When we first visited QOA’s Max and Sara — “The Chocolate Siblings” as we like to call them — in Munich this summer, we were offered a box of small, glazed dome-shaped chocolates and pralines: hazelnut, raspberry, salted caramel, and many more flavor combos. You name it, they had it.

QOA smells like chocolate. It tastes like chocolate. It even melts like chocolate. But make no mistake: don’t call it chocolate.

It’s 100% cocoa-free. Using proprietary microbacteria and flavor formation processes, QOA mimics the characteristic flavor profile and texture of what we know and love as chocolate. QOA is 100% natural, made from local ingredients, vegan, and comes without any artificial additives.

And the QOA team, led by sibling scientists and founders Max Marquart and Sara Marquart, plans to substitute mass-market chocolate by 2035.

🤔 But one might wonder, “What is wrong with cocoa?”

Cocoa beans are the main ingredient for chocolate production and have an immense environmental and social impact, including, but not limited to, the following:

1. The production of cocoa continues to be a massive driver of deforestation, particularly in regions like West Africa.
2. Chocolate’s carbon footprint rivals that of meat and dairy.

3. The water footprint of 24,000 L for 1kg of chocolate, which is 50% higher than that of 1 kg of beef (15,500L).

4. Child labor has become common practices in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Nigeria, which are responsible for 70% of the global cocoa supply.

The “chocolate siblings” to the rescue 🦸‍♀️🦸‍♀️

Sara and Max hopped on a unique journey: that of fighting climate change while keeping safe our chocolate cravings.

As any seed-stage bet goes, our decision to support QOA rests first and foremost on our conviction that Sara and Max are the winning team to deliver on that mission. They have impressed us in so many ways: scientific competences, management capabilities, understanding of the strategic challenges, elaboration of the right go-to-market strategy, and passion for the cause.

While assessing climatetech investment opportunities, we’re seeing a new type of founder emerge: climate scientist-entrepreneurs.

Sara and Max have this exceptional combination of business and scientific expertise which makes them fill the “science-to-market” gap that we often see in the climatetech industry. They complement each other perfectly when it comes to skillset and past experiences, while sharing a common vision and passion: redefine the industry standard for chocolate, driven by sustainable values.

“Most of the food we know and love is threatened or is destroying our planet,” says Max. “We see promising innovations on meat and cheese but I was blown away to find out how little is being done in other areas such as cocoa.”

“Most people think that the characteristic flavor of chocolate comes solely from cocoa. But this is not the case,” says Sara. “Our research showed that 90% of chocolate’s flavor is created during the processing of cocoa in steps such as fermentation and roasting. By controlling these processing steps carefully, we are able to replicate the complexity of chocolate without compromising on its deliciousness or melting behavior.”

Cherry x QOA: A new kind of “Mon Chéri”

Foodtech has been an integral part of Cherry since Day 1. We have backed Flaschenpost, and Flink on the delivery side. Infarm and Stenon on the impact and agricultural side. And Rekki on the supply side. We are constantly on the hunt for new foodtech models that are redefining the future of food. QOA, which was part of Y Combinator this year, is a pioneer in molecular chocolate which benefits from a first mover advantage and a unique biotechnology that will make their chocolate unique and seamlessly similar to what our tastebuds already know. The experience is frictionless, while the impact is tremendous.

Climatetech has also become an integral part of our investment thesis, with investments such as Carbo Culture and Climatiq, both this year. We’re conscious of continuing to ramp up our efforts there: tech plays a key role in fighting climate change and early-stage venture funds need to take an active part in that change.

We are so excited to welcome Sara, Max and their growing team to the Cherry portfolio following their $6 million seed round and take part in the bold vision of building more sustainable food systems.

→ If you also want to join this journey, check out QOA’s new role openings!