Cash Flow: Wattbike Secures £11.5M, NotCo Raises $85M, Nestlé Invests $30M In Recycling Initiative

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

Climax Foods raises $7.5m to transform the food system

Climax Foods, a data science company innovating the future of food, has raised $7.5m in seed funding. 

Its aim is to create a smarter and simpler way to make food by converting plants, with less processing, into products with the same or better taste as animal-based products, at a price point accessible to everyone.

Investors included At One Ventures, founded by visionary GoogleX co-founder Tom Chi, as well as Manta Ray Ventures, S2G Ventures and Prelude Ventures.

Piper invests £11.5m in smart indoor bike brand Wattbike

Smart indoor bike brand Wattbike has secured  £11.5m from investment Piper, to boost its global ambitions.

The 13-year-old company, based in the UK, is gearing up for its next stage of growth following strong sales over recent months, with orders rising 192 percent year-over-year in April. 

It forecasts total sales in excess of £21m for 2020.

Plant-based, food-tech company NotCo closes $85m round

NotCo, a plant-based food-tech company in Latin America, has closed an $85m Series C investment round, co-led by Future Positive; the investment vehicle of Fred Blackford and Biz Stone, and L Catterton; the largest and most global consumer-focused private equity firm.

The new funding comes as the company announces scaled up operations and marks plans for international expansion leading with an entry into the US, a promising market for its portfolio of products of plant-based food.

Silk and Sonder banks $3.6m in seed round

Silk and Sonder, a startup aimed at boosting women’s mental health, has closed a $3.6m seed funding round led by Redpoint Ventures.

The subscription-based company, which delivers monthly hand-curated journals featuring pages for life-coaching exercises and mood and habit trackers, as well as providing access to a private community for peer-to-peer support and virtual content, intends to scale its virtual programming and elevate its offering.

It currently services tens of thousands of customers across the US.

Nestlé invests $30m in recycling initiative 

CPG giant Nestlé has made a $30m investment in the Closed Loop Leadership Fund — the private equity fund of circular economy investment firm Closed Loop Partners, which aims to lead the shift from virgin plastics to the use of food-grade recycled plastics in the US. 

The investment is the first to utilize Nestlé’s packaging venture fund established earlier this year, which is part of the company’s overall investment of up to CHF 2 billion to accelerate the development of innovative sustainable packaging solutions.