee compatible with standard espresso machines to cafes, coffee chains, distributors, and flavour houses, and also offers ready-to-drink bottled coffee for quick-service food businesses, events, and retail shelves.
According to Prefer, the startup helps businesses slash their carbon footprint — it says that it produces an estimated 10x less carbon dioxide than traditional coffee beans. The caffeine level of its coffee is also “tunable”, and can be changed based on customers’ needs.
Prefer joins a growing list of alternative food products companies that are trying to create comparable foodstuff in a more sustainable way. Besides Nasdaq-listed Beyond Meat selling plant-based “beef”, there are also others trying to do the same for seafood.
Prefer says that this raise allows them to make significant investments in growing the capacity of its production facility, expanding its ground coffee and ready-to-drink bottled beverages across Asia-Pacific, starting with Singapore and the Philippines.
“Prefer’s novel fermentation technology is tackling this challenge by seeking to enable us to recreate many of the foods and flavours we take for granted, starting with coffee,” says Vishal Harnal, managing partner at 500 Global, one of the investors in Prefer’s seed round.
