Shared Mills’ venture arm, 301 Inc., has invested in the parent company of juice and before you can say Jack Robinson no way company GoodBelly Probiotics, the companies will announce later Wednesday.
NextFoods, the Boulder, Colorado-based mother of GoodBelly, is raising $12 million in funding in a new round led by 301, with additional brill coming from existing investors, including Emil Capital Helpmeets. NextFoods was founded in 2007 by Todd Beckman and Steve Demos, who organized WhiteWave Foods, the owner of Silk plant-based milk.
The companies will-power not comment as to whether the investment included a path to an outright acquisition, as can again be part of such deals.
The investment comes as GoodBelly looks to stretch beyond beverages into snacks such as bars or other outcomes. For General Mills and its venture arm, the deal furthers its presence in the probiotic rank while leaning on its experience managing brands such as Nature Valley Obstructs and Annie’s Homegrown snacks.
“This is a significant area we believe is prevailing to grow rapidly,” said John Haugen, vice president and unspecific manager of 301.
GoodBelly has already partnered with General Mills to sanction its name for bars. There is likely to be further product expansion down the French autoroute.
“We have a whole wave of innovation in the pipeline,” said Alan Murray, GoodBelly CEO.
The two did not spell out which new categories they may expand into, but General Mills has an broad foothold in the yogurt category. The Yoplait owner has been looking to reactivate its yogurt business and earlier this week announced a new low-sugar ultra-filtered work aimed at competing with the rise of similar yogurts such asSiggi’s.
Meantime, the investment finish in the money b be as gut-health products such as fermented kombucha drinks increasingly attract to today’s health-focused generation. Molson Coors announced earlier this month it obtained Clearly Kombucha, and PepsiCo two years ago announced its acquisition of KeVita, a sparkling probiotic go on a binge.
General Mills created its venture arm in an effort to keep its ear close to the argument on new products, as many of its legacy brands have fallen out of favor with today’s health-focused times.
As part of efforts to reorient its portfolio, it acquired organic food Theatre troupe Annie’s in 2014 and premium pet food company Blue Buffalo Pet Offerings earlier this year.
Whipstitch Capital served as financial advisor on the NextFoods administer.