Cash Flow: Plant-based Funding Soars, Vault Raises $30m For Men’s Wellness, Investors Bet On Probiotics

The game-changing investment, acquisition and funding news impacting the industry and driving the business of wellness this week.

The Livekindly Co. wins $200m to launch plant-based food collective

Media platform Livekindly has become part of the newly formed LiveKindly Co., a “collective” of food brands that aims to become the largest player in the plant-based food space.

 The company, founded by Roger Lienhard — an early investor in Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, and backed by Swiss investment firm Blue Horizon — has raised $200m from multiple investors to create plant-based food products such as chicken substitutes.

The new firm has already acquired a majority stake in South Africa’s The Fry Family Food Co, a majority holding in German firm LikeMeat, and a stake in plant-based ingredient maker Puris.

Vault Raises $30m to take on men’s wellness market

Men’s health and wellness company Vault has raised $30 million in Series A funding to offer personalised healthcare to men.

The startup, which offers at-home visits. virtual follow-ups and treatments delivered to customers’ homes, aims to provide men with an easier way to identify and treat the symptoms of low testosterone. It sits alongside a growing cohort of telemedicine companies like Hims, Ro and Manual, which are all looking to disrupt the men’s wellness category.

The funding, from Tiger Capital Group, Declaration Capital and Redesign Health, will be used to reach more potential patients and expand to across the US.

Zbiotics secures $2.3m to fuel development of probiotics

ZBiotics, the world’s first maker of genetically engineered probiotics, announced today that it has raised a $2.3m seed round led by Oyster Ventures. This brings its total funding to date to $5.7m. 

Developed by CEO and co-founder Zack Abbott, Ph.D., the company’s flagship product breaks down acetaldehyde, an unwanted byproduct of alcohol, associated with the day-after effects of drinking. The startup, which launched in 2019, will use the funds to fuel product development including developing new probiotic solutions, hiring new executives and driving sales growth.

Allplants smashes the UK’s record for biggest ever vegan crowdfunding round

Plant-based meal delivery company allplants has completed a £3.4 million funding round on investment platform Seedrs, attracting over 1,800 investors from its loyal customer base in addition to VC firm Octopus Ventures. 

The funds from the raise will be used to develop new food categories and serve over 60,000 meals a week from its production kitchen – a newly-opened 20,000 square feet dedicated plant-based kitchen in London, said the brand.

By 2025, the startup also aims to develop distribution partnerships and launch in new markets in Europe and North America.