NUGGS Parent Company Simulate Sells To Ahimsa

Simulate, the producer of alternative protein brand NUGGS, announced it has sold to The Ahimsa Companies via a combination of cash and equity at an undisclosed valuation, as reported by Axios late last week. The deal is part of a rollup of plant-based brands and follows Ahimsa’s acquisition of Wicked Kitchen in June.

New York-based Simulate raised a $50 million Series B round in 2021 and at a time was valued at over $250 million. Its funding totals over $60 million since it was co-founded in 2017 by Ben Pasternak and Sam Terris. Simulate’s investors include Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian and his venture firm SEVEN SEVEN SIX, Chris and Crystal Sacca, Imaginary Ventures, Day One Ventures, NOMO Ventures and frozen food company McCain Foods.

“We’ve spent the last year searching extensively for the right mission-aligned partner to help push Simulate’s technology forward. We found our match in Ahimsa,” Terris said in a LinkedIn post sharing the news. “Feeling especially grateful today for our team (past and present), the Board, our investors, and NUGGS fans everywhere.”

According to the Axios report, the brand opted for an acquisition over raising additional capital, with the report noting it would have needed another significant round of investment to continue.

In the past year, the company also saw a shakeup to its leadership team when, in December 2023, Pasternak passed the CEO torch to Terris and assumed the role of executive chairman. Ahimsa, a newly-formed plant-based-focused conglomerate, marked its debut with the acquisition of Wicked Kitchen and a month later added a plant-based production facility from Gathered Foods, which was the sole producer of Wicked Kitchen-owned alt-seafood brand Good Catch.

Simulate products have previously been manufactured byMcCain Foods. The food-tech-focused company has made significant investments in its processes and released the second iteration of its alternative chicken nuggets platform, dubbed NUGGS 2.0, in 2020. According to its website it is also innovating with other alt-chicken formats including a chicken breast, chicken tenders, spicy nuggets and dino nuggets.

The brand has secured partnerships with Walmart, Sam’s Club, Target, Whole Foods, Stop & Shop and more and in 2021 said its total retail footprint spanned over 3,000 points of distribution between the U.S. and Canada; but consumers report difficulties locating them consistently at retail.

Terris told Vegconomist that the company has been “heads down on R&D” as it works on a new fiber-spun technology and readies its chicken breast product to be scaled up in addition to other whole-muscle formats. In addition to innovating with its food tech, the company also expanded into foodservice following its last funding round.

While the deal provides another signal that the plant-based space is heading towards consolidation, it also shows that brands that were able to secure early support may be successful in finding alternative modes to scale up their missions. Similarly, Wicked raised upwards of $34 million and had a footprint spanning 100,000 doors at its peak, prior to discontinuing low-performing product lines and selling to Ahimsa.

The news comes as many other food tech-heavy plant-based businesses, including most recently, Motif Foodworks, have closed up shop. According to Axios, Ahimsa has a couple of more deals in its pipeline with another expected to be announced next month.

Matt Tullman, CEO of Ahimsa Companies, did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.