Upcycled Dried Snacks Company RIND Closes $6.1 Million Series A Led By Valor Siren Ventures

New York-based food company RIND that produces dried snacks with upcycled whole fruit has raised $6.1 million in series A funding after seeing its revenue grow nearly five-fold year-over-year in 2020, and anticipates its annual sales to triple with the launch of a new chips line in later 2021.

The funding is led by Valor Siren Ventures (VSV), which was formed by Valor Equity Partners in 2019 with a $100 million anchor investment from Starbucks

SBUX
, with additional participation from RIND’s existing investor Melitas Ventures.

VSV’s partner and fund manager Jon Shulkin said in a statement: “In a short period of time, the RIND team has built an exciting and purpose-driven brand. 

“By crafting highly nutritious and functional snacks that help reduce food waste, we believe RIND has the potential to build a great platform that is well aligned to consumer preferences for healthy, sustainable snacks. We look forward to working with RIND to help fuel their growth.”

‘Keep It Reel’ With Fruit Peel 

The newly raised capital is expected to enable RIND to expand its teams across sales, marketing, and operations, as well as increase production capacity through additional supply chain partners and manufacturing technologies, according to founder and CEO Matt Weiss.

Weiss recently told me how RIND “keeps it real” by providing minimally processed whole fruit snacks with peels, while still facing a unique set of challenges, including natural variations in the fruit from different growing conditions and seasons.

“We view our [upcoming] crispy fruit chip line as highly complementary to our core chewy dried snacks,” he said. “RIND Chips will function as more of a fast snack with greater shareability and versatility,” which can also pair with dips and craft cocktails. 

“They will also differ from free-dried offerings currently on the market in our use of more unique fruits, greater functional benefits, such as more vitamin C and fiber than other chips on the market, and clean snacking experience without powdery mess.”

RIND has been closely monitoring consumer market trends since its inception about four years ago, and the company believes it can leverage the nutritional benefits of the fruit peel to eventually create a platform brand, effectively targeting heath- and environmentally-conscious shoppers.

This strategy has allowed RIND to continue accelerating during the pandemic when consumers are increasingly looking for immunity-boosting products — the company’s e-commerce sales, both from Amazon

AMZN
and direct-to-consumer site, have grown four-fold year-to-date compared to the entire 2020.

Weiss stresses how the omni-channel approach is pivotal to maximizing brand awareness, and how it’s urgent for CPG companies today to sell on emerging platforms, including Hungryroot and Imperfect Foods, as well as curated corporate snacking platforms, such as SnackMagic, convenient delivery partners, such as FreshDirect and Good Eggs. 

“In a post-Covid world, we have made it a priority to partner with key accounts across all customer channels to maximize RIND’s presence and discovery potential,” he said.

Upcycled Foods Gain Momentum

RIND Snacks’ successful fundraising coincides with mounting investor interest in upcycled food, which was formally defined by the Upcycled Food Association in 2019 as those that “use ingredients that otherwise would not have gone to human consumption, are procured and produced using verifiable supply chains, and have a positive impact on the environment”. 

Emerging brands, including The Ugly Co. and Renewal Mill, are all quickly gaining traction among consumers supported by fresh funding. 

Ben Moore, the founder of The Ugly Co. that uses discarded fruit from farms in Central California to make all-natural snacks without added ingredients, believes upcycling is the future of CPG as it marries the consumer demand for sustainably sourced products and farmers’ desire for their fruits to be consumed more efficiently.

“It is always sad for us farmers to see perfectly edible fruit get tossed out, and prior to The Ugly Co., there hasn’t been a comprehensive solution that could account for the nearly two to four million pounds of fruit that was wasted daily within a 15-mile radius of my hometown Kingsburg, CA.” Moore recently told me.

Since launching The Ugly Co. in 2018, Moore’s team has helped prevent 50,000 pounds and 250,000 pounds of fruit from becoming wasted in 2019 and 2020, respectively, and it’s on track to save six million pounds in 2021.

“There needs to be significant investment in upcycled brands and processing infrastructure,” Moore said, noting how The Ugly Co. has raised $700,000 in total from investors, including PE firm Value Creation Strategies, to date.

“The food industry is not currently equipped to make full use of the ugly fruit created because the demand for upcycled products has not existed prior to now,” he added. “Investing in upcycling will help companies like ours, not only continue to feed people, but it will help make our planet a cleaner and healthier place to live.”