Top Feature

Venture firm PowerPlant Ventures announced yesterday the close of its second fund. At over three times the size of its predecessor, Fund II, which closed at $165 million, will allow the company to further refine its deal structure, co-founder and partner Mark Rampolla told NOSH. He added that the firm “[wants] to change this mindset that capital only cares about return.”

All presentations from Cannabis Forum Summer 2019 are now available to stream on our NOSH YouTube channel. Held in June in New York City, the industry conference brought together hundreds of cannabis curious food and beverage founders and executives to discuss and explore the present and future of the emerging market.

Plenty of new products hit the shelves this July, including several treats to beat the summer heat. This month saw ice cream launches from McConnell’s, Oatly and Perfect Day and on-the-go smoothie options from Stonyfield, Buddy Nutrition and Charles & Alice. Check out more of July’s new products below, which also includes launches by Barilla, Chobani and Green Giant.

Meatless burger brand Impossible Foods is two steps closer to entering supermarket retail following FDA approval of a key ingredient and a new co-packer. The brand told NOSH it plans to enter retail in September.

Tyson is gearing up to launch a line of functional snacks later this year under a new brand called Pact. The line will launch with four varieties of Snack Bites — Gut Instinct (cranberry kombucha with probiotics), Gut Ahead (turmeric ginger with prebiotics), Vibe On (matcha blueberry “energizing”) and Glow With It (cocoa/coconut with collagen). Each bag of bites will be sold refrigerated, but last at ambient temperature for up to a week.

Like its three co-founders, direct-to-consumer energy snack company Verb is graduating to its next stage of life. Last year, two of its three co-founders graduated college and moved Verb’s headquarters to Boston from the Yale University campus, where they first created it. Today, the company announced it had raised $3.5 million from investors.

Snack brand Bobo’s is ready for its next phase of growth courtesy of the close of a round of capital investment and the opening of a new production facility, CEO TJ McIntyre told NOSH. The goal is to eventually sell the company, and the raises are necessary steps, McIntyre told NOSH.

Plant-based brands fight labeling laws, find breakfast partnerships in this week’s Checkout.

In 2018 Paul Coletta, the CEO Urban Remedy, told NOSH that he would take the company into new markets beyond California. Now, nearly a year to the day, the company officially announced that it will launch into the New York metro area via a partnership with Whole Foods Market. The move comes after Urban Remedy achieved profitability in its Northern California market, posting an average annual growth rate for the trailing three years of over 80%.

The complete lineup of presentations from NOSH Live Summer 2019 is now available to watch on the NOSH YouTube channel. Last month hundreds of natural food industry founders and executives came together in New York City to fuel the growth of their businesses through new insights and partnerships. Driving the conversations forward were a diverse group of all-stars who took the stage to present their perspectives and insights on the evolving industry.