Griffith Foods has led a $2.5 million Seed Round for ReGrained, a mission-driven ingredient company and food innovator that employs patented technology to transform beer brewing byproducts into super grains. Also participating in the round were Barilla Group’s BLU1877, Telluric Foods, and a range of undisclosed strategic and crowdsourced investors.
Founded in San Francisco, ReGrained was launched by a pair of homebrewers who realized that beer was not the only valuable outcome of the brewing process. The company began by baking and selling bread made from the spent brewing grain. However, realizing that the grain was high in protein, fiber, and micronutrients, the company expanded into the production of granola bars in 2013.
Today, ReGrained upcycles spent brewing grain into SuperGrain™ flour, a nutrient-dense four that is the basis for ReGrained brand snacks.
This investment will be used by the company to fund the scaling of its proprietary processing technology and the commercialization of its ingredient and products. Eyeing global expansion, the company boasts the world’s first “ReGrainery” in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the company reuses and upcycles millions of tons of high-protein, high-fiber spent brewers grain into SuperGrain™, an ideally suited ingredient in all savory or sweet functional foods. This ability will give the company a solid foothold in the global functional ingredients market that Markets and Markets estimates to be valued at $68.60 billion this year, and projects to be valued at $94.21 billion by 2023.
“Our Purpose is to better align the food we eat with the planet we love,” said Daniel Kurzrock, CEO of ReGrained. “Our Edible Upcycling model changes the way we value food and the resources that support all life. We could not ask for a more mission-aligned partner that directly supports our strategic goals than Griffith Foods.”
Founded in Chicago in 1919, and currently headquartered in Alsip, Illinois, Griffith Foods is a family owned global developer and manufacturer of customized food ingredients from seasonings and breadings, to marinades and sauces. Since its founding, Griffith has expanded to have a presence in more than 30 countries on six continents.
“The strategic partnership between Griffith Foods and ReGrained offers an opportunity to work together and find new ways to nourish the world,” said Brian Griffith, executive chairman of Griffith Foods. “The world’s population is estimated to reach almost ten billion by 2050. It is imperative for food companies to create innovative solutions that safely and sustainably feed our growing communities.”
BLU1877 was launched by Barilla in the fourth quarter of 2017 as a hybrid venture capital fund and innovation hub designed to foster the growth of food-based startups that are focused on categories that are related to, or tangential to Barilla’s business.
Much like Kellogg’s eighteen94 venture fund, which was named in reference to the year the company was launched, the name of Barilla’s investment arm, Blu1877, is in reference to the iconic blue box in which its pasta is packaged, and the year the company began as a bakery in Parma, Italy.
This funding for ReGrained comes after a dynamic year for the startup, as the company launched its first consumer product line of SuperGrain™ bars, introduced its first-to-market compostable packaging; secured partnerships with multinational food companies; and expanded its distribution through thousands of new retail locations.
“Griffith shares our authentic commitment to making the world a better place through food,” said Kurzrock. “Our strategic partnership will dramatically accelerate our ability to mitigate food waste and promote edible upcycling. We look forward to many years of ‘Creating Better Together.'”
-Lynda Kiernan