What Kokomodo does

Kokomodo Ltd. is an Israeli cellular agriculture startup developing cell-based cacao ingredients produced through plant cell culture rather than traditional farming. The company's proprietary four-stage platform isolates cells from premium cacao strains, establishes optimized cell cultures, upscales biomass in bioreactors, and processes the resulting cocoa into application-specific formats. By producing real cacao cells in a controlled environment, Kokomodo targets a structural solution to climate-driven supply instability, quality inconsistency, deforestation, and child-labor concerns associated with West African cocoa farming.

The company is headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, was founded in 2022, and operates with a small 1-10 person team led by CEO and co-founder Tal Govrin, CTO Dario Breitel PhD, and Senior Scientist Neta Manela PhD. Kokomodo emerged from stealth in 2024 with a $750,000 seed round from The Kitchen (Strauss Group's FoodTech hub) and subsequently became a 71%-owned subsidiary of NASDAQ-listed Pluri Inc. following a $4.5 million investment. Additional capital includes a ~$216,000 grant from EIT Food. A Cargill co-development collaboration, funded by the EU, is currently evaluating lab-grown cacao in beverages, dairy, and confectionery applications.

Kokomodo's business model is pre-commercial B2B ingredient sales targeting large-scale food and beverage manufacturers as the primary segment, with secondary applications in supplements and cosmetics. The company is pursuing regulatory approvals across multiple jurisdictions, with a stated 2027 target for FDA GRAS and equivalent clearances, and is currently conducting an ongoing seed fundraise to support R&D and regulatory submissions. Revenue, pricing, and customer contracts are not publicly disclosed; the company has no disclosed paying customers to date.

Name

Kokomodo

Legal name

Kokomodo Ltd.

Website

https://thekokomodo.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Kokomodo is an Israel-based cellular agriculture startup producing cell-based cacao ingredients via plant cell culture and bioreactor upscaling, serving large-scale food, beverage, supplement, and cosmetics manufacturers. Pre-commercial and 71%-owned by NASDAQ-listed Pluri Inc., with EU-funded Cargill co-development underway and 2027 regulatory approvals targeted.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Tel Aviv

HQ country

Israel

HQ region

Middle East

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. B2B Cocoa Ingredient Sales: Revenue from selling cell-based cocoa ingredients to food manufacturers, beverage companies, dairy producers, and confectionery companies. Targeting commercial launch pending FDA GRAS approvals and regulatory clearance across multiple jurisdictions by 2027.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Kokomodo produces cell-based cocoa ingredients using cellular agriculture technology. The company isolates cells from premium cacao strains, cultivates them in optimized conditions, upscales biomass in bioreactors, and processes the cocoa for diverse end-market applications including food, beverages, supplements, and cosmetics. The offering is climate-resilient, consistent, and free of heavy metals and pesticides, providing a sustainable alternative to traditional cacao farming.

Product overview

Kokomodo develops cell-based cocoa ingredients using cellular agriculture technology to produce real, controlled, climate-resilient cacao. The company's core product is cell-based cocoa ingredients targeting diverse market applications including food, beverages, supplements, and cosmetics. The technology follows a four-stage process: selection (isolating cells from premium cacao strains), cultivation (cell culture establishment), production (biomass upscaling in bioreactors), and processing (cocoa processing for specific applications).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Cell-Based Cocoa Ingredients Cellular agriculture-based cocoa ingredients produced through plant cell culture in bioreactors, offering climate-resilient, consistent, and sustainable cocoa biomass with enhanced natural health benefits for use in food, beverages, dairy, confectionery, supplements, and cosmetics applications. Targeted at B2B food and ingredient manufacturers.

Quantifiable outcome

• 80% of massive deforestation in West Africa linked to cacao farming
• +2 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• CargillcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEU-funded collaboration to evaluate the functionality, sensory performance, and scalability of Kokomodo's lab-grown cacao in real-world applications including beverages, dairy, and confectionery. Results from the collaboration are expected soon.
• Plantae (Weizmann Institute of Science)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with the Weizmann Institute of Science through Plantae initiative that develops scientific breakthroughs in food production and agriculture.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• California Cultured: Davis, California-based startup producing cell-cultivated cocoa using plant cell culture, directly competing with Kokomodo in lab-grown chocolate ingredients for confectionery and beverage applications.
• Celleste Bio: Israel-based startup developing cell-based cocoa ingredients using similar plant cell culture techniques, overlapping with Kokomodo on technology approach and target markets in chocolate and food manufacturing.
• Foreverland: Italian cell-based chocolate company producing cocoa ingredients through precision fermentation and cellular agriculture, competing for the same European confectionery and dairy customers as Kokomodo.

Others

• Pluri: NASDAQ-listed (PLRU) parent company of Kokomodo with an established cellular agriculture platform spanning pharma, foodtech, and agtech — provides shared infrastructure and IP but also constrains Kokomodo's autonomy.

Emerging players

• Bon Vivant: French precision fermentation company producing cell-based dairy proteins, using similar bioreactor-based bioprocessing technology that overlaps with Kokomodo's cellular agriculture approach for food ingredients.
• Moolec Science: NASDAQ-listed molecular farming company producing animal and functional proteins in plants, representing an adjacent approach to cellular agriculture for food ingredient production with similar target markets.
• Geltor: Cell-based protein producer using precision fermentation for animal-free collagen and other proteins, sharing cellular agriculture technology foundations and B2B ingredient supply business model with Kokomodo.

Broad incumbents

• Perfect Day: Leading cell-based dairy protein producer using precision fermentation, a broader incumbent in the cellular agriculture food space that demonstrates the commercial viability pathway Kokomodo aims to follow with cocoa.
• Cargill: Global agricultural commodity giant and one of the world's largest cocoa processors, currently Kokomodo's strategic partner and primary commercialization pathway into beverage, dairy, and confectionery markets.
• Barry Callebaut: World's largest chocolate and cocoa products manufacturer, representing both a potential future customer and a competitive threat to cell-based cocoa adoption through its conventional supply chain investments.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/kokomodo

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors2 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Kokomodo