When industrial marketplace Knowde launched in 2017, it set out to become an online network center of commerce and business knowledge for core products needed by multiple industries.

Knowde, now with some 2,000 suppliers and more on the way, initially covered personal care products like ingredients for skincare creams. It has since expanded into a dozen broad categories ranging from agriculture and adhesives to pharmaceuticals and industrial coatings.

Ali Amin-Javaheri, CEO, Knowde

Now Knowde has entered a new market in serving the Food & Nutrition industry, connecting buyers with suppliers of materials used in traditional areas like dairy and bakery products and relatively new markets like meat substitutes.

Among its Food & Nutrition industry suppliers is Roquette, a manufacturer of ingredients used in plant-protein-based meat like the Beyond Burger hamburger alternative from Beyond Meat.

“Our customers are already using digital platforms, and we recognize that it’s important for us to meet them where they are in the marketplace,” said Jack Koberstine, Head of Sales, Food GBU Americas, Roquette. “Knowde is uniquely positioned to help us achieve this. With our Knowde storefront, our plant-based ingredients are easily accessible to food and beverage innovators.”

Roquette’s corporate website, Roquette.com, features a “Visit Roquette Store” button that links to its storefront on Knowde.com.

Another Food & Nutrition supplier, Givaudan Taste & Wellbeing, is using Knowde to help meet its customers’ demands for online access to the materials it provides for products ranging from packaged food to fragrances.

“We are adapting our business model to meet the growing interest of our customers who want an online product selection and buying experience, and our partnership with Knowde will play a key role in this strategy,” says Fernando Miquelarena, head of North America for Givaudan Taste & Wellbeing. He adds that the online marketplace helps Givaudan’s find and purchase the ingredients they need “to help their brands keep their innovation pace in a very dynamic market.”

Ali Amin-Javaheri, co-founder and CEO of Knowde, says his company plans to continue developing its marketplace technology platform to improve how buyers and sellers in each of its covered industries can conduct online commerce more effectively. A new marketing automation platform, for example, is designed with artificial intelligence and machine learning technology to compile data about customer needs and interests and automatically recommend products they are most likely to need and purchase for their businesses, he says.

“Being able to filter by chemistry, application, function, technical properties and more helps buyers find the right product quickly, which can shorten time-to-market for new product development,” Amin-Javaheri says.

Knowde, which now has about 50 software developers, is on course to triple the size of that team within a year, he adds. Knowde, which is backed by investors including Silicon Valley venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, has raised more than $20 million in venture funding, Amin-Javaheri says.

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