SAN FRANCISCO — FoodYoung Labs, a vertically integrated food group that helps startups and consumer packaged goods companies produce snack products using science-backed formulations and pilot production based in Balerna, Switzerland, has acquired plant-based honey maker MeliBio. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

MeliBio’s co-founder Darko Mandich will stay on through the transition to ensure a smooth process and to help FoodYoung Labs integrate MeliBio and its sub brand Mellody, a line of plant-based honey products, said Mandich.

“At FoodYoung, the future of food is about blending culinary art with science and ethical sourcing,” said Abouzar Rahmani, founder and chief executive officer of FoodYoung Labs. “With our Swiss full-stack innovation lab and US commercial powerhouse, we’re taking MeliBio’s bee-free innovation to the next level — making Mellody truly clean label and unrefined. The new generation of food must taste amazing, look great, and be uncompromisingly good for people and the planet. That’s the high standard we’re setting.”

Mandich added, “(This was a) vertical integration move. For MeliBio this means having the entire R&D, supply chain and manufacturing in the same company versus manufacturing with co-packers. Also, for MeliBio, this means getting off the VC (venture capital) timeline and emerging into more of a food company timeline. Also, most (of the) business operations are moving from the US to Switzerland.” 

MeliBio was founded in 2020 and developed a proprietary technology combining precision fermentation and plant science to make honey that is molecularly identical to traditional honey. MeliBio has its own R&D center in Oakland, Calif., and serves small-scale and piloting functions.

MeliBio underwent three years of R&D until it scaled and launched its sub brand Mellody Foods in July 2024.

Mellody Foods produces plant-based honey for restaurants and food companies in two varieties: golden clover and spicy habanero.

“We take the same plants that the bees in nature would visit and turn them into honey,” Mandich said. “It’s a process that can be done all year round, whereas bees in nature can only manufacture certain periods of the year. We want to offer the best possible alternative that exists in this market.”

MeliBio has been scaling its plant-based honey in recent years through funding rounds and pitch competitions.

The company secured two funding rounds in 2022.

MeliBio raised $5.7 million in seed funding in March and later secured $2.2 million in December.

In November 2024, the company received an investment from Future Food Fund by Oisix, a Japan-based food technology innovation-focused investor to expand its Mellody line.

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