The Checkout: Sundial Foods Closes $4 Million Seed Round; Stryve Reports Third Quarter Earnings

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Sundial Foods Closes $4 Million Seed Round

Plant-based alternative meat company Sundial Foods announced today it has closed a $4 million seed funding round that includes investment from Nestlé, Food Labs, Clear Current Capital and SOSV/IndieBio, among others.

According to Sundial co-founder and CEO Jessica Schwabach, Sundial will use the new capital to “upscale work” on its novel process in order to launch its first product in the market by spring 2022. The California-based company makes whole cut, vegan-friendly, alt-meat chicken wings and said in a press release it will also use the new funds to expand its team.

“Our goal is to create an experience that’s not only nutritious but genuinely enjoyable and worthy of being center-of-plate for the consumer,” Schwabach told NOSH over email. “That’s why we have the plant-based skin for that extra crispiness and texture, and even the bone so consumers can fully enjoy and experience a plate of wings with everything but the animal.”

Sundial’s alt-chicken — made with eight ingredients including water, chickpeas, and sunflower oil — is meant to imitate a conventional chicken wing by including different textures that simulate muscle, skin and bone.

“Making a super tasty alt-chicken wing is only half of it,” said Po Bronson, General Partner at SOSV and Managing Director of IndieBio in a press release. “During the IndieBio program, the Sundial team really focused on automating their production and manufacturing method, where they had several breakthroughs. They’ll make it to market faster than any IndieBio company in history.”

Sundial is set to begin production of its plant-based chicken at the Rutgers Food Innovation Center in New Jersey in preparation of its upcoming launch at U.S. restaurants by spring 2022. Last year Sundial participated in Nestlé’s R&D Accelerator program, which resulted in a co-branded product with the company’s plant-based food brand Garden Gourmet that was test-launched at 40 retail stores in Switzerland.

Stryve Reports Third Quarter Earnings

Better-for-you snack company Stryve announced its third quarter earnings results this week, highlighting that the company plans to expand partnerships with Costco and Walmart by early Q1 2022 and reported net sales increased 104.6% to $9.1 million during the quarter. The company attributed the growth in part to significant distribution expansion, including the addition of about 2,600 Speedway and 1,400 Circle K locations to its total store count for its Stryve, Kalahari and Vacadillos air-dried meat snack brands.

Additionally, the company will enter the multi-vendor-mailer (MVM) program with Costco, guaranteeing on-shelf placement for Stryve at all locations nationwide for “at least a limited time” in 2022.

“The opportunity with Costco next year not only confirms that our products and strategy are on point with consumers and retailers alike, but also represents an enormous opportunity to drive trial with target consumers in a condensed period of time,” CEO and co-founder Joe Oblas said in a press release.

Stryve reported net losses increased $4.3 million to $8.7 million in the third quarter compared to a $4.4 million net loss in Q3 2020. The increase was attributed to the rise of selling and operational expenses. The company also reaffirmed its annual net sales guidance of $31 million to $34 million for this year.

“We are very pleased to have more than doubled our top-line and gross profit during the third quarter compared to the year-ago period, reflecting robust gains across our wholesale and e-commerce channels as we successfully drove distribution, awareness, trial, and repeat purchases of our healthy air-dried meat snacking products,” Olbas said in the release. “Given our current trajectory, we remain confident in our prior annual net sales guidance of $31 million to $34 million in 2021, which would represent an increase of 82% to 100% compared to 2020.”

The company also noted its recently launched Collagen and Bone Broth product lines are expected to launch on Amazon and at select retailers in early 2022 and it’s working on creating additional products to launch within the category next year.

Jameela Jamil Joins Oathaus as Investor and Social Impact Advisor

Oat-based granola butter brand Oathaus announced Thursday that actress and social activist Jameela Jamil has joined the company as an investor and Social Impact Advisor. Jamil founded the mental health and body neutrality platform I Weigh in 2018 and shares a similar mission with Oathaus founder Ali Bonar, who started the company as a part of her own eating disorder recovery.

“For many years I was terrified of food, so I built this brand to prioritize the emotional and community value of the eating experience and most importantly, to make sure others know they’re not alone,” Bonar said in a press release.

Bonar launched Oathaus in 2018 after struggling to find a nut-spread she could digest, noting that years of binging and restricting her food intake led to digestive issues. The brand’s flagship Granola Butter line is top eight allergen-free and made with ingredients such as oats, maple syrup, flax seed and ginger.

“It has always been I Weigh’s mission to help people around the world reclaim all the wasted energy that often comes along with disordered eating,” Jamil said in a press release. “I love the product, Ali’s story, and Oat Haus’ mission, so getting involved with the company in a more meaningful way made a lot of sense for I Weigh.”