Blue Stripes Urban Cacao

For a vast number of chocolate makers, this year has been anything but sweet. Amidst surging cocoa prices – which are still on a wild roller coaster ride – conglomerates like The Hershey Company and Mondelēz International have resorted to passing price hikes on to consumers to reduce the impact on their balance sheets, while investors have expressed increased interest in high-tech startups producing alt-cocoa products with methods like fermentation and plant cell culture.

Blue Stripes, a purveyor of sustainable cacao fruit-based food and beverage products, announced today it has raised $20 million in a Series B funding round intended to help the brand advance its whole cacao process technologies, develop new products and expand distribution.

In this distribution roundup: Blue Stripes Urban Cacao adds Whole Foods as retail partner; Moonshot Snacks launches nationwide at Target; Vermont Tortilla Company expands to Sprouts; Mary’s Gone ‘Kookies’ roll out to a range of new retailers and more.