Cacao prices remain turbulent, following two years of record spikes and supply deficits, with climate change, crop disease and even global politics continuing to hamper the commodity’s future. But it’s not all doom and gloom, especially for businesses launching solutions onto the market.
Fresh from an admirable ranking on the inaugural Top 30 Food-tech companies list, Kokomodo CEO and co-founder Tal Govrin is very optimistic about the two-year-old company’s future.
“I think we’re in a very hot and interesting space and have made some great progress in a short space of time,” she says.
Kokomodo officially launched, following several years of lab experimentation, at the inflection point of the cacao crisis when poor harvests and price spikes began filtering into mass-market chocolate.
The business, which was lauded in the 2025 Global Food Tech Awards EMEA heat, grows what it calls real cacao from plant cells in bioreactors. In turn, this delivers climate-proof, customisable cacao ingredients year-round without farming.
Now, the business is working with global ingredients suppliers including CSM as well as mainstream food, nutraceutical and cosmetic businesses.
Kokomodo working with big businesses
“The businesses we work with relate to cacao as a solution,” says Govrin. “A solution like ours isn’t only relevant to food, but beverages, cosmetics and beyond. It’s really broad.”
It’s the effects of turbulent cacao prices and supply that are leading clients to Kokomodo, she says.
“While turbulence in cacao prices and supply is a major driver, brands are also looking for more consistent access to cacao as a raw, functional ingredient- including specific bioactives and performance characteristics,” she adds.
Currently, among others, the start-up is collaborating with a large Swiss retailer on its premium chocolate brands, focusing specifically on how it can impact flavour. However, unlike many of its projects, the work won’t be carried out in a laboratory, but in a production environment.
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“In the start‑up world it’s a lot about visibility and traction," says Kokomodo CEO and co-founder Tal Govrin. "Being a finalist at the Global Food Tech Awards and on the Top 30 global food-tech list was a real gift that wrapped up a strong year. It's recognition that what we’re doing is good and different. It’s on my pitch deck now because that validation translates to trust.”
“Also, texture is something customers are talking to us about,” continues Govrin. “So, how we can make ingredients that behave in different ways at various heats and blends.
“We’re having initial conversations with companies on bioactive and functional, as cacao begins to move into the health and nutraceutical space.”
Health and nutraceutical is a relatively new territory not only for Kokomodo, but cacao in general, Govrin believes. There are almost no bioactives in traditional cacao products in supermarkets, she argues, saying Kokomodo’s processes can enhance these qualities through its production methods.
What’s next for Kokomodo?
This business is also primed to help FMCGs navigate climate and cost-induced R&D. Many manufacturers, including UK-based McVitie’s, face removing ‘chocolate’ from front-of-pack marketing as cacao levels in their products fall below minimum legal levels.
Govrin, who says she isn’t familiar with individual cases, believes some of the brands reformulating to reduce costs will use alternative cacao products to replace the real thing.
“But it’s very hard to mimic the cacao taste as there are over 300 molecules to mimic and if it’s not cacao, then it’s also not chocolate,” she says.
However, there is space in the market for alt cacao businesses, especially in areas like coatings and flavourings where real cacao isn’t as essential, she argues.
“When we’re taking about what we do, it’s real cacao, it’s the real thing,” she emphasises.
And it is this thread that she believes will drive the business forward over the coming years. “It’s the fact we’re producing real cacao that we can also customise to various needs, and harvest every few days rather than annually – something nature simply cannot do."