Purple Carrot, the US meal-kit firm, has launched an incubator focused on start-up businesses working in the plant-based sector.
The Garden Incubator is intended to accelerate plant-based brands and “de-risk early stage companies for future investment.”
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Massachusetts-based Purple Carrot, which describes itself as the first 100% plant-based meal kit company, said the new service will be made available to select early-stage plant-based companies looking to scale.
It said The Garden will serve as an investor, an incubator and a launchpad that will provide a range of services “confirming product-market fit and establishing confidence and awareness for future investment and growth”.
Purple Carrot founder and CEO Andy Levitt said: “The plant-based space is in the midst of a powerful transformation with a range of early-stage brands that are struggling for investment dollars, product-market fit, and distribution.
“With The Garden our goal is to accelerate the positive trajectory of qualifying brands, improve their focus and enable rapid and improved distribution in the US and beyond. The de-risking of brands for future follow-on investment will be a key differentiator for this service.”
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By GlobalDataIn addition to supporting entrepreneurs with business services such as strategy, marketing and e-commerce, Purple Carrot will provide companies with up to US$250,000 in seed funding.
Unovis Partners, a local venture capital firm working in the plant-based space, will provide this funding to those companies meeting its mandate and criteria through its New Crop Capital fund and serve as the founding sponsor for The Garden.
Chris Kerr, chief investment officer at Unovis Partners, said: “The Garden is a peerless concept that will serve entrepreneurs and investors equally well.
“Early-stage companies can get support by industry veterans, along with rapid market validation to de-risk for future funding rounds. We’re thrilled to be a part of this plant-based revolution with Purple Carrot.”
Purple Carrot, established by Levitt in 2014, was acquired by Japanese online grocer Oisix in May.
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