The Venture Codex

Participated · Convertible Note · Jan 2021

Founded in 2018, San Diego-based BlueNalu produces premium seafood directly from fish cells, eliminating the need to harvest wild fish. Its first commercial product is cell-cultivated bluefin tuna toro, which the company aims to launch through premium food-service partners once regulatory approvals are secured. The firm collaborates closely with regulators, chefs, distributors and strategic partners worldwide to build a scalable, responsible cultivated-seafood supply chain. Proceeds from the latest financing will fund U.S. and international regulatory engagement, initial commercial-launch activities and manufacturing-process optimization. BlueNalu also plans to deepen strategic partnerships across the value chain to support disciplined commercialization. Agronomics’ investment lifts its fully diluted ownership to 12.96%, giving BlueNalu a committed long-term backer with deep cellular-agriculture expertise. Although revenue figures are not yet disclosed, management positions the company as a leader in the emerging cultivated-seafood category.

Participated · Equity · Oct 2020

LIVEKINDLY Collective is a parent company and rollup behind a family of plant-based and vegetarian alternative-protein food brands. It was founded by food-industry veterans including Kees Kruythoff, Roger Lienhard, Jodi Monelle, Mick Van Ettinger and Aldo Uva (Uva left the company in January 2021). The Collective has become one of the largest plant-based food companies by funding. The company said it would use the $335 million to expand into the U.S. and China and to power additional acquisitions, partnerships and investments in plant-based foods. Founding investors and company leaders have framed the business as mission-driven and expect momentum in private and public markets. Previous investors include S2G Ventures and Rabo Corporate Investments. LIVEKINDLY Collective is a multi-brand plant-based food company that owns and operates the entire value chain for its portfolio brands. Its brands include The Fry Family Food Co., LikeMeat, and Oumph!, with products currently available in select markets across Europe, Africa and Australia. The company operates a mission-driven lifestyle and media platform, LIVEKINDLY, to inspire and educate consumers. LIVEKINDLY plans to increase production capacity and accelerate a 2021 nationwide U.S. launch of its portfolio brands. It is developing new plant-based products, including chicken and eggs, to address growing global consumer demand for meat alternatives. The company was founded by Blue Horizon Corporation to accelerate a shift toward a healthier, more sustainable food system.

Led · Series B · Mar 2019

Kuli Kuli is an Oakland, CA-based mission-driven company building a business around the superfood moringa. Led by founder & CEO Lisa Curtis, the company sells Moringa Energy Bars, Pure Organic Moringa Powder, Organic Moringa Green Smoothie Mixes, and Moringa Green Energy shots. Over the past five years it has built a sustainable supply chain of small moringa farmers and is selling products in 7,000 stores. The company has begun selling moringa as an ingredient to other food companies in addition to its consumer products. It intends to use the Series B proceeds to launch a moringa ingredient business while continuing to scale its moringa powder, bars, and shots business. Griffith Foods plans to include moringa in its range of ingredient offerings for foodservice customers, processors, retailers and distributors across 30 countries. Kuli Kuli commercializes moringa into consumer products — including bars, powders, tea and energy shots — using proprietary processing technology. The company was founded in 2011 and sources moringa from women farmers in West Africa, South America and the Caribbean, reporting support for 800 women farmers and the planting of 200,000 moringa trees. Kuli Kuli sells through retail (in 3,000 stores, including natural food stores and Whole Foods) and direct-to-consumer channels, and has used crowdfunding and alternative finance (Indiegogo, AgFunder, a Kiva loan) in earlier stages. Management plans new product launches in 2017, initially selling online before rolling out to brick-and-mortar retailers. The business positions moringa as a high-protein, nutrient-dense ingredient and emphasizes both nutrition and farmer-support impact. The recent capital raise is intended primarily to expand distribution into additional retail channels. Kuli Kuli develops and markets moringa-based food products, promoting the nutrient-dense plant as a global nutrition tool. The company is led by founder Lisa Curtis, a returned Peace Corps volunteer from Niger. Kuli Kuli is expanding moringa cultivation in Haiti and other locations and positioning products toward health-conscious consumers (the article cites a "yoga mom" market). Financially, Kuli Kuli previously raised a $500,000 seed round on AgFunder in 2014 and has taken additional funding via Indiegogo crowdfunding. Most recently it was peer-selected through Village Capital’s three-month agriculture accelerator to receive an investment. The accelerator included multi-day workshops in Louisville and New Orleans and concluded with a Venture Forum on January 27. Kuli Kuli processes and distributes moringa-based products, including snack bars, supplement powders and tea, sourced from a women’s cooperative in Ghana. The company expanded U.S. retail distribution to about 500 stores from roughly 30–40 stores in just over a year and reports stronger-than-typical online sales. CEO Lisa Curtis, who discovered moringa while in the Peace Corps, frames the business as a way to bring economic opportunity to parts of the developing world. Kuli Kuli is expanding operations into Haiti through a grant from the Clinton Foundation and a partnership with the Smallholder Farmers Alliance, and plans new product launches there. Financially, the company previously raised $50,000 via IndieGoGo and $500,000 on AgFunder, and is currently marketing a $500,000 seed raise with $100,000 already committed. Most existing backers have been angel investors and high-net-worth individuals, and the company expects venture capital interest ahead of a planned Series A in spring 2016. Kuli Kuli commercializes moringa as a powder supplement and as health-food bars, marketing the plant as a nutrient-dense alternative to kale. The company is already in roughly 150 stores across the U.S. and sources its moringa through a women’s cooperative in Northern Ghana. Founder Lisa Curtis, a former Peace Corps volunteer, started the business to create market demand that could boost West African agricultural economies. Kuli Kuli donates 15% of its sales to nonprofits that work to cultivate moringa and says increased cultivation will help local communities. The startup emphasizes moringa’s nutritional profile in its marketing, and it aims to scale manufacturing and expand sales and marketing. It plans to use recent funding to build out the team and enable larger production runs.

Led · Seed · Sep 2018

ReGrained is a San Francisco-based mission-driven ingredient platform and packaged goods company led by CEO Daniel Kurzrock. The company leverages patent-pending processing technology to convert food manufacturing byproducts into nutritious ingredients and consumer products. Over the past year it launched its first consumer product line, SuperGrain+ bars, and introduced first-to-market compostable packaging. ReGrained closed a $2.5M seed financing and plans to use the funds to scale its proprietary processing technology and commercialize its ingredient business. The financing and recent product launches position the company to expand both its ingredient platform and packaged-goods presence.