is part of the Informa Markets Division of Informa PLC
This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.
2019 NCN News
NCN News: December 6, 2019
Manna Tree Partners was the anchor investor in a $12.7 million Series C funding round in food technology company Nutriati (Richmond, Virginia). Open Prairie, an existing investor through the Open Prairie Rural Opportunities Fund, also participated. Nutriati uses proprietary processing technology to make protein, flour and oil ingredients from pulses like beans, peas, lentils and chickpeas.
NCN News: November 26, 2019
Hundred (Berlin, Germany), a personalized vitamin subscription company, has announced an $8 million investment from Insight Partners. The direct-to-consumer supplement service creates a custom mix based on a five-minute consultation taking into account nutrition, movement, sleep and stress.
NCN News: November 12, 2019
Mooala (Dallas, Texas), maker of organic dairy-free beverages, has completed an $8.3 million Series A equity financing led by Sweat Equities, bringing its total funding since launch to more than $13 million. Mooala is sold in over 2,500 stores nationwide including Whole Foods Market, Safeway, Kroger and Costco, and says it will increase its footprint to 3,500 stores by January.
NCN News: October 29, 2019
Flowhub (Denver, Colorado), a retail management platform for cannabis dispensaries, has raised an oversubscribed $23 million Series A financing led by the Kraft Heinz investment arm Evolv Ventures, e.ventures and Poseidon. Described as one of the largest Series A rounds in the cannabis tech industry, the investment will be used to position Flowhub as the software model of choice for cannabis retailers.
NCN News October 13, 2019
Post Holdings’ (St. Louis, Missouri) newly formed subsidiary BellRing Brands Inc. has launched a roadshow for its initial public offering of approximately 24 percent of its ownership. The IPO is expected to generate up to $570 million. BellRing will compete in the “global convenient nutrition category” and is a holding company for Post’s Active Nutrition business, notably the Premier Protein, Dymatize and PowerBar brands.
NCN News: September 24, 2019
Celsius Holdings Inc. (Boca Raton, Florida), maker of the Celsius fitness drink, is acquiring nutritional products marketer Func Food Group Oyj (Helsinki, Finland) for approximately $15.1 million in cash and the assumption of $9.5 million of debt.
NCN News: September 10, 2019
Nestlé Health Science (NHSc, Lausanne, Switzerland) is expanding into personalized nutrition by acquiring Persona (Snoqualmie, Washington), a company that offers customized nutritional assessments and dietary supplements online.
NCN News: August 13, 2019
Cannabis products company Dixie Brands Inc. (Denver, Colorado) and iced tea brand Arizona Beverages (Woodbury, New York) are partnering to develop cannabis-infused products with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
NCN News: July 23, 2019
AeroFarms (Newark, New Jersey) has raised a $100 million Series E led by the venture capital arm of Ingka Group, parent company of Ikea, according to Financial Times. The automated indoor farm will use the investment to expand warehouse space and grow more types of produce.
NCN News: July 9, 2019
Gathered Foods, maker of the Good Catch (Newtown, Pennsylvania) brand of plant-based seafood products, has closed a $10 million convertible note round co-led by New Crop Capital and Stray Dog Capital, according to Forbes. Good Catch previously announced an $8.7 million Series A funding round in August 2018 led by New Crop Capital.
NCN News: June 26, 2019
Mondelēz International (Deerfield, Illinois), owner of Oreo, Belvita and Cadbury, is acquiring a majority interest in Perfect Snacks (San Diego, California), maker of refrigerated organic nutrition bars.
NCN News: May 26, 2019
Impossible Foods (Redwood City, California), maker of plant-based meat alternatives, announced $300 million in Series E funding led by existing investors Temasek and Horizons Ventures.
NCN News: May 14, 2019
Sprizzi Drink-Co. (Colton, California), maker of an eco-friendly beverage dispenser, announced a $100 million investment initiative by the government of Rugao, China.
NCN News: April 30, 2019
Campbell Soup Company (Camden, New Jersey) is selling Bolthouse Farms to an affiliate of Butterfly Equity for $510 million.
NCN News for April 17, 2019
Danone SA (Paris, France) is selling Earthbound Farm, its U.S. organic salads business, to family-owned Taylor Farms (Salinas, California), a salads and fresh foods company.
NCN Press Release on 2018 Transaction Database Report
Each year Nutrition Capital Network tracks and compiles M&A activity in the health & nutrition arena. Read more about how 2018 compared to years past and where the financing activity took place.
NCN News: March 26, 2019
DSM and Phynova collaborate on blood glucose ingredient
DSM (Heerlen, Netherlands) and life science company Phynova (Oxford, United Kingdom) have signed a global distribution and collaboration agreement for Reducose, a patented natural ingredient for healthy blood glucose levels. Reducose is a water extract of white mulberry leaves that can be added to food and beverages or taken as a small supplement to reduce the impact on the body of high-glycemic sugars and other carbohydrates.
NCN News: March 12, 2019
Moringa company gets second investment from Kellogg
Kuli Kuli (Oakland, California), a pioneer of the superfood moringa, has closed a $5 million Series B financing led by global product development company Griffith Foods and Eighteen94 capital, Kellogg’s venture capital fund. Other investors included InvestEco, S2G Ventures, Authentic Ventures, VilCap Investments and Rocana Venture Partners. Kuli Kuli plans to launch a new moringa ingredient business while scaling up its moringa powder, bars and shots business.
NCN News: February 26, 2019
Hormel Foods (Austin, Minnesota) is selling its CytoSport business, including Muscle Milk protein drinks, to PepsiCo for $465 million in cash. Hormel acquired CytoSport Holdings in 2014 from the Pickett family and TSG Consumer Partners for approximately $450 million to expand Hormel’s portfolio of protein-rich foods and serve as a growth catalyst for its Specialty Foods segment; CytoSport had annual sales of around $370 million at the time.
NCN News: February 12, 2019
Unilever (London, United Kingdom and Rotterdam, Netherlands) has acquired Graze (London, United Kingdom), the United Kingdom’s largest healthy snack brand, from The Carlyle Group. The purchase price was not disclosed, but Sky News reported Graze was acquired for £150 million ($195.9 million on Feb. 5). Graze was founded in 2008 as a snack-box delivery service and sells bars, packaged nuts and seeds, dips and other snacks at retail and online.
NCN News: January 29, 2019
Laird Superfood (Sisters, Oregon) has secured $32 million in a private funding round that included WeWork, the shared workspace company. This round will support product development, acquisitions and headquarters expansion. Laird Superfood and WeWork will also launch a partnership to make Laird foods available to WeWork members and employees.