News for October 13, 2021

Savencia Fromage & Dairy buys No. 1 organic hummus brand Hope Foods

Hope Foods (Boulder, Colorado) has been acquired by Savencia Fromage & Dairy (Viroflay, France), a leading global milk processor and cheese manufacturer. Hope Foods was founded over 10 years ago and started by selling at the Boulder Farmers Market. Today, the brand’s hummus is the No. 1 organic hummus in the U.S. The sales includes Hope Foods’ plant in Louisville, Colorado, where its hummus and nut dips are manufactured. “Hope enlarges our brand’s portfolio in the USA into fast-growing, ‘better-for-you’ products and provides an excellent opportunity to expand consumer options for great-tasting, plant-based products,” said Jean-Paul Torris, Chief Executive Officer for Savencia Fromage & Dairy.

Seaweed producer Atlantic Sea Farms secures new funding

Atlantic Sea Farms (Saco, Maine) the first commercial seaweed farm in the U.S. and now representing over 80% of all cultivated seaweed in the country, has secured a new funding round, led by Desert Bloom Food Ventures. The funding will help the company build out a new state-of-the-art seaweed processing and innovation facility to process all landed kelp within hours of harvest. As the company prepares for the 2022 kelp season, it expects 3,000% growth since the company brought on new leadership in August 2018. As of the spring 2021 harvest, the company has removed approximately 150,000 pounds of carbon from Maine’s ocean in just three short growing seasons.

Pet brand Alpha Paws nabs $8M in series A funding

Alpha Paw (Austin, Texas) has raised $8 million in series A funding, led by Nordic Eye. After bootstrapping the company for the past three years, the company was relaunched in 2019 as a pet wellness company with the vision to help pets lead healthier and longer lives. The company produces food and supplements that are customized with pet breed in mind, such as nutritional supplementary toppings to mix in for ailments like allergies or hip and joint issues, based on data such as weight of the pet. Alpha Paw will use the new capital to fund customer acquisition growth, product expansion and general expansion, which includes a subscription model.

Sustainable lawn care company Sunday raises $50M in series C round

Coulter Lewis, who helped build Quinn Snacks with his wife, Kristy Lewis, launched direct-to-consumer lawn care company Sunday (Boulder, Colorado) after searching for natural options at a home improvement store and coming up empty. The company sends consumers products they need, when they need them, based on their lawn conditions. Sunday has raised a $50 million series C round led by BOND, with participation from existing investors Tusk Ventures, Sequoia and Forerunner Ventures, bringing the total funding to $78 million. Sunday touts that it has already helped reduce lawn pesticide use by 35,000 pounds so far in 2021 and hopes to reduce it by 75,000 over the next year.

Kingdom Supercultures gets $25M in series A funding to develop new natural ingredient category

Biodesign company Kingdom Supercultures (New York, New York) develops natural microbial cultures, which it calls “supercultures,” to be used in plant-based foods such as yogurts and cheeses as well as low-alcohol wines and beers. These supercultures are sold to consumer goods manufacturers to improve flavor, texture and functional properties of consumer products. The company will use the funding to expand its R&D work to meet demand for new ingredients. The round was led by Shine Capital and supported by Valor, Tao, Lux, SALT, Reference, Digitalis and existing investors, along with the founders of Daring Foods, Good Culture, Hungryroot, RXBAR, Waterloo and many others.

Bachan’s Japanese Barbecue Sauce gets investment lift from celebrity lineup

Japanese-style barbeque sauce maker Bachan’s (Sebastopol, California) has raised an undisclosed amount in a funding round led by private equity firm Prelude Growth Partners and with contributions from various celebrities including Aaron Paul, Ryan Tedder, Benny Blanco, Whitney Port, Max Thieriot, Chase Utley and Abe Burns. Former co-CEO of Whole Foods Market Walter Robb also contributed. The funding will go toward expanding the team, product creation and distribution. Bachan’s line of non-GMO and vegan sauces is the bestselling barbeque sauce on Amazon and is available at over 2,500 retailers across the U.S.

Private equity firm buys Local Hive Honey

Local Hive Honey (Greeley, Colorado) partners will local beekeepers across the country to produce its 23 varietals of raw and unfiltered honey. North Carolina-based private equity firm Falfurrias Capital Partners has purchased the brand, marking its first acquisition of its new fund. “Joining forces with Falfurrias Capital Partners will give us tremendous resources to realize our next chapter in the growth of Local Hive,” said Tony Landretti, who joined the company in 2013 in a consultative role and was appointed CEO in 2017 following a major rebrand that included a name change from Rice’s Lucky Clover Honey.

Upcycled snack brand Spudsy raises $3.3M in series A funding round

Spudsy (Costa Mesa, California), which makes plant-based snacks from upcycled imperfect sweet potatoes, has raised $3.3 million in a series A funding round led by KarpReilly and Stage 1 Fund. The company will use the new funds for hiring and store demonstrations. Spudsy claims that 150 million pounds of sweet potatoes end up in landfills due to minor imperfections like shape, size and color. The brand is working with a farm in North Carolina to use the sweet potatoes left in the field for a new salted snack, with plans to expand into other formats.

Swedish alt seafood startup Hooked Foods reels in €3.8 million

Hooked Foods (Stockholm, Sweden) has raised €3.8 million in a new financing round to help launch its plant-based salmon product and support ongoing R&D. The company launched its first product, Toonish, a tuna analogue, into retail chains and restaurants across Sweden earlier this year. The “tuna” is made from soy, wheat protein, sunflower oil and algae. The salmon will be developed using wet extrusion technology and will also contain seaweed and algae oil to provide omega-3 fatty acids.

Montreal’s Oggi Foods gets investment from Bregal Partners

Oggi Foods (Montreal, Canada), maker of gluten-free, organic frozen pizza and other food products, has received a growth equity investment from private equity firm Bregal Partners. “We were highly impressed with the quality of Oggi’s products and with the Company’s growth over the last several years, and we are thrilled to have this opportunity to partner with Oggi’s founders and management during this next exciting phase of the Company’s growth,” said Bregal Partners Managing Partner Charles Yoo. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

New Age Meats nabs $25M in series A funding

Cultured meat company New Age Meats (Berkeley, California) has raised $25 million in a series A funding round led by Hanwha Solutions of South Korea and joined by existing investors SOSV’s IndieBio, TechU Ventures, ff VC and Siddhi Capital. The company, which was founded in 2018, makes meat from animal cells. The funding will allow the company to begin production of its first product in 2022, which will be a variety of pork sausages, as well as double its workforce and expand R&D. The company also plans to build a 20,000-square-foot pilot manufacturing facility in Alameda.

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