NotCo
Chilean AI food company that uses its Giuseppe AI to design plant-based products for CPG brands.
On the record
Checkpoint: Kraft Heinz decides whether to proceed with its corporate split, which affects the NotCo joint venture
The call
NotCo is betting its future on licensing an AI it built over ten years to the same companies now weighing whether to build one themselves.
NotCo built computer software called Giuseppe that creates new food recipes by learning from ten years of formula data. The company is trying to license this software to huge food makers like Nestlé and PepsiCo instead of selling products directly to shoppers, but that first business collapsed. The problem is that Nestlé, PepsiCo, Mars, and the others are all wondering if they should just build their own recipe software instead of paying NotCo to use Giuseppe, and there is nothing stopping them from trying. The one thing that matters most is whether any of these giant companies actually signs a real, long-term deal to keep using NotCo's software in the next year, because without new customers and without new money from investors, the company may run out of runway.
Why
01
AI pressure: Kraft Heinz, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Mars, and Unilever in-house AI formulation teams. The CPG giants NotCo licenses Giuseppe to are openly weighing building their own formulation AI instead of renewing. Could AI do the core job? Only partly.
02
Bigger players: Kraft Heinz. Kraft Heinz now runs NotCo's North American sales, marketing, and distribution, and a paused corporate split could reshape the joint venture's terms. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.
03
What protects it. A decade of proprietary formulation data trained into Giuseppe is hard for a new in-house team to replicate quickly.
What would change this call
Whether Mars, Nestle, PepsiCo, Mondelez, or Unilever signs a disclosed multi-year Giuseppe license within 12 months. Shows whether B2B licensing model is converting pilots into real revenue or stalling.
Whether NotCo announces any new funding round by end of 2026. Shows whether investors still value the AI/licensing pivot after 3.5 years without capital.
Outcome of the paused Kraft Heinz corporate split and its effect on the joint venture terms. Shows whether NotCo's main commercial partner in North America remains stable.
Whether NotCo announces any new funding round by end of 2026. Shows whether investors still value the AI/licensing pivot after 3.5 years without capital.
Outcome of the paused Kraft Heinz corporate split and its effect on the joint venture terms. Shows whether NotCo's main commercial partner in North America remains stable.
Key numbers
- $235M Series D at $1.5B valuation
- $70M extension, valuation held flat at $1.5B
- No new funding round in over 3.5 years
Named risks
- Named B2B customers (Kraft Heinz, Nestle, PepsiCo, Mars) may build in-house AI formulation instead of licensing Giuseppe.
- No new equity funding raised since December 2022, over 3.5 years without a confirmed round.
- Kraft Heinz corporate split, paused February 2026, could unwind or renegotiate the North American JV.
- Continued divestment of consumer operations shrinks near-term revenue before B2B licensing scales.
- Chile FNE regulatory referral following May 2026 NotMilk trademark ruling could bring further scrutiny.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Kraft Heinz | contesting | NotCo handed NA sales/marketing to Kraft Heinz Feb 2025; JV terms uncertain after Feb 2026 split pause |
| Nestle, PepsiCo, Mars, Mondelez, Unilever | losing to | Named licensing customers reported debating in-house AI formulation vs NotCo license, per June 2026 reporting |
| Shiru | contesting | Direct AI food-formulation peer, Alameda CA, active as of 2024 to 2026 |
| Climax Foods | contesting | AI-designed vegan cheese peer, Emeryville CA, per April 2024 coverage |
| Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods | losing to | NotCo exiting branded consumer markets (Argentina/Uruguay sold June 2026) while rivals retain larger retail footprint |
Questions people ask
- Is NotCo profitable in 2026?
- No. CEO Matías Muchnick targeted regional profitability (Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Peru) by Q2 2025 and pushed full-company profitability to 2027, as stated February 2025. No audited profitability figures have been disclosed as of mid-2026.
- Could AI replace NotCo?
- Unlikely from generic AI, since NotCo's Giuseppe platform, trained on a decade of proprietary formulation data across 8,000+ ingredients (per May 2025 reporting), is itself the AI product. The real risk is customers like Nestlé or PepsiCo building similar in-house tools instead of licensing.
- Who owns NotCo?
- NotCo is privately held and venture-backed, last valued at $1.5B after a $235M Series D led by Tiger Global in July 2021, extended flat at $1.5B via a $70M round in December 2022. Kraft Heinz co-owns a North American joint venture formed February 2022.
- Has NotCo raised money recently?
- No new equity round has been publicly confirmed since the $70M Series D-1 extension in December 2022, over 3.5 years as of mid-2026. CEO Muchnick said in February 2025 he did not foresee a near-term IPO.
- Is NotCo laying off employees?
- Headcount has declined roughly 20% from an estimated 1,362 employees in 2023 to about 1,092 in December 2025, per Revelio Labs workforce data, consistent with 2023-2024 layoffs and closure of its New York office reported in early 2025.
- What is NotCo's biggest competitor risk?
- NotCo's own B2B customers, Kraft Heinz, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Mars, Mondelez, and Unilever, are its main threat: as of June 2026 reporting, big food companies are openly debating building in-house AI formulation instead of licensing NotCo's Giuseppe platform.
Timeline
- 2026-06-11NotCo agrees to sell 100% of Argentina and Uruguay consumer ops to Molinos Río de la Plata
- 2026-05-15Chile Supreme Court lets NotCo keep NotMilk brand but bans dairy-linked imagery/wording
- 2026-02Kraft Heinz pauses its planned corporate split, unsettling NotCo JV outlook
- 2025-09Kraft Heinz announces plan to split into two public companies
- 2025-03-25CEO reports B2B/AI-licensing business growing at triple digits
- 2025-02-04NotCo hands North America sales/marketing/distribution to Kraft Heinz, shelves IPO talk
- 2025-01-28NotCo launches cocoa-free chocolate bar formulated by Giuseppe AI
- 2025-01-07CTO Karim Pichara says bulk of revenue will come from B2B within three years
- 2022-12-12NotCo raises $70M Series D-1 extension, valuation flat at $1.5B
- 2022-02-22NotCo and Kraft Heinz form North American joint venture
Revision history
25 July 2026
First assessed. Losing its protection. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- Chef Giuseppe heralds a new culinary era
- Food Tech Pioneer NotCo Announces $235M Series D Round at $1.5 Billion Valuation (2021-07-26)
- NotCo Targets B2B Deals After Raising $70M In Series D Extension (2022-12-12)
- NotCo AI 2026 Company Profile
- Chilena NotCo deja su operación en Norteamérica en manos de Kraft Heinz (2025-02-04)
- Not Your Average Joint Venture (2022-02-22)
- NotCo Handed North America Operations to Kraft in 2024 (2025-02-04)
- NotCo's Argentina & Uruguay Business to Be Acquired by Molinos Río de la Plata (2026-06-11)
- Inside NotCo's AI-Driven Food Revolution (2025-03-25)
- NotCo CEO on the road to profitability... the evolving business model (2025-03-20)
- Chocolate-free brownies and supply-chain resilience via AI (2025-05-02)
- Employee Count & Headcount Data (2026-06-29)