Dive Brief:
- Nomva, a cold-pressed juice and fresh snack producer, has closed a $3 million Series A fundraising round. The company's products hit the market in October 2015.
- Leading the round were investors, Evolution Media Partners and Taylor Fresh Foods. Seed investors included Zico Coconut Water founders Mark and Maura Rampolla and Suja Juice CEO Jeff Church.
- Nomva founder and CEO Caroline Beckman was vice president of special projects at Suja, the cold-pressed juice maker that sold a 30% minority stake to Coca-Cola last year.
Dive Insight:
The market for cold-pressed juices was estimated at about $100 million per year as of early 2015, according to the LA Times. At the same time, the orange juice segment, once the leader of the juice market, has seen its sales steadily decline for years.
Cold-pressed juices are associated with the healthy, less processed foods movement. Cold-pressed juices are made via high pressure processing (HPP), which doesn't require the chemicals or preservatives typical of traditional processing methods.
Major manufacturers are seeing the promise in the cold-pressed juice category, evidenced by Coca-Cola's minority stake in Suja. Earlier this year, PepsiCo's Naked juice brand debuted a sub-line of cold-pressed juices called Naked Pressed, currently distributed to West Coast retailers. Hain Celestial was an early adopter in 2012, when it acquired juice maker BluePrint.
Last week, the Austin Business Journal reported that cold-pressed juice producer Daily Greens closed its own $5.5 million funding round from a single unnamed investor. About a year earlier, WhiteWave Foods subsidiary Earthbound Farms purchased a 26% stake in Daily Greens for $3 million, according to an SEC filing.