News for June 9, 2021

Ready, Set, Food raises $3.5M in most recent funding round

Ready, Set, Food! (Los Angeles, California), which makes an organic, all-natural, three-stage guided system to help families introduce food allergens, raised $43.5 million in its most recent funding round. The round was led by a new investor, Edward-Elmhurst Health, with participation from returning investors Danone Manifesto Ventures as well as Mark Cuban and AF Ventures. The company was developed by parents, for parents, as an early allergen introduction system of the top nine allergens.

Hungryroot secures $40M in Series C raise

Hungryroot (New York, New York) raised $40 million in a Series C funding round led by the Growth Fund of L Catterton, the largest global consumer-focused private equity firm. Hungryroot—which creates a grocery plan for consumers, sells and delivers groceries and includes health recipes—will use the capital to further accelerate growth by substantially increasing the number of groceries and recipes it offers, growing its team, investing in automation technology and more. Hungryroot has been profitable since the beginning of 2020 and is on track to achieve $175 million of revenue this year.

Precision medicine startup DayTwo raises $37M

DayTwo (Israel) raised $37 million in a recent fundraising round, bringing the total amount raised to $85 million. The new funding will go toward developing technologies to help people with diabetes, specifically an app that provides user customized diet recommendations based on their gut bacteria. New investors include Poalim Capital Markets, La’maison Fund and Micron Ventures. Existing investors Poalim Capital Markets, La’maison Fund and Micron Ventures also participated.

Plant-based meat company Heura raises big in 24-hour crowdfunding campaign

Heura (Bareclona, Spain), a plant-based meat maker, raised $4.8 million in just 24 hours after launching its first equity crowdfunding campaign. The Spanish startup will put the funds toward R&D and launching new plant-based meat products to the market. On the crowdfunding platform Crowdcube, the company explained it decided to raise capital through a crowdfunding campaign because it “needs partners to keep driving the change in innovation and R&D” and to “continue creating meat successors like chicken nuggets, sausage and mince meat” to launch across global markets.

Mommy’s Bliss partners with Swander Pace Capital

Mommy’s Bliss (Richmond, California) has announced a partnership with Swander Pace Capital, a private equity firm specializing in consumer product companies. Mommy’s Bliss, founded in 1999, makes all-natural, over over-the-counter health and wellness products for babies, kids, moms and moms-to-be. “We are excited to partner with Swander Pace Capital, which has deep experience in the consumer product sector, to help us continue our growth, drive further innovation and take our mission to an even higher level,” said Yasmin Kaderali, CEO of Mommy’s Bliss.

Opopop closes $5M in Series A round

Opopop (Denver, Colorado) closed its Series A on June 1, raising $5 million and bringing the company’s combined pre-launch funding to $11.6 million. The company’s product—microwave popcorn with pre-flavored popcorn kernels, dubbed Flavor Wrapped Popcorn Kernels—launched on June 7. The Series A round was led by Valor Siren Ventures, with investments from Peter Rahal, founder of RxBar and Litani Ventures; Grammy award-winning superstar DJ/Producer Tiësto; Academy Award-winning director Jimmy Chin; and Alex Bogusky’s firm Batshit Crazy Ventures.

Nonalcoholic beer maker Athletic Brewing nabs $50M in Series C round

Athletic Brewing (Stratford, Connecticut), which makes nonalcoholic craft beer, has raised a $50 million Series C funding round led by Alliance Consumer Growth and existing investor TRB Advisors. The company will use the funds—a total of $70 million for Athletic—to construct a Connecticut brewery, which will be the company’s third, to support East Coast expansion. The brewer offers a range of nonalcoholic beers and has struggled to keep up with demand, despite steady growth since its launch in 2018. Previous investors include bicycle racer Lance Armstrong and NFL players Justin Tuck and J.J. Watt, Food Dive reported.

Kudos closes $2.4M Seed round

Disposable baby diaper brand Kudos (Boston, Massachusetts) closed its $2.4 million Seed round of financing. The company touts being the first and only disposable baby diaper to earn the cotton natural seal from Cotton Inc. for having 100% cotton, instead of plastic, touching the baby’s skin. The company operates direct-to-consumer and charges $78 for a monthly subscription box. Investors included Foundation Capital, XFund, PJC, Precursor Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures, SV Angel, Underscore VC, Alpha Bridge Ventures, April Underwood and more.

Gnosis by Lesaffre acquires NattoPharma

Gnosis by Lesaffre (Lille, France) has acquired NattoPharma, a Norwegian nutraceutical company that specializes in the research and supply of vitamin K2. The purchase, which was for an undisclosed sum, will enhance Gnosis’ vitamin K2 offering by bringing together its own vitaMK7 brand with NattoPharma’s MenaQ7 solutions. Both ingredient solutions have been used as part of formulations for nutraceutical and functional food products for more than 10 years.

Plant Power fast food chain gets $7.5M in Series A

Fast food restaurant chain Plant Power (San Diego, California) has completed a $7.5 million Series A funding round led by Helia Capital USA, Eat Beyond Global Holdings and Batta Foods, with participation from Aileen Getty and other individual investors. The chain, which offers an entire plant-based menu, has seven locations in Southern California. Eight stores are planned in new locations including Sacramento and Hollywood, California, and Las Vegas, Nevada. In addition, the company will use the funds to focus on the development of a new corporate unit.

L Catterton acquires Kodiak Cakes

Kodiak Cakes (Park City, Utah) has been purchased by L Catterton for an undisclosed sum. The pancake maker, led by co-founder and CEO Joel Clark and co-founder and President Cameron Smith, has expanded into waffle mixes, frozen waffles and pancakes, oatmeal, baking mixes and more. Kodiak’s existing shareholders, including Sunrise Strategic Partners, Trilantic North America, and the company’s founders and management team, will continue to own a significant minority stake in the company going forward. “We are thrilled at the opportunity to partner with Joel and his exceptional leadership team for the next chapter in Kodiak’s evolution,” said Matt Leeds, partner at L Catterton.

Alternative dairy startup Vly gets $7.4M in Series A

Vly (Berlin, Germany), maker of milk from plant protein, has raised 6.1 million euros ($7.4 million) in a Series A round led by Five Seasons Ventures. The company, founded in 2018, is the sixth biggest plant milk brand in Germany. It will use the funds to scale its R&D and drive growth access the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and into new European markets, including the United Kingdom. The company worked through 400 versions before it created its dairy alternative milk from yellow split pea protein, it says. The milk is now stocked in over 10,000 stores.

NotCo gets backing from Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer’s Fund

The Not Company (Santiago, Chile), which uses patented AI technology to create plant-based products that replicate the taste and texture of animal-based foods, has received funding from Enlightened Hospitality Investments (EHI), the growth equity fund that includes U.S. burger restaurant Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer. NotCo, which is also backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and investors Future Positive and L Catterton, has raised a total of $130 million to date, with the latest investment amount from EHI not disclosed. The company will use the capital to ramp up its expansion efforts across the U.S. foodservice market.

Prima closes $9.2M Seed round

The Uplifters’ Prima, PBC (Santa Monica, California) closed a $9.2 million Seed Plus round of financing led by Greycroft, H Ventures, Defy, and Lerer Hippeau, with notable participation from Adam Zeplain (mark vc), Global Founders Capital, Emerald Health, One Gun and Purple Arch Ventures. The company, known as Prima, launched in 2019 by The Honest Company alums and makes skin care, body care and supplements that include cannabinoids.

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