Molecular alcohol maker Endless West has secured new capital in the form of a $21 million Series B round that is set to fuel the brand’s R&D and product design ambitions, the company announced last week.
The round, which included participation by Horizons Ventures, Litani Ventures, North East Family Office and SOSV, brought the company’s total funding to over $33 million since launching in 2015.
“Endless West is one of the first companies to address climate change and true product innovation in the spirits world,” said Sarah Cone, founder and managing partner of Social Impact Capital, in a press release. “For too long, we’ve been operating under the guise that the finest beverages must be produced using large swaths of land, exploiting precious resources. Endless West’s use of technology presents a precise, flavorful experience without significant amounts of resources such as wood, water, land and energy that is usually needed to produce wine and spirits.”
Along with R&D, the funding will go towards supporting commercialization and development of Endless West’s growing portfolio of synthetic distilled spirits, highlighted by its flagship line, Glyph.
“We spent the last five years building the foundation for what our technology can do and validation applications,” said co-founder Alec Lee. “To really take it to a complete portfolio or products will require more capital, more equipment and more hiring.”
As Lee alluded to, the company’s growth to this point has been measured by the capability of its back-end technology; having initially launched with a focus on molecular wine (as Ava Winery), Endless West pivoted to distilled spirits after realizing that the product didn’t meet federal guidelines for classification as wine. Under its new direction, the company has generated attention around Glyph, a whiskey-inspired spirit (43% ABV) which is sold in three expressions: original, the Scotch-inspired Glyph Royal and the bourbon-esque Glyph Spice. Endless West’s other products include Gemello (a take on moscato) and Kazoku, a sake analog.
Each product is created at the company’s San Francisco laboratory, where technicians recreate the molecular “code” for a particular spirit — a combination of carbohydrates, sugars, proteins and other elements, plus added aromatics and flavors derived from other sources. According to the company, no barrel aging means that the “spirit” can be replicated in under 24 hours, once finished by adding grain alcohol, and the process requires 94% less water and 92% less agricultural land compared to traditional whiskey production.
Despite facing some initial skepticism in the market, Glyph has performed well, picking up industry awards and positive reviews from critics. Having gained confidence and experience, particularly within dark liquors, Lee said the company was eager to continue expanding its range of different spirits and applications as a means of showcasing the “technology, craft and creativity behind this new way of thinking about how spirits can be made.”
That expansion is set to continue later this year with the introduction of a fourth product, but Lee sees even more potential in Endless West serving as a partner and boutique supplier for other brands. With its own products, Lee said the company has “focused heavily on telling the story or molecular spirits.” Through its B2B division, Blank Collective, Endless West offers partners the ability to recreate existing or develop novel alcohol products and brands using its tech. But in servicing the needs of clients that are more agnostic towards science-based messaging, there’s an opportunity to shift the discussion to the quality of the liquid itself.
“I do think that the future of the business is in the widespread application of our tech, which requires us to apply it to help power other brands,” Lee said. “I see our brand messaging as a science-forward, innovation-forward type of messaging that isn’t necessarily limited to one genre (or product), because I see us as a technology company.”
Endless West’s capabilities are particularly relevant in the exploding spirits-based RTD category, he added.
“If you want a low ABV whiskey-based RTD, you often have to trade off on the whiskey flavor [in order to keep alcohol low],” Lee said. “That’s not an issue for us because we can engineer that taste so you have a bigger whiskey punch without having a higher ABV product.”
Next on the company’s list of priorities is adding more muscle to its R&D team, which will grow slightly less than double from its current roster of “a little over a dozen people,” according to Lee. The brand is also touring potential sites in the Midwest for a new production facility; Along with economic factors, Lee, a Detroit native, noted that he hopes to “manufacture in a place that values manufacturing.”
As for changing consumer attitudes towards molecular spirits, the momentum appears to be growing. Glyph’s warm reception aside, consumers in general have become more familiar with the concept of synthetic food and beverage products: see The Impossible Burger or, sticking with booze, rapidly aged liquor line Bespoken Spirits.
“I think that what we are seeing though is a pretty broad acceptance of the fact that what ultimately matters is what the consumer experience is what matters,” Lee said. “I don’t think there is a compelling argument that almond milk or oat milk tricks people into thinking they are buying dairy milk and that’s why it’s doing well. The real reason why consumers are buying into these new civics of what food could be is because they understand what it means for health, for the environment. They’re not interested in a hyper traditional way of thinking.”