Carol Ortenberg

Last week, Field Roast Grain Meat Co. was acquired for $120 million by protein producer Maple Leaf Foods. Since the announcement, the response from employees and consumers has been mixed, resulting in a promise from Field Roast to remain committed to the vegan diet.

What if there was a technology that could not only offer consumers more choices in their consumption habits, but even quite possibly change the world? In bringing on an experienced team of industry experts as advisors and, in some cases, investors, technology company HeatGenie — which produces small heaters that can be used to warm food or beverage products — is betting that they’ve found just that.

Snack food brand Vegan Rob’s is bringing one of the hottest beverage trends, kombucha, to the snack set with the launch of its newest product, Kombuchabar.

Yesterday, protein-centric brand Powerful announced the close of a $4 million round. The capital is a combination of equity investment from River Hollow Partners and asset based lending (ABL) financing through Gerber Finance. Currently the Miami, Florida-based producer of Powerful Yogurt and Powerful drinks, as well as an emerging product, high-protein Powerful Oatmeal, is in over 10,000 points of sale, including select Walmart, Target and Kroger stores.

Fast growing, high-protein, low-calorie ice cream producer Halo Top is popping out of pints and into the mall with the launch of a new scoop shop in Los Angeles, California. With its cult following, the brand hopes to provide its legion of fans a more experiential way to “indulge” with ice cream.

For every never-before-seen, patented piece of technology, there are numerous food brands developing well-branded, delicious versions of classic recipes that have been around for decades or longer. Investors are increasingly taking note and helping these brands grow to the next step of their development.

Can collagen move from its fitness fan-base to mainstream? Vital Proteins and its new investor CAVU Venture Partners thinks so. Yesterday the the “collagen-boosting nutrition” brand announced a $19 million investment from CAVU to support its rapid growth.

CircleUp is hitching its growth fund to Helio. The online fundraising platform today announced the launch of a $125 million venture capital fund that will incorporate the proprietary machine learning platform as a tool to help guide investment in early-stage consumer and retail companies.

Over the past few years, center store brands have been hurting –canned foods in particular. Given consumers penchant for “fresher” foods, soup producers, including CPG leaders Campbells and Progresso, have been forced to come up with new lines to appeal to shoppers: First Campbell’s with its release of two lines of refrigerated soup and now Progresso with its recent launch of an organic canned soup line.

Last week global food and beverage company Nestle finalized its purchase of plant-based food producer, Sweet Earth. Founded in 2011 by the former global VP of marketing for Calvin Klein and former CMO of Pepsi, the company offers over 50 frozen and refrigerated products, all using a variety of plant-protein sources, including beans, chickpeas, seeds, nuts and seitan.