News for August 31, 2022

Eat Just raises $25M to grow business in China

Eat Just, the egg alternative brand, secured an investment of $25 million from private equity firm C2 Capital Partners which provides growth capital and support to companies seeking to scale their business in China. Eat Just’s Just Egg brand has been available on e-commerce platforms and street vendors in Shanghai since 2019. C2 Partner’s anchor investor is Alibaba Group and this transaction marks their first investment in the alternative protein sector.

Venus William’s Happy Viking wins a major investment round

Happy Viking, a plant-based superfood nutrition company created by Venus Williams, has recently closed an investment round led by fellow athletes. Serena Williams, Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman’s 35V, Robin Arzón, Michelle Wie West, Megan Rapinoe, Reilly Opelka, Isaiah Hartenstein and Collin Sexton all financed the $2 million round. Venus Williams created Happy Viking after being diagnosed with Sjogren’s Syndrome, an autoimmune disease, in 2011. She experimented with creating great-tasting recipes with superfood ingredients and a plant-based diet to help aid her recovery and improve her health.

Ish receives €5M investment from Anora

Anora, a wine and spirits-based brand house, has now acquired a 26% stake in Ish with its recent investment. Ish is a Danish non-alcoholic beverage company with a portfolio of non-alcoholic spirits, wines and ready-to-drink beverages. The new partnership with Anora will see Ish’s products distributed in Norway, Sweden and Finland. On top of expanding international growth, Anora’s investment will help Ish expand its sales, marketing efforts and new product launches.

From YouTube to Coffee—a big investment

YouTube influencer Emma Chamberlain’s Chamberlin Coffee has closed a $7 million Series A Funding Round. The brand harnesses Chamberlain’s influencer status and online audience by being digital-driven and geared towards Gen Z when it comes to selling its USDA Organic-certified coffee and other products. The new funding round will help the successful e-commerce brand to create new products and expand retail efforts. Recently Chamberlain Coffee partnered with Swoon to create a co-branded Matcha Lemonade that was nominated for a NEXTY Award.

Positive Food Co. raises $7M

Positive Food Co. creates freshly prepared foods such as freshly packaged salads, heat-and-eat meals and vegan overnight oats. The fresh prepared foods market is a $34 billion industry. Co-founders Schuyler Deerman and James Chan began Positive Food by selling fresh, reasonably priced prepared meals out of a cooler in WeWork offices throughout Los Angeles. They then expanded into coffee shops but have pivoted to focus on Whole Foods and other new channels due to the pandemic. The new funding comes from BlueYard Capital, Western Tech, Y Combinator, Gaingels and a mix of entrepreneurs from Thrive Market, Fitbit, Instacart, WordPress and more.

Square Baby pulls in $1.8M

Square Baby is a science-based nutrition brand offering customizable meal services for babies. The brand is committed to providing veggie-forward, balanced meals that help with food allergy prevention. The new $1.8 million investment will help the brand to expand nationally and serve a rapidly growing waitlist of 10,000 families. The investment will also fuel DTC growth, create new eco-friendly packaging and expand the brand’s team.

More money in mycelium

Mycel, a South Korean startup, uses a root-like structure of mushrooms (mycelium) to create fungal-based biomaterials that are replacements for leather and meat. Mycel recently announced that it has raised $10 million in a pre-Series A round of funding. The startup will use the new funding to open a new production plant in South Korea that will scale up production and increase the number of employees. The brand has also been in talks with global cosmetic brands to co-develop mycelium-based leather fashion products and beauty ingredients. The brand is aiming to commercialize its mushroom leather in 2023.

Vividly raises $18M Series A

Vividly (formerly Cresicor), the leading modern trade promotion management solution, recently announced an $18 million Series A financing round. The round was led by led by 645 Ventures and Vertex Ventures US, with participation from existing investors Costanoa Partners and Torch Capital as well as Green Spoon Sales. The CPG industry spends at least 20% of its revenue on trade promotion management. Vividly provides cloud-based software that helps brands manage all aspects of their trade promotion management and data analytics. Vividly has raised $23 million to date and will use the new funding to scale its team and accelerate product development.

Disclaimer: NCN does not warrant the accuracy, reliability, or timeliness of any NCN news item. Before relying on any NCN News item the information should be independently verified.