LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--daring, the leader in clean plant-based chicken, announces the close of an $8 million Series A funding round led by Maveron, the prominent venture capital firm that invests in early-stage consumer brands. Additional investors include GoodFriends (from the founders of Allbirds, Harry’s and Warby Parker), Stray Dog Capital, Palm Tree Crew Investments (Kygo and Myles Shear), and private investors including Mike Smith (CFO of Stitch Fix) and Brian Swette (former Chair of Burger King). This round of funding will support daring’s mission to remove chicken from the food system and will propel the brand’s unprecedented growth through marketing, innovation and staffing.
“We are always looking to partner with entrepreneurs that are building the next generation in consumer products. daring’s co-founders have a massive mission and the product exceeded our expectations in every capacity – taste, texture, and clean ingredients,” says Dan Levitan, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Maveron. “We are in the early innings of the plant-based movement. The next wave of plant-based alternatives need to be significantly less processed with a cleaner ingredient profile to win the hearts, minds and stomachs of consumers. We are confident that daring will emerge as a leader in the space.”
In conjunction with the investment round, daring is launching a brand new product, Breaded daring Pieces, available direct-to-consumer on daring.com. The new Breaded pieces further daring's mission to remove chicken from our food system and provide consumers with a wide range of plant-based chicken products that deliver superior taste, texture and experience. Free of GMOs and gluten, daring’s Breaded pieces join the existing line of high protein Original, Cajun, and Lemon & Herb flavors made from 100% plant-based ingredients. daring’s new Breaded pieces are available online at daring.com and in daring’s new retail locations including Gelson’s, Bristol Farms, and Fresh Thyme. daring will round out the monumental growth with a national launch at Just Salad.
“At daring we’ve been able to create the cleanest plant-based chicken on the market that gets as close as possible to the taste and texture of the real thing,” said daring’s CEO and Co-Founder, Ross Mackay. “We are excited to have attracted a group of investors that have been involved in building monumental consumer businesses and we will leverage this investment to continue our growth in an ever-changing, competitive landscape. This gets us a huge step closer to mitigating the negative impact of the poultry industry on the planet and human health.”
For more information about daring, please visit daring.com and follow on IG at @daringfoods. Our team is growing - connect with us on LinkedIn for employment opportunities!
About daring
daring is the leader in clean plant-based chicken and was founded with a clear goal in mind: to remove chicken as a form of animal protein from our food system. Founded in 2018 by Ross Mackay and Eliott Kessas, daring landed in the U.S. in 2020 with its mission to create a more sustainable, delicious, and nutritious plant-based option for an audience that consumes chicken multiple times a week. daring offers frozen pieces that are 100% plant-based, 14g per serving with just five non-GMO ingredients and spices. daring's pouches are available in Original, Lemon & Herb, Cajun, and Breaded. daring is available at Sprouts Farmers Market, Gelson’s, Bristol Farms and Fresh Thyme, and online directly at www.daring.com. daring debuted its daring is caring giveback program in June 2020 – an ongoing initiative to donate a percentage of sales to game-changers in the food, wellness, and social justice space. For more info, visit daring.com and follow along on social at @daringfoods.
About Maveron
Maveron is a venture capital firm that exclusively invests in consumer companies. Founded in 1998 by Dan Levitan and Howard Schultz, representative Maveron investments include Allbirds, Imperfect Foods, General Assembly, Trupanion, DollsKill, Everlane, eBay, Zulily, and many more. For more information about Maveron, visit www.maveron.com, follow on Twitter @maveron or connect on LinkedIn.
About GoodFriends
Good Friends is a venture capital firm that was started in 2019 by the founders of Warby Parker, Harry's, and Allbirds. Good Friends invests in early stage businesses with a consumer lens.
About Stray Dog Capital
Stray Dog Capital is a mission-driven Venture Capital firm that drives alternatives to the use of animals in the supply chain through investments, expertise and support. Stray Dog Capital wants a world in which all animals live in peaceful co-existence. To that end, we provide early stage, ground-breaking businesses with the capital and support to grow their businesses and shift away from an animal-based economy.
About Palm Tree Crew Investments
Palm Tree Crew Investments is the early-stage investment arm of top-selling music producer Kygo and his manager Myles Shear's Palm Tree Crew Holdings. Palm Tree Crew Investments invests across the consumer, technology and entertainment industries. In addition, Palm Tree Crew Holdings owns and operates the Palm Tree Crew brand and has ventures across live entertainment, hospitality, talent management and philanthropy.
