Splendid Spoon Raises $12 Million in Series B Funding Led by Nicoya
The female-led meal delivery brand will use the funding to further the brand's mission to simplify healthy eating with delicious plant-based meals delivered to your door
NEW YORK, Feb. 9, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Splendid Spoon, a women-owned and -operated national meal delivery service specializing in ready-made plant-based soups, bowls and smoothies, announces the close of a $12 million funding round led by Nicoya (N!cks, El Taco Truck, Foodiq, Inika Superfoods etc.). Additional investors who contributed include Danone Manifesto Ventures (Forager Project, Harmless Harvest, Farmer's Fridge), Torch Capital (Compass, Sweetgreen), Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, Rent the Runway co-founder Jennifer Fleiss and Ashok and Meera Vasudevan, founders of Tasty Bite, which was recently acquired by Mars. Both Torch and Ohanian contributed to previous Splendid Spoon rounds. The new round of funding will be used to scale Splendid Spoon's core product line, launch new products, categories and meal programs and to continue growing the Splendid Spoon team with a priority on hiring and amplifying diverse voices in the food industry.
"We are thrilled to join the Nicoya portfolio and to be a part of their movement to transform the global food system and create meaningful impact for people, planet and health," said Nicole Centeno, founder and co-CEO of Splendid Spoon. "Their mission-driven approach and unrivaled expertise in brand strategy and foodtech align with our goals to scale and innovate, with our customers at the forefront," continued Elise Densborn, Splendid Spoon co-CEO.
Nicole Centeno founded Splendid Spoon in 2013, motivated by the challenges that being pregnant and working a demanding full-time job had on her ability to live a healthy lifestyle. She knew there had to be an easier way to eat delicious, nourishing foods even when short on time (and sleep). Committed to coming up with a sustainable solution for others like her, she began attending culinary school at night and ultimately created a line of vegan, non-GMO, gluten-free organic soups and smoothies that, for the customer, required no meal prep or cooking. She began selling her meals at farmers markets and pop-ups in Brooklyn, and delivering them to colleagues on her lunch break. Demand skyrocketed. She received her first large-scale purchase order from Fresh Direct in 2013 and rolled out nationally in 2015.
Since then, Centeno has led Splendid Spoon's adoption of a direct-to-consumer subscription-based model and hired co-CEO Elise Densborn in 2018, who joined the company after being a loyal customer for many years. The two have expanded the menu to over 50 plant-based no-prep smoothies, soups, and grain bowls, in addition to multi-day meal plans and an On Demand shop, which allows customers to try the meals without a subscription. Splendid Spoon is available in every state in the Continental U.S., has doubled its growth rate since 2020 and has over 20,000 subscribers to date.
"Splendid Spoon has emerged as an innovator in the healthy eating category by efficiently streamlining the business model and connecting with its avid customer base," said Christopher Slim, CEO at Nicoya. "Nicole's vision a decade ago, to simplify plant-based eating for everyday Americans, is as important as ever, and we're excited to take an active role in Splendid Spoon's growth."
For more information about Splendid Spoon visit SplendidSpoon.com and follow on IG at @splendid.spoon
About Splendid Spoon
Splendid Spoon is a female-founded company disrupting the health & wellness industry. We believe diet related illnesses can be healed through the power of mother nature's medicine: plant-based eats! Unlike many meal delivery companies, our plant-based, gluten-free smoothies, shots, soups, grain bowls and noodles are fully ready-to-eat, and taste like the comfort of a homemade meal, so you create balance without even thinking about it. Our founder, Nicole Centeno, is a true entrepreneur: a trained chef, a former research biologist published in Nutrition and Metabolism, the author of Soup Cleanse cookbook (Rodale) and a mother of three.
About Nicoya
Nicoya, founded in 2017, is a Swedish investment company within food tech and the next generation of food. Nicoya's objective is, through investments, to further accelerate the changes needed within the food system to create better food for both people and the planet. Its management and founder team has broad experience from within the food and FMCG markets, as well as the financial markets. Its current portfolio consists of eleven companies including brands such as Nick's (better-for-you confectionary and ice cream), Oatlaws (clean-label healthy snacking), El Taco Truck (vegan clean-label Mexican food), Inika (online wellbeing-focused lifestyle brand) and Foodiq (sourcing plant focused on next-generation foods). Read more at nicoya.se.
About Danone Manifesto Ventures
Danone Manifesto Ventures is the corporate venture arm of Danone, launched in 2016 with a mission to support the growth of innovative food and foodtech companies and partner with entrepreneurs that share its vision of a healthy and sustainable future. Through this venture team, Danone makes financial investments and provides strategic and operational support to its portfolio companies while preserving the autonomy required to grow their entrepreneurial projects. Danone Manifesto Ventures has invested in various companies including Harmless Harvest, Forager Project, Farmer's Fridge and Nature's Fynd in the U.S., Michel et Augustin, Yooji and Phenix in France, Moju in the U.K., and Epigamia in India. In 2018, it became the first corporate venture to be certified B Corp independently. (more info www.danoneventures.com)
About Torch Capital
Torch Capital is a NY-based $70M consumer tech fund led by Jon Keidan, entrepreneur and investor who has spent his career at the intersection of the media, technology and entertainment industries. The mission at Torch is simple: invest in talented, mission-driven leaders who are determined to use technology & innovation to solve major consumer pain points in meaningful ways - from personal health and wellness, future of retail, next gen food & beverage to real estate tech and financial services. Torch's LPs include renowned fashion financier, Silas Chou, media mogul and Chairman / CEO of iHeartMedia, Bob Pittman, Rent The Runway Co-Founder, Jenny Fleiss, and many other highly influential luminaries from Media, Finance, Consumer Private Equity and Tech.
SOURCE Splendid Spoon
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