Beyond Meat investor leads $10m funding round for superfood start-up
Fresh capital to accelerate growth by expanding the team and developing new products
Your Super, an organic superfood powder mixes start-up, has raised $10 million in Series B funding led by PowerPlant Ventures. The funding will be used to accelerate growth by expanding the team and developing new products.
The Giannuzzi Group, a New York City-based law firm dedicated to the better-for-you food and drink industry, acted as Your Super’s legal counsel.
Headquartered in Los Angeles, PowerPlant Ventures is an equity fund that has invested in Beyond Meat, Thrive Market and Veggie Gril. PowerPlant also led Your Super’s series A funding in 2019.
Other investors participating in the round include Clif White Road, a California-based investment firm founded by Clif Bar’s owners Gary Erickson and Kit Crawford, and Marstar Investments.
Organic goodness
Your Super was founded by Michael Kuech and Kristel de Groot (pictured below) in 2015. A former athlete, Kuech was diagnosed with cancer at 24 years old and his partner helped him boost his recovery with superfoods.
“Determined to stay positive, I bought all of these loose bags of maca, wheatgrass, barley grass, chia seeds, spirulina, lucuma, flax seeds, you name it! My cabinets were chaotic, as my aunt Ellen, an orthonutritionst advised me on what vitamins and minerals the body needs on a daily basis, and what it needs to heal,” de Groot explained.
The couple launched Your Super first in Germany and soon moved its headquarters to California having a strong community base.
Dan Gluck, co-founder and managing partner at PowerPlant Ventures, said: “Michael and Kristel have exhibited flawless execution in a time of extraordinary growth. They have assembled and managed an unparalleled team with the ability to capitalize on the plant-based trend, which we think is in the early innings.”
Direct-to-consumer business model
Your Super products are sold on the brand’s website, and Your Super said shipped more than one million products with the direct-to-consumer first business model.
By 2019 and based on consumer feedback and requests, Your Super added two new powder mixes to the original product line: Mellow Yellow, an inflammatory relief, and the sleep-aid Magic Mushroom.
The start-up announced plans are on the table for a new plant-based protein mix made with brain health-boosting superfoods. The move will put Your Super tapping into the fast-growing plant-based protein category, which is expected to reach $57 billion in sales globally by 2027, according to Research and Markets.
Plans for new recipe e-books, and app that guides consumers to plant-based eating are also on track, thanks to the funding
“The Series B funding will help us reach millions of people across the US and internationally, and support them in improving their health,” Kuech said. “We believe good health is a fundamental right, and it does not need to be so complicated,” he concluded.