REDD, the Brunswick-based energy bar company, has raised an additional $2.2 million as it prepares to unveil a refreshed brand, including new packaging and reformulated recipes.
The new funding comes from new and existing investors and will help advance the company’s sales, marketing, and R&D efforts, as well as to fund working capital, CEO Peter Van Alstine told Maine Startups Insider.
The new branding includes brighter, glossy packaging and a new tagline: “Radiant Energy Deliciously Delivered.” (REDD previously stood for Research Enhanced Design + Development.) The refresh reflects the company’s belief that millennials and Gen Z are looking for more holistic approaches to wellness that create energy and promote optimism, as well as believe that what’s good for you should also look good in today’s Instagram age, according to Van Alstine.
“When looking at our audience, and also at bigger consumer trends in the marketplace, we found that pop colors and playful graphics complement the lifestyle of the millennial generation who see nutrition, fashion, and social media as all interconnected ways of self-expression,” Van Alstine said.
Alden Blease, the company’s founder, agreed.
“Gone are the days when plant-based means crunchy and granola. Your food should also be sexy and modern,” he said.
Blease, who founded REDD while in college and looking for a healthy energy bar, also reformulated all five varieties of REDD bars, reducing sugar content from 14 grams to between three to five per bar, removing caffeine, and adding more probiotics, according to Van Alstine, who joined the company as CEO in 2016.
Expansion continues
The company has been growing. REDD’s revenue grew by about 70% from 2017 to 2018 despite a planned slowdown in the fourth quarter as it dialed down efforts behind its current product line while planning for the relaunch of the brand in April, Van Alstine said.
It also continues to grow its footprint. In February, it launched in 330 Publix stores, as well as in Central Market in Texas, and plans to launch in Huckleberry’s and other stores in the Northwest in April, according to Van Alstine.
Investor mix and board rearrangement
The new funding comes from new and existing investors, with the mix being about 60% current and 40% new, according to Van Alstine. The company previously raised a $2 million round in mid-2017, which included several significant angel investors, including Dan Nordstrom, former CEO of Nordstrom.com and Seattle-based Outdoor Research Inc.; Scott Elaine Case, co-founder of VMG Partners and now with the Next World Evergreen Fund; Chris Licata, former CEO of Concord, N.H.-based Blake’s All Natural Foods, which ConAgra acquired in 2015; and Tyler Ricks, who has held executive marketing positions at such food brands as Peet’s Coffee, Bear Naked Inc., and Plum Organic. All of those angels invested in this new round, Van Alstine said.
There has also been a rearranging of the board in the past year and a half. Nordstrom is now board chair, while Greg Hanson, founder of Skyline Capital, a venture capital firm in Seattle, has moved to an observer seat. Canning has also stepped off the board, but will remain an adviser, Van Alstine said. Additionally, Bob Craig from Centerman Capital has joined the board.
Whipstitch Capital served as Redd’s financial advisor in the transaction. Whipstitch is based in Framingham, Mass., but co-founder Michael Burgmaier is based in Yarmouth and used to be a principal at CEI Community Ventures in Portland.
