A nutrient-rich beverage that can replace an entire day's food consumption may sound like science fiction, but Reddit co-founder Alex Ohanian, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and others disagree. They've pledged $1.5 million in funding for food substitute Soylent, a viscous beverage made of rice protein, olive oil, starch, vitamins and nutrients, with the goal of launching in the US in December 2013. Soylent says it will use the funds to bring its manufacturing operation in-house, as well as hire a culinary director to improve the product's taste and consistency--according to TechCrunch's Kim-Mai Cutler, the drink is still bland.

Rob Rhinehart, the company's founder, lived exclusively off his Soylent mixture for 30 days last year, driving interest in the project. He says his diet now consists of 90 percent Soylent and 10 percent "recreational eating", or eating conventional foods.