Cargill Partners with Kokomodo to advance cell-based chocolate innovation
Collaboration aims to validate and scale sustainable cell-based cocoa ingredients.
ISRAEL – Cargill has partnered with Israeli cellular agriculture startup Kokomodo to explore the use of cell-based chocolate ingredients across a range of food applications.
The collaboration is partly funded by the Proof-of-Concept Co-Financing Instrument of EIT Food, the European Union’s food innovation organisation. The initiative supports startups and corporations in jointly validating and scaling transformative agrifood technologies.
Under the partnership, the companies will assess how cell-based cocoa ingredients perform in real-world applications, with a focus on functionality, sensory performance and scalability. The stated objective is to accelerate research and fast-track potential market entry.
“At EIT Food, our goal is to bring together the best of both worlds – agile startups and global industry leaders – to deliver real impact,” said Christoph Mandl, head of corporate venturing at EIT Food.
“By harnessing the collective power of our ecosystem – built on collaboration, transparency, and trust – at every stage, from research to investment and policy to production, we contribute in creating collaborations such as the one between Kokomodo and Cargill, and scale solutions faster to strengthen the resilience and innovation of the agrifood system.”
The partnership follows EIT Food’s €20,000 investment in Kokomodo in late 2024 as part of its accelerator awards.
The startup was also selected as one of 16 companies in the 2025 cohort of the RisingFoodStars programme, which supports agrifood technology companies in scaling their operations.
Kokomodo emerged from stealth in 2024 with a US$750,000 investment from The Kitchen FoodTech Hub and the Israel Innovation Authority.
The company is developing cell-based cocoa using cells sourced from premium cocoa beans grown in Central and South America and has completed lab-scale production.
In 2025, Kokomodo was acquired by cellular agriculture company Pluri, which purchased a 71% stake for $4.5 million.
Kokomodo co-founder and CEO Tal Govrin described the Cargill partnership as an “exciting step forward.”
“Our vision has always been to redefine cacao not only for its health benefits and functionality, but as a more sustainable, future-proof ingredient that can empower global food systems year-round,” Govrin said.
“Working alongside one of the most established ingredient players in the world allows us to validate our technology at an industrial scale,” she added.
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