July 28, 2017

California-based Echo Capital, which makes targeted investments in consumer endeavors that have elemental appeal to millennial consumers, announced it has added three food startups to its portfolio.

Back to the Roots

California-based Back to the Roots is a millennial-focused company with a mission to reconnect consumers to the source of their food.

Founded in 2009 by college seniors Alejandro Velez and Nikhil Arora, Back to the Roots began with urban organic mushroom farming, but has grown its product line of ready-to-grow and ready-to-eat items to include full lines of food growing kits and cereals.

“We are thrilled to welcome Back to the Roots to the Echo portfolio. The company’s core mission to reconnect people back to where food comes from exemplifies the transparency, vision, and social justice shared by many of the companies Echo partners with,” said Benjamin Levy, vice president of Echo.

In February of last year Back to the Roots announced a significant $5 million seed round secured through a combination of public and private equity with $3 million of the funding having been raised through the online crowdfunding platform CircleUp. The round was led by Tony Robbins’ and Peter Guber’s accelerator, Agency of Trillions, and included previous investors, TOM’s founder, Blake Mycoskie, Annie’s founder, John Foraker, co-founder of Sweetgreen, Nicolas Jammet, and Cliff Bar CEO Kevin Cleary.

By June, the company made a follow-up announcement that it had lifted its CircleUp crowdfunding campaign into a $10 million Series A led by Acre Venture Partners and including S2G Ventures and Red Sea Ventures.

“We decided to take on additional funds to really accelerate our impact — being able to reach more families faster, and continuing investing in new product development to create more fun ways to reconnect with food,” Back to the Roots cofounder Nikhil Arora told Food Dive at the time.

The company also has partnered with the New York City public school system to be a food supplier to the system’s 1.1 million students, including 254,000 who depend on school breakfasts.

Nona Lim

Founded by a former professional athlete, Nona Lim is another California-based food startup that produces Asian-inspired, non-GMO, non-dairy, and gluten-free soups, broths, prepared meals, and noodles that have no preservatives or additives, and are low sodium and low sugar.

“We’re seeing the popularity of ethnic foods growing at a steady pace, while consumers steer away from traditional flavors like ‘beef’ or ‘chicken’ and toward bold and exotic flavors from around the world,” said Levy.

“The convenience and accessibility of Nona Lim’s soups and broths appeals to the millennial generation, but so does the variety and boldness of their Asian-inspired flavors.”

Indeed, U.S. consumers are becoming more open to a wider range of flavors and cuisines, particularly to Asian flavors that balance spicy, salty, and sweet flavors.

Sales of ethnic foods in the U.S. reached $11 billion in 2013 and are on pace to reach a value of $12.5 billion by 2018, according to Statista. The bulk of these sales are being generated from Mexican food sales which total $1.6 billion, followed by Asian foods.

Additionally, Food Processing reports that 88 percent of Americans eat at least one ethnic food per month, while 17 percent eat ethnic food at least seven or more times per month. In addition, almost one-third of all U.S. consumers have eaten an ethnic food that was new to them over the past year, according to data from the National Restaurant Association.

Wilde Brands

Founded in Boulder, Colorado, in 2013 by Jason Wright, a marathon runner who was frustrated by a lack of convenient snacks that offer a complete nutrition profile, Wilde Brands offers a line of high-protein snacks including the first non-GMO slow roasted meat bars made from locally sourced, grass-fed beef and free-range chicken in combination with ancient grains. Other bars in the line-up include Turkey Cranberry, Maple Bacon Blueberry, Peach BBQ, and Sweet Thai Basil.

The company’s newest product is the Chicken Chip – a salty snack matches the taste and texture of a potato chip, but offers functional and transparent ingredients.

“The ECHO team is thrilled to partner with an innovative snack company like Wilde Brands,” said Sabrina Merage, principal of Echo. “We believe that Wilde is at the forefront of the better-for-you, high-protein snacking trend and that consumers will love what this Boulder-based company has to offer.”

-Lynda Kiernan

Lynda Kiernan is Editor with GAI Media and daily contributor to GAI News. If you would like to submit a contribution for consideration, please contact Ms. Kiernan at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.