Israeli Food Tech Startup Yo! Egg To Make US Debut

Israeli food tech startup Yo! Egg, which has developed plant-based poached and fried eggs (also known as sunny-side-up) announced that it plans to launch in US restaurants later this year, following a recent seed funding round of $5 million.

The company’s seed round was led by food-tech focused venture capital firm Stray Dog Capital and NFX, alongside contributions from Surround Ventures and Secret Chord Venture. Yo! Egg is using this initial capital to scale up production and emerge into the American market.

Founded in 2019 by accredited vegan chef Yosefa Ben-Cohen, experienced food service operator and entrepreneur Nisim Ben-Cohen, and food tech executive Eran Groner, Yo! Egg aims to disrupt the conventional egg industry and eliminate the need for chicken farming. It is pioneering the sustainable production of eggs for every type of culinary application, first bringing the “whole egg” experience in the form of sunny-side up and poached eggs for consumers who eat eggs but would prefer a more animal-friendly, sustainable, and cholesterol-free option.  

Both restaurants and distributors will get the chance to taste the range of Yo! Egg products at the National Restaurant Association trade show in Chicago until May 24th. Following the company’s American debut, Yo! Egg will provide its products to restaurants and diners in the greater Los Angeles area within the year.

“The Yo! Egg team has a unique mix of extraordinary product innovation expertise and engineering talent that we believe will help our company revolutionize the way the world produces and consumes eggs,” said Yo! Egg CEO Eran Groner. 

“With hundreds of millions of people across the world demanding plant alternatives for their favorite proteins, Yo! Egg’s first-of-its-kind eggs will be a hit in restaurants nationwide,” said Gigi Levy-Weiss, general partner at NFX. “I am confident in Eran, Yosefa, Nisim and the team they have built to transform the $200 billion egg market.” 

“With over 95 billion eggs consumed every year in the US, and each egg requiring 53 gallons of water to produce, we need a better solution,” said Stray Dog Capital partner Johnny Ream. “”Yo! Egg has developed one of the most impressive plant-based products we have seen to date, and we believe both the product and scaling innovation the company is pursuing will give them the potential to drive significant growth and impact.”