PowerPlant Ventures (PowerPlantVC.com), investors in Beyond Meat, Thrive Market, Ripple Nutrition and Apeel Sciences, has announced its second fund to grow plant-based food and food-tech companies. Fund II, which closed at 165 million, is more than three times more than its predecessor.
PowerPlant Ventures is a Los Angeles-based venture capital firm investing in “revolutionary plant-based food and beverage, foodservice and food-tech companies” such as Beyond Meat. The firm announces today it exceeded its $100 million target and successfully closed on $165 million for PPV Fund II, L.P. The new fund has already completed investments in Vive Organic, the category leader in wellness shots and Your Super, a hyper-growth DTC plant based nutrition company.
The new fund will further PPV’s mission to help build a better food system by providing capital and expertise to visionary entrepreneurs at the intersection of plant-based food and groundbreaking technology.
PPV’s team is comprised of industry leaders including Mark Rampolla, the founder of ZICO Beverages, a pioneer of today’s $8 billion coconut water category acquired by The Coca Cola Company in 2013; Kevin Boylan and T.K. Pillan, co-founders of Veggie Grill, the largest plant-centric restaurant company in the U.S.; and Dan Gluck, co-founder of Health Warrior, a superfood brand purchased by PepsiCo in 2018.
“We are in the early innings of a major food revolution. Upstart insurgent brands are responding to changing consumer demands at a much faster pace than the major incumbents,” said Rampolla. “As a result, they have been capturing a significant share of the growth in the sector,” Gluck explained.
“Many of these same companies are leveraging technology to improve the efficiency of their supply chain, routes to market, marketing and product innovation,” said Pillan. Boylan concluded: “We are capitalizing on the $5 trillion global food sector amidst disruption.”
