Investment

While Steve Savage has been bringing environmentally friendly brands to the table for decades, it wasn’t until recently that they were the kind you could eat. The former CEO and founder of Eco-Products, Savage recently focused his attention on consumer products, backing better-for you brands under the corporate name 1908 Brands. But cleaning up in the food aisle has been more arduous than Savage expected, and as a result, 1908 has decided to take some time to digest.

The company announced Wednesday that it had received $2 million from previous investor Advantage Capital Agribusiness Partners, which will be used to help the brand move beyond the baby aisle with other “tummy friendly,” shelf-stable products that can appeal to older children.

Investment platform CircleUp has new offerings designed to service specific institutional clients and entrepreneurs who want more privacy around their capital raise. The new offering has gradually rolled out over the past year.

KEEN Growth Capital told NOSH the firm has obtained a “significant” partnership interest in both O’Dang Hummus and The Jersey Tomato Co. The fund, led by managing partners Jonathan Smiga and serial entrepreneur Jerry Bello, is a group that invests in early-stage entrepreneurs. KEEN did not disclose financial terms for either deal.

Toosum Healthy Foods announced last week its acquisition of KUTOA, a non-GMO, vegan nutrition bar company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Toosum founder Peter Guyer told NOSH that Grassia will remain “very involved” with the business and will have minority ownership. Currently Garcia is focused on helping the two brands come together and continuing to build customer relationships with new and existing retailers.

Capital can come in many forms. At some stages, cold hard cash has its role, but some, entrepreneurs are looking to investors who can also bring social capital and strategic advice to their companies. Darren Rovell, a sports business reporter at ESPN, sought to meet that need when he brought together a group of 25 high net worth investors and family offices to make up his new investment group, Tastemaker Capital Partners.

Asking the average consumer how their fish gets into stores likely results in blank stares– and that’s only one of the issues facing the seafood industry. Many seafood companies are working to revamp the category’s product offerings to better reel in consumers. But Fishpeople CEO Ken Plasse said he thinks his seafood-focused CPG brand and supplier may be able to provide some extra bait with the company’s Tuesday announcement of a $12M round of funding.

Tuesday morning, ECRM announced the acquisition of tech company RangeMe, a software that allows buyers to discover new CPG products based on specific criteria.

In this NOSH Voices column, Jake Calaba, the Head of Institutional Business at CircleUp, examines recent M&A trends and asks the question, “What’s happening in consumer markets for investors and businesses?”

Asian-inspired food brand Nona Lim announced Monday the closing of a $3 million round of funding. Led by Harbinger Ventures, the round also included Echo Capital Group, Navama & Kouffman LCC, CircleUp and Cambridge Companies SPG as investors