Weekly Headlines, But first Marissa’s Onboard + SV Portcos Roundtable Are 🔥🔥 7.09

by [albert](/content/author/albert/ "Posts by albert"/index.html)

Hi everyone, not every Friday is as special as this one as Springdale Ventures will officially onboard our third General Partner, Marissa Epstein, next week, making us one of the 10% of VC firms that have two more female general partners! I am delighted to share the announcement with a list of media outlets today! Welcome, Marissa 🙂

In other news, Springdale is also hosting its first-ever roundtable chat this afternoon with executives from our high-performing portcos, including Caraway, Atlas Coffee Club, KOS, about customer acquisition and other hot-button topics within CPG and e-commerce. Thank you Nate, Scott, and the entire rockstar team for putting this together! Back to weekly consumers headlines:

• Chobani has confidentially filed for an IPO with a valuation may exceed $10 billion. The company, which has factories in New York, Idaho and Australia, has not yet determined the number of shares it plans to sell or the price range for its proposed offering.

• Dole Foods has filed paperwork for an IPO. The produce giant said in February it would file for an IPO in the U.S. as a condition of its planned merger with Ireland-based Total Produce. According to the F-1 filing, the merger is planned to be completed later this month.

• Zomato LTD., the Indian food delivery startup backed by Jack Ma’s Ant Group Co., plans to raise 93.75 billion rupees ($1.3 billion) in an initial public offering, boosting its target by about 14% as demand in its home market rises.

• Cellular agriculture startup Aleph Farms has announced a US$105 million Series B funding round today led by L Catterton’s Growth Fund. The Israeli cultivated meat makers will use the capital to scale up its manufacturing capabilities. In addition, the company says it will expand its operations internationally ahead of its initial market launch in 2022.

• Beyond Meat has launched its latest plant-based chicken tenders made with peas and faba beans at nearly 400 restaurants across the U.S.

• Meati Foods, which makes whole-cut meat alternatives from mycelium, raised $50 million in new funding in what it said in a release is an oversubscribed investment round. The Colorado-based company plans to use the money to finish building an 80,000-square-foot plant, which will be used to make products for a planned commercial launch next year. The company also plans to double its employee base in preparation for the launch.

• Livestream commerce platform Popshop Live has closed a Series A of around $20 million at a valuation of about $100 million, led by Benchmark, with participation also from TQ Ventures (Andrew Marks, Schuster Tanger and Scooter Braun’s firm), Mantis VC (The Chainsmokers’ VC vehicle), Access Industries and SV Angel as well previous backers Floodgate, Abstract Ventures and Long Journey Ventures.

• Seth Goldman founded Honest Tea two decades ago. Now, he’s betting on mushrooms and snacks with Eat the Change, his latest startup.

• Sustainable and traceable plant-based food manufacturer The Single Origin Food Co. has closed a US$1.1 million seed funding round. The company has developed a plant-based honey substitute launched via Sprouts Farmers Market. Now, the capital raised will be directed toward expanding the product’s rollout across other U.S. stores.

• Pharmative, subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. has acquired direct-to-consumer women’s health brand Uqora.

• Glossier Inc., the digital-first beauty company, today announced that it has raised $80 million in Series E funding. Lone Pine Capital led the round, along with participation from existing investors Forerunner Ventures, Index Ventures, IVP, Sequoia Capital, and Thrive Capital. The fully direct-to-consumer business will continue to scale its online and offline channels globally as it builds the world’s number-one destination for beauty discovery.

Have a great weekend!