Goldman Sachs invests in pea milk startup Ripple Foods

Goldman Sachs and several other venture capitals have invested US$65mn in Ripple Foods, a beverage company that makes milk-like drinks from yellow peas.

It has been the largest investment Ripple has seen to date, bringing the company’s funding to US$110mn

Led by Euclidean Capital, the funding included investments from Khosla Ventures, Fall Line Capital and S2G Ventures.

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Founded in 2015, the California-based company uses its Ripptein pea protein to make dairy-free, vegan, nut-, lactose- and gluten-free milk alternatives.

The company’s portfolio includes dairy-free milk, half-and-half and a Greek Yoghurt alternative.

Ripple Foods founders Adam Lowry and Neil Renninger told Bloomberg that they’re also working on pea-based ice creams.

Non-dairy milk alternatives are seen as a key area of growth in the beverage sector with non-dairy milk sales in the US increasing 61% over the past five years, according to a report by Mintel.

Goldman Sachs hopes to tap into this up-and-coming trend with this latest investment.

"We are proud to invest in a company that has one of the fastest-growing plant-based product lines," Kathy Elsesser, the investment bank’s global chair of consumer retail and health-care groups, told Bloomberg.