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News for August 4, 2021

Recent Transactions in the Nutrition and Health & Wellness Industry:

New Primal nabs $15M from Manna Tree

Manna Tree has invested $15 million in New Primal (Charleston, South Carolina), maker of clean-ingredient meat snacks such as grass-fed beef jerky, as well as seasonings, dressings and condiments. The private equity firm was the sole investor in the Series B funding round. The New Primal will use the funds and Manna Tree’s robust network to expand distribution and retail relationships as well as supporting key hires.

 

Food tech company NotCo raises $235M in Series D round

NotCo (Santiago, Chile) raised another $235 million in a Series D round, giving the food technology company a total of $350 million and a $1.5 billion valuation. Tiger Global led the round with participation by athletes Lewis Hamilton and Roger Federer, musician and DJ Questlove, among others. Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer invested an undisclosed sum in June. The company, which uses proprietary artificial intelligence technology to match animal proteins to their ideal replacements among thousands of plant-based ingredients, has four product lines that are available in the U.S., Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Columbia.

 

Quinn Snacks raises $10M to fuel growth and innovation

Snack maker Quinn (Boulder, Colorado) secured $10 million in a Series B funding round led by growth equity firm NewRoad Capital Partners. Boulder Food Group, Echo Capital and Sunil Thakor also participated. The company, which manufacturers better-for-you popcorn, chips and pretzels, will use the funds to support growth, product innovation and the company’s regenerative agriculture focus. Quinn has seen 60% growth in revenue year over year since 2019 and has grown to distribution in 10,000 stores.

 

Recovery drink brand The Plug Drink raises $1.5M in seed funding

Plant-based, East Asian-inspired recovery beverage startup The Plug Drink (Los Angeles, California) has raised $1.5 million in seed funding from prominent figures such as wish.com’s CEO Peter Szulczewski, NBA basketball player Myles Turner, Miley Cyrus’ manager Adriana Arc, Backend Capital’s general partner Lucy Guo, FL player Troy Hill, actor Frankie Delgado and others. The company currently only distributes online and in liquor stores in Michigan and South California but plans to use the new funds to expand nationally.

 

ADM to purchase soy ingredient supplier Sojaprotein

Archer Daniels Midland (Chicago, Illinois) has announced plans to acquire European non-GMO soy ingredients group Sojaprotein (Bečej, Serbia). “Thirty years ago, ADM invented the soy vegetable burger, giving rise to the plant-based protein segment,” said Leticia Gonçalves, ADM’s president of Global Foods. “Today, alternative proteins represent one of our core growth platforms, and as this $10 billion global industry grows to $30 billion over the next decade, we are investing to expand our unparalleled capabilities.” Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

 

India’s The Whole Truth secures $6M in Series A round

Launched in 2019, The Whole Truth (Maharashtra, India), which makes muesli, protein bars and other clean-label foods, has raised more than $6 million in a Series A funding round. The company claims to be the only Indian brand to list every ingredient that goes into its food. The round was led by Sequoia Capital India with participation from others. “At TWT, we’re hell-bent on bringing the truth back to food. We do this through our 100% clean-label products, and through clutter-breaking content that helps consumers spot the misleading information they’re being provided,” said Shashank Mehta, founder of The Whole Truth and an ex-Unilever marketeer.

 

Peeled Snacks sold to Deep River Snacks founder

Peeled Snacks (Cumberland, Rhode Island), which had declared bankruptcy in March after facing significant declines in sales due to the closure of schools and airports during the pandemic, has been sold to Jim Goldberg, founder of tortilla and potato chip company Deep River Snacks. Peeled Snacks makes a variety of snack options to meet the needs of diet tribes such as vegan, grain-free, paleo and gluten-free. The B Corporation was launched in 2004.

 

Manna Tree invests $18M in plant-based brand Urban Remedy

Plant-based food company Urban Remedy (Richmond, California) has secured $18 million in a Series D fundraising round from Manna Tree. Existing partners Builders Fund and Obvious Ventures joined the round in supporting the maker of certified organic ready-to-eat meals, snack and cold pressed juices. The company will use the funds for key hires and resources to support further manufacturing efficiencies as well as digital marketing efforts. Founded in 2009 by licensed acupuncturist Neka Pasquale, Urban Remedy doubled its kiosk locations during 2020 while ramping up its online platform.

 

Fungi protein brand Nature’s Fynd gets $350M

Food tech company Nature’s Fynd (Chicago, Illinois) raised $350 million in a Series C funding round, bringing the company’s total financing to over $500 million. The company plans to use the capital to enter multiple brand-aligned partnerships with retail stores and quick-serve restaurants as well as significant geographical expansion, focusing on Asia. Nature’s Fynd makes meat and dairy alternatives from a fungi protein it calls Fy from a microbe sourced from volcanic springs. The Series C round was led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 and joined by new investors Blackstone Strategic Partners, Balyasny Asset Management, Hillhouse Investment and Hongkou.

 

Undercover Snacks takes home $13.7M equity investment

Chocolate snack brand Undercover Snacks (Englewood, Colorado) has raised $13.7 million of equity for a minority stake in the company. The company will use the funds for marketing initiatives to support its growing retail footprint and expansion of the company’s production facility, as well as building the management team. Undercover Snacks launched in 2017 with chocolate-covered quinoa and doubled its distribution in 2021 to over 10,000 retail locations across North America. Terms of the equity financing were not disclosed.

 

Prebiotic ingredient company Prenexus raises $15M in Series B round

Prenexus Health (Gilbert, Arizona), which manufactures organic prebiotic ingredients for supplements, foods and beverages, has closed a $15 million Series B funding round, with additional financing related to the close bringing the total to $23 million in expansion financing. The funds will be used to significantly expand production capacity at the company’s manufacturing plant, which uses a novel process to produce certified organic XOS (xylo-oligosaccharide) from U.S.-grown organic sugar cane, branded as PreneXOS.

 

Plant-based cheese startup Nobell Foods raises $75M in Series B round

Nobell Foods (San Francisco, California) has raised $75 million in a Series B funding round, bringing the total raised to a whopping $100 million for this company on a mission to make a stretchy vegan cheese. Founder Magi Richani and her team developed a method to recreate the genetic code of casein in soybean seeds and grow plants that have the same dairy caseins found in conventional dairy. The company is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Bill Gates-backed Breakthrough Energy Ventures, with notable support from Robert Downey Jr.’s FootPrint Coalition Venture. Nobell will use funds from the round to expand its team and farming partnerships, scale production and bring its product to market.

 

Athletic Greens to get investment from Lewis Hamilton and others

British racing driver Lewis Hamilton is participating in a funding round led by SC Holdings, a private equity firm, for Athletic Greens (Carson City, Nevada), which is taking on external investors for the first time since it was founded more than a decade ago. Other celebrity investors in the company include actor Hugh Jackman, model Cindy Crawford and musician Steve Aoki. Athletic Greens expects to surpass $100 million in revenue in 2021 and will use the funds to market the direct-to-consumer brand.

 

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