NotCo is exiting the shelf. Argentina’s largest branded food company, Molinos Río de la Plata, has agreed to acquire 100% of the Chilean AI-driven plant-based firm’s operations in Argentina and Uruguay. The deal signals NotCo’s deliberate retreat from consumer packaged goods, doubling down instead on its AI platform as the core business.
TLDR
- Molinos Río de la Plata acquires all of NotCo’s Argentina and Uruguay operations.
- NotCo is pivoting from CPG to AI-powered product development licensing.
- The deal accelerates NotCo’s transformation from food brand to tech enabler.
- Molinos gains an established plant-based portfolio across two key Southern Cone markets.
- The NotCo AI plant-based acquisition reflects broader consolidation in Latin American alt-protein.
A Deliberate Pivot, Not a Retreat
NotCo built its name on Giuseppe, a proprietary AI platform that maps ingredient combinations to replicate animal-based foods. The Chilean unicorn used that engine to launch consumer brands across Latin America and the United States. However, sustaining a full CPG operation across multiple geographies proved costly, and the company has been reshaping its model.
The NotCo AI plant-based acquisition by Molinos Río de la Plata, as reported by Green Queen, transfers 100% of NotCo’s Argentina and Uruguay business to the Buenos Aires-based food giant. Molinos controls some of Argentina’s most recognized pantry brands. Adding an established plant-based portfolio gives it immediate category presence without building from scratch.
Significant. For Molinos, this is a shortcut into alternative protein at a moment when Latin American consumers are showing sustained interest in plant-forward options. For NotCo, it converts a capital-intensive regional operation into cash, freeing resources for its AI licensing and B2B partnerships.
What the Deal Reveals About the Plant-Based Market
NotCo has already struck AI-powered co-development deals with major multinationals, including a high-profile partnership with Kraft Heinz. That B2B direction is clearly where NotCo sees its ceiling. Selling the Southern Cone CPG business is consistent with that strategy.
Additionally, the deal reflects a broader pattern: legacy food manufacturers acquiring plant-based assets rather than incubating them. Clean-label and alternative protein innovation increasingly flows through acquisition, not organic R&D. Molinos gets proven products; NotCo gets runway.
In short, the companies best positioned to scale plant-based in Latin America may not be the startups that invented the category. They may be the incumbents with the distribution muscle to finish the job.
Source: Green Queen. https://www.greenqueen.com.hk/notco-molinos-rio-de-la-plata-acquisition-plant-based-argentina-uruguay/