Cash Flow: Sweetgreen’s IPO, Anthony Joshua Backs Love Hemp, Eight Sleep Bags Strategic Investment

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

Kindra raises $4.5m for menopause brand

Kindra, a modern wellness brand for menopause essentials, has closed a $4.5m seed funding round led by the Female Founders Fund. Primetime Partners, Anne and Susan Wojcicki, Katie Couric Media, The Community Fund, and H Ventures also participated in the round.

The new capital will be used to drive the continued growth and expansion of the business, and marks an important moment in a category that has long been overlooked

Salad chain Sweetgreen files for IPO

US salad chain Sweetgreen has confidentiality filed for a US IPO. The company, which was valued at $1.78bn in January following a funding round led by Durable Capital Partners, currently operates 120 locations in the US.

It has not disclosed any details about the size of the proposed IPO.

Anthony Joshua OBE backs CBD brand Love Hemp

Boxer Anthony Joshua has become a key shareholder in Love Hemp — one of the UK’s leading CBD and hemp product suppliers. 

As well as becoming an international ambassador for the brand, Love Hemp and Joshua will collaborate on a licenced range of CBD products for athletes, championing the company’s development in its work to position CBD as an internationally recognised, certified product for athletes.

Hertility Health secures £4.2m to revolutionise reproductive health

Hertility Health, a women’s health startup revolutionising the world of reproductive health, has secured £4.2m in seed funding led by LocalGlobe — one of the UK’s most prolific seed investors — and Venrex.

The investment will be used to expand its ability to provide accessible and tailored diagnostics in women’s health, and next-generation advancements through at-home testing.

Eight Sleep announces strategic investment to revolutionise sleep fitness movement

Sleep fitness company Eight Sleep has raised equity from notable investors including Alex Rodriguez, Kevin Hart and Sophia Amoruso.

The smart mattress maker has also been selected as one of the companies to receive funds via a $100m initiative to support and build a community of Miami-based technology startups.

The fresh capital will be used to accelerate growth.

MyYogaTeacher raises $2m to connect to expand its reach

On-demand yoga platform MyYogaTeacher, has raised $3m in seed funding led by TSVC, with participation from the M&A advisory firm Leonis Partners, Weekend Fund, All Access Fund and Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments.

The round follows a spike in the app’s membership, which drove a 15x increase in revenue over the last year.

According to crunchbase, the startup expects to triple its growth metrics by the end of the year and will then begin to focus on key segments of potential customers, including those that don’t fit into the studio model, those seeking relief and recovery from pain.

RIND closes $6.1m funding round led by Valor Siren Ventures

Functional and sustainable whole fruit snacks brand RIND, has announced the closing of a $6.1m Series A capital raise led by Valor Siren Ventures — an early-stage investor in sustainability, food, food technology, retail, and retail technology. 

RIND, which launched in 2018, grew revenues five-fold in 2020 and expects to more than triple sales this year while expanding its retail presence to over 3,000 locations. In addition, RIND has won placement across several leading D2C omnichannel platforms. This has resulted in best-in-class partnerships with the likes of Whole Foods Market, Wegmans, Meijer, CVS, Hungryroot, Imperfect Foods, Erewhon and Foxtrot.

Beachbody invests in B2B music licensing service

Health and wellness platform Beachbody has made a strategic minority investment in Feed Media Group, the company behind Feed.fm, the leading B2B music licensing subscription service.

The deal will see Beachbody able to elevate its fitness platforms by implementing an efficient and cost-effective solution that secures broad access to popular licensed music for its live and on-demand content.  Beachbody’s minority investment, meanwhile, will assist Feed.fm in accelerating new product development to enhance its suite of proprietary music streaming services.