Vejii: After U.S. Launch, Online Marketplace For Vegan & Plant-Based Products Debuts In Canada

After its U.S. launch, Vejii, the online vegan marketplace and multi-vendor platform that helps bridge the gap between plant-based brands and sustainable consumers, has just debuted in Canada to serve the 2.3 million vegetarians and 850,000 vegans in the country.

Launching in the U.S. back in November of last year, the Kelowna B.C.-headquartered Vejii aims to provide a one-stop platform that makes vegan and plant-based products accessible to consumers, and currently features 2,000+ brands.

Expanding rapidly, the multi-vendor platform allows startups as well as established companies to list their products, thus empowering these brands to reach new and wider audiences.

The platform integrates AI & machine learning, smart lists, reorders functionality, subscription programs, makes customized recommendations and utilizes various other technologies into their system in order to ensure a smooth customer experience flow.

In a press release seen by Green Queen, CEO of Vejii, Kory Zelickson, said that the products for the market in Canada have been carefully selected: “We are beginning by offering a thoughtfully curated selection of plant-based meat, dairy and seafood products, based on our top selling products in the U.S. We are committed to making plant-based food more accessible, while also supporting plant-based food producers, especially small businesses.”

We are committed to making plant-based food more accessible, while also supporting plant-based food producers, especially small businesses

Kory Zelickson, CEO of Vejii

Zelickson added: “There are so many innovative plant-based startup brands that we are able to assist by providing national exposure. The Vejii platform has been inspired by the innovators and founders that our team has had the privilege of working with. By providing startups with exposure we both help the brand and provide our customers with high-quality, plant-based alternatives that they may not have had access to before.”

Recently, professional and plant-based boxer Claressa Shields won a fight at the junior middleweight division, which was sponsored by Vejii, in an effort to raise awareness about the benefits of plant-based diets, a point further proven with Shields now the first woman boxer to have won an undisputed championship in two weight classes.

By providing startups with exposure we both help the brand and provide our customers with high-quality, plant-based alternatives that they may not have had access to before

Kory Zelickson, CEO of Vejii

Several established brands and startups are investing in the Canadian plant-based market, for instance, Burger King Canada is soon set to debut its meat-free Impossible Whopper that will contain plant-based patties from Impossible Foods.

Meatless Farm, a British plant-based meat manufacturer opened a plant in Calgary in an effort to make and supply plant-based ingredients and proteins to brands across the world.

To further boost this industry, in June of last year, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said that the federal government plans to invest in a plant-based protein company, hoping that the CAD $100 million (US$74 million) investment will back farmers as well as generate employment in this sector.

Lead image courtesy of Vejii.