Swiss foodtech startup yamo raises €10.1 million for organic baby food, will expand into France

Swiss foodtech startup yamo, developer of healthy food options for babies and young children, has secured €10.1 million in Series A funding to expand into France and add more products. The round was joined by France-based Five Seasons Ventures, Swiss Entrepreneurs Fund, Ringier Digital Ventures, Müller Ventures, btov Partners, Polytech Ventures, BackBone Ventures and Fundament, and brings the startup’s total funding to €12 million.

Co-founded in 2016 by CEO Tobias Gunzenhauser, COO José Amado-Blanco, and CMO Luca Michas, yamo uses high-pressure technology to produce fresh, organic and natural food for babies and young children. Traditional baby food products use ultra-high heat sterilisation, which provides a long shelf life, but also destroys many heat-sensitive vitamins like Vitamin C, natural colour and smell, says the startup. Instead, the Swiss startup uses high pressure pasteurisation (HPP) which kills bacteria in minutes, and retains natural nutrients, taste, colour and smell. yamo’s products last between eight to twelve weeks in the refrigerator. “We have been leading on the use of HPP in the infant food market and we’ve been able to convince our partners to adapt their stores to ensure our fresh food can be stocked. We now see fridges amongst the dry baby food shelves of supermarkets - something we were told would be impossible to achieve,” says Gunzenhauser.

Currently the product is sold both directly to consumers online via subscription and through retailers across the DACH region.

Commenting on the investment, Niccolo Manzoni of Five Seasons Ventures said: “We have been looking at the baby food sector for two years now, and believe that yamo has the right positioning, offering and brand to emerge as the leader of this category.”