Chile's NotCo Uses AI to Reinvent Food, Becomes Unicorn

NotCo, founded in Chile, uses an artificial intelligence software called Giuseppe to design plant-based foods that replicate the taste and texture of animal-derived products. Its tech-focused approach attracted US venture capital and turned it into a unicorn.

The story of NotCo begins with an unusual question for the food industry: what if the taste of an egg could be reproduced without a hen? The Chilean company set out to reinvent everyday food, not just niche vegan options, by deploying an AI software named **Giuseppe**. This tool evaluates combinations of plant-based ingredients and proposes formulations that match the flavor and texture of animal products like mayonnaise, milk, yogurt, or burgers.

## Giuseppe, the Self-Learning Formulator

Giuseppe does more than suggest flavors. It delivers complete formulations, some striking due to their atypical mixtures, which then undergo validation by taste testers: chefs and gourmets who approve or reject each proposal. As it accumulates data, the system learns and reduces the time needed to create new foods. This automated trial-and-error cycle allows the company to explore combinations that would take human formulators years to find.

## From Tech Startup to Unicorn

The breakthrough came in its positioning. NotCo did not sell itself as a food company, but as a tech startup. This framing peine doors to US venture capital, a circuit far more generous than the traditional food industry. **Jeff Bezos** invested tens or hundreds of millions of dollars, and the company reached a valuation exceeding **$1 billion**, the threshold defining a unicorn.

To prove its software worked, NotCo temporarily became a manufacturer. It first launched its egg-free mayonnaise, trinc by milks, yogurts, and burgers. The relatively small Chilean market served as a testing ground; the expansion into Argentina, a larger market, provided the validation that convinced investors.

## Selling the Brand, Keeping the Engine

With the product proven, NotCo shifted strategy. It divested from production, distribution, and marketing to focus on partnerships with industry players. It sold its brand and products in **Argentina** and **Uruguay** to **Molinos Río de la Plata**, and internationally allied with **Kraft**. The company stopped competing on supermarket shelves and began selling the recipe and the software that generates it.

This model resembles pharmaceutical companies licensing molecules: whoever invents the compound doesn't always manufacture the pill. The difference here is that the compound is a combination of plant proteins, and the laboratory is an algorithm.

## What Remains of the Food Business

The open question is whether this licensing model sustains the unicorn valuation long-term. NotCo retains the hard-to-copy asset, Giuseppe and its formulation database, while ceding the capital-intensive factories and logistics to third parties. It is a reasonable bet in a sector with tight margins.

It is worth remembering that startup valuations are not consolidated market prices, but investor estimates in private rounds. A unicorn can cease to be one. And no AI-formulated food replaces the judgment of a nutrition professional if there are doubts about diet.