Building a new model for natural vanilla
Vanilla Vida did not begin with scale.
It began with a question:
What would it take to make natural vanilla more reliable?
The answer has been built over time.
Our Vanilla Vida story:
how the model took shape
Natural vanilla has long been shaped by a supply model that is fragmented, volatile, and hard to scale. That is one of the reasons synthetic vanilla came to dominate - not because it was better, but because it was more dependable.
Vanilla Vida was founded to build a different model:
one designed to bring more control, more consistency, and a more reliable path from production to market.
A different starting point
Vanilla Vida was founded with the ambition to rethink how natural vanilla could be produced. Over time, that ambition developed into a broader operating model designed to support greater consistency, control, and long-term reliability.
First steps in building the system
We built the most advanced R&D facility for vanilla research worldwide, focused on leveraging technology to optimize yields.
Early proof and infrastructure
Vanilla Vida reached its first proof of concept and continued building the core capabilities around cultivation and curing. This was also the stage where the company began putting in place the infrastructure needed to support a more controlled production model.
Expanding beyond the R&D core
As the model matured, Vanilla Vida expanded beyond core R&D through strategic agricultural partnerships and broader cultivation activity in Israel. This marked an important next step in applying the company’s know-how outside the initial development environment.
Turning progress into a working model
The company reached a series of important operational milestones in Israel, including scaled bloom, a semi-commercial farm, a northern curing facility, and the first large-scale harvest from the R&D greenhouse. Together, these steps showed that the model was becoming more structured and more ready for broader execution.
Building at origin
With the foundation established in Israel, Vanilla Vida moved into its next phase: building its in-origin operation in Uganda. This was the step from validation toward execution - bringing together infrastructure, training, and local operational capacity under one broader model.
From preparation to operation
Vanilla Vida moved into live operations in Uganda. This marked the shift from building and preparing the system to running it in practice as part of a broader three-hub model designed to support a more reliable natural vanilla supply platform.
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
Trusted by
Our secret compound
Executive Team
Orgad Raz
CBO
An experienced executive with 20 years of leadership in the food ingredients and coatings industries, offering a successful track record of transforming and growing business operations.
Excels at developing and executing strategies to optimize product design, leverage assets for operational excellence, accelerate innovation pipeline, expand footprint, capture portfolio value, and identify M&A opportunities.
Proven ability to mentor and develop cross-functional teams, spearhead P&L management, and secure sustainable partnerships.
A results-driven leader who can help companies achieve their growth objectives.
Ilanit Bar-Zeev
CEO
The company’s first entrepreneur, Shlomy is an agritech innovator and international agriculture expert. He has over 40 years of hands-on experience in building large-scale projects worldwide, and managing hundreds of employees and accumulated budgets.
Shlomy's professional expertise ranges from greenhouse planning and plant production to farm establishment, plantings, and crop marketing. Over the years, he has employed his end-to-end management capabilities across many disciplines, positively impacting the lifecycle of large-scale farming projects.
As the company’s VP Agriculture, Shlomy leads the agronomists & agricultural business development teams. His leadership allows them to achieve the most advanced growing protocols in the world, while building strategic collaborations with farmers worldwide.
Shlomy Kadosh
VP Agriculture & Co-Founder
Tina Byaruhanga brings experience in stakeholder engagement, communications, and relationship-building across institutions and communities. Her background supports partnership development, local engagement, and broader ecosystem connectivity. She holds a Master's degree in Business Administration from Singapore
Tina Byaruhanga
Stakeholder & Ecosystem Engagement Manager
Full Bio Coming Soon
Chloe Shipilov
Business Development Manager
Itai Twito
COO
Eran Ivanir
VP R&D
Yoni is a seasoned C-level executive whose vast experience included serving as President of Natural Solutions at Frutarom and IFF.
In his role as President of Natural Solutions at Frutarom, Yoni had overall P&L responsibility for all Natural Solutions Business Units and was pivotal in leading partnerships and integrations for the business around the globe. Currently, he serves as managing partner of FoodSparks, PeakBridge’s early-stage fund.
Yoni Glickman
Managing Director, PeakBridge
Founders
Shlomy Kadosh
VP Agriculture & Co-Founder
The company’s first entrepreneur, Shlomy is an agritech innovator and international agriculture expert. He has over 40 years of hands-on experience in building large-scale projects worldwide, and managing hundreds of employees and accumulated budgets.
Shlomy's professional expertise ranges from greenhouse planning and plant production to farm establishment, plantings, and crop marketing. Over the years, he has employed his end-to-end management capabilities across many disciplines, positively impacting the lifecycle of large-scale farming projects.
As the company’s VP Agriculture, Shlomy leads the agronomists & agricultural business development teams. His leadership allows them to achieve the most advanced growing protocols in the world, while building strategic collaborations with farmers worldwide.
