RYZE Superfoods was the second investment of Jacksonville-based venture capital firm PS27’s $20 million Rhea Fund, which put significant money behind the Boston-based e-commerce mushroom coffee start-up in June.
Since PS27 invested between $600,000 and $1 million, PS27 Founder Jim Stallings said, the company’s value has more than tripled.
With pre-seed capital from PS27, RYZE went on to secure $2.15 million in seed capital, an oversubscription, according to a PS27 announcement on Tuesday. With over 12,000 monthly subscribers, the company is on track to grow 300% this year, the announcement said.
According to Stallings, the Boston start-up is primarily funded by Jacksonville investors, including River Bay Investments.
“In the middle of the pandemic, people find people,” he said. “There’s no geographic limitation.”
Stallings said PS27 decided to put capital behind the company because he believed there was significant demand for a healthy alternative to coffee, which is one of the most widely consumed food products on the market. With less than half the caffeine in regular coffee, RYZE’s mushroom coffee purports to offer a number of health benefits, including “sustained energy without the crash,” according to its FAQ page.
“There’s a powerful movement around healthy options … the industry is growing at triple digit rates, not just in the US but around the world,” Stallings said.
The Rhea Fund seeks to invest in early-stage solutions in software as a service, healthtech, fintech, sustainability and e-commerce companies that can scale rapidly, according to its website. It also focuses on identifying and funding women founders and people of color, and looks to invest in 20 companies over five years.
