They're backed by Eighteen94 Capital.
Don't tell me you've forgotten Eighteen94.
Last May? Headline: "Nine of the World's Biggest Packaged Food Companies Have Launched Venture Capital Units"
...“This is a form of R&D for us, or access to places where the company isn’t currently participating,” said Simon Burton, who heads Kellogg’s new venture capital arm, Eighteen94 Capital.Its first investment, announced in January, was in California-based Kuli Kuli, which makes snack bars from the moringa plant. There are more in the pipeline, he said.
No?
Here's the latest, from Forbes:
A Startup Backed By Kellogg's VC Arm, Kuli Kuli, Introduces Americans To A New Superfood, Moringa
When Lisa Curtis was a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger, she discovered moringa, a green with high nutritional content that’s popular in Africa and elsewhere. When she returned to the United States, she decided to start a company that would introduce it to U.S. consumers – and provide better incomes to farmers in Africa. With her friends Valerie Popelka, Jordan Monchamont and Anne Tsuei, she launched Kuli Kuli (named for a popular peanut snack in West Africa) on the crowdfunding site Indiegogo, raising $53,000. Today, the Oakland, California-based startup sells moringa bars, powders and energy shots at Whole Foods, Safeway-Albertsons, Target and thousands of other stores nationwide. With $4.5 million in total funding – led by the VC arm of food giant Kellogg’s, known as Eighteen94 Capital – Curtis expects Kuli Kuli’s revenues this year to top $2 million. In a conversation that has been edited and condensed, Curtis, 29, spoke about how she convinced retailers to stock a new “superfood” and landed an investment from Kellogg.....MORE
Amy Feldman: How did you find moringa?
I'm going to hold off on any Kuli Kuli investments until we have a better idea of their appeal. The memories of the great flavored-pacifiers-for-MDMA-Molly-meth heads fiasco of the late '90's are still too fresh.
As for superfoods, I might start peddling mustard greens: "Isothiocyanates here, getcher tasty isothiocyanates."