Dr. Raz Krizevski
CTO & Co-Founder
Raz is a highly motivated and skilled researcher and entrepreneur, who loves tackling the problems of technology, science, and management in new ways.
With an MSc in agronomy and a PhD in functional genomics and biotechnology, Raz devoted his time and energy to studying plant-specialized metabolites and aroma compound formation. He also has an MBA in bio-management.
As the CTO and co-founder of Vanilla Vida, Raz focuses on creating new solutions to common - and uncommon - technical challenges that arise from working in the food-tech and ag-tech industries. He currently leads the laboratory team and analytics department, while working closely with the operations team to achieve the business scale-up goals.
Oren Zilberman
Co-Founder & Board Observer
Oren’s experience as an investment specialist, along with his vast business planning, management, and leadership experience were pivotal to his success in the start-up industry. Coming from a family of farmers, agricultural innovation is dear to Oren's heart.
Oren uses his business savvy and management expertise to keep the company moving forward, building the team, securing investments, facilitating global development and transitioning from R&D to production scalability.
Board of Directors
Yoni Glickman
Managing Director, PeakBridge
Yoni is a seasoned C-level executive whose vast experience included serving as President of Natural Solutions at Frutarom and IFF.
In his role as President of Natural Solutions at Frutarom, Yoni had overall P&L responsibility for all Natural Solutions Business Units and was pivotal in leading partnerships and integrations for the business around the globe. Currently, he serves as managing partner of FoodSparks, PeakBridge’s early-stage fund.
Alessandro Boccardo
Investment Director,
Taseo Capital
Alessandro is Taseo Capital's Strategic Agri&Food Investment Director. He has spent the majority of his career working with Agri, FoodTech and Food production with some of the biggest names in the industry in several geographies (Western and Eastern Europe, South America, Africa and Australia).
He served as the Land Acquisition & Agricultural Projects Principal at Fedesa, General Manager at Agri Australis (Ferrero Group), and was the Hazelnut Business Development Manager at Ferrero.
Adi Ziv
Head of Business Development, Strauss Group
Adi Ziv brings a strong business development perspective from Strauss Group, Israel’s largest international food and beverage company, with deep exposure to transformative growth, global expansion, and strategic partnerships.
In his role at Strauss Group, Adi works at the intersection of business strategy, innovation, and commercial development. His perspective adds valuable insight into how emerging agri-food technologies can connect with established industry needs, scalable business models, and long-term market relevance.
Tatiana Fafaliou
CEO, Folloe Capital Investors
Tatiana Fafaliou is an experienced investment executive and board member, currently serving as CEO of Folloe Capital Investors and as a Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit Committee at Olympia Group.
Tatiana brings deep expertise in investment management, corporate governance, and strategic finance. Prior to her current role, she served as Chief Investment Officer at Olympia Group, worked in investor relations at Germanos SA, and spent several years with J.P. Morgan in London across European derivatives trading and asset management. Her background combines capital markets, governance, and long-term investment perspective.
Ori Ashkenazi
Managing Partner at Titan Ventures
Ori Ashkenazi is a seasoned investment professional and Managing Partner at Titan Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage companies with advanced technologies, including cyber intelligence, defense technologies, and pioneering ag-tech know-how.
Ori brings extensive experience in investment, portfolio management, finance, M&A, and strategic business development. Before Titan Ventures, he held senior investment and finance roles, including Managing Partner at D&Y Ventures and SVP Finance & M&A at Cobwebs Technologies. His background gives him a broad perspective on scaling technology-driven companies from early-stage innovation into commercial growth.
Shlomy Kadosh
VP Agriculture & Co-Founder
The company’s first entrepreneur, Shlomy is an agritech innovator and international agriculture expert. He has over 40 years of hands-on experience in building large-scale projects worldwide, and managing hundreds of employees and accumulated budgets.
Shlomy's professional expertise ranges from greenhouse planning and plant production to farm establishment, plantings, and crop marketing. Over the years, he has employed his end-to-end management capabilities across many disciplines, positively impacting the lifecycle of large-scale farming projects.
As the company’s VP Agriculture, Shlomy leads the agronomists & agricultural business development teams. His leadership allows them to achieve the most advanced growing protocols in the world, while building strategic collaborations with farmers worldwide.
Ilanit Bar-Zeev
CEO
An experienced executive with 20 years of leadership in the food ingredients and coatings industries, offering a successful track record of transforming and growing business operations.
Excels at developing and executing strategies to optimize product design, leverage assets for operational excellence, accelerate innovation pipeline, expand footprint, capture portfolio value, and identify M&A opportunities.
Proven ability to mentor and develop cross-functional teams, spearhead P&L management, and secure sustainable partnerships.
A results-driven leader who can help companies achieve their growth objectives.
