VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Eat Well Investment Group Inc. (the “Company” or “Eat Well Group” or “EWG”) (CN:EWG) (US:EWGFF) (FRA:6BC0) is pleased to announce it has completed its final payment of USD$840,000 to Sapientia Technology, LLC (“Sapientia”) satisfying all outstanding payment obligations in connection with the acquisition of Sapientia that closed on July 31, 2021.
The consideration for the acquisition of Sapientia was the issuance of 3,741,969 common shares in the capital of Eat Well Group and a cash payment of USD $6.52-million to the former shareholders of Sapientia, USD$1-million of which was paid on July 31, 2021 and USD $5.52-million was payable in installments up to July 8, 2022.
Eat Well Group’s food-technology investment is led by Dr. Eugenio Bortone, one of the world’s preeminent food scientists and extrusion processing experts, and the inventor of Frito-Lay’s Twisted Cheetos. Sapientia has created and filed four foundational patents revolving around the “Protein Twist” and crispy puff style snack. By focusing on the texture and crunch, Sapientia’s disruptive patents solve one of the major problems large-scale snack-food companies have struggled with for years; maintaining the texture and flavour, while offering a guilt free, baked not fried, natural and healthy alternative to most snack food products on the market today.
“Sapientia remains laser focused on growing the initial success of the protein curls in Federated Co-op by launching into new retailers with new flavors, formats, and long-term innovation,” commented Marc Aneed, Eat Well Group’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Additionally, we look forward to more innovation between Sapientia and Eat Well’s other portfolio investments at Belle Pulses and Amara," continued Aneed.
Sapientia is the result of 35 years of research and development, including significant capital investment, countless plant-based foods innovations, and over USD $8,000,000 invested by Eat Well Group to date.
Additionally, Sapientia has completed and continues to develop the following initiatives:
- Launched a pilot program in the Federated Co-op of western Canada;
- Continues to develop an eCommerce pilot program via Amazon US for H2/2022;
- Evaluated multiple tiered manufacturing solutions to scale the core product;
- Refined the business development pipeline for private labelling;
- Developed an innovation roadmap targeting new all-family snacking occasions and product formats, as well as pet treats, and long-range opportunities in meal occasions; and
- Sapientia’s protein crisps were awarded finalist status in the 29th annual Canadian Grand Prix New Product Awards
Sapientia launched its first white-labeled protein twists with Federated Co-op stores in western Canada, rolling out 350 stores beginning in December 2021, with ongoing discussions to increase store count in Q3, 2022.
“With this milestone completed, we can focus on further collaboration with other Eat Well Group portfolio companies, like Belle Pulses, to increase our margins and expand our product lines and flavours,” commented Dr. Gino Bortone, Sapientia’s Founder & CEO. “Our objective is to continue building off our momentum by accelerating production to meet existing and new demand, and increase our distribution and product offerings,” continued Bortone.
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ABOUT EAT WELL GROUP
Eat Well Group is a publicly-traded investment Company primarily focused on high-growth companies in the agribusiness, food tech, plant-based and ESG (environmental, social and governance) sectors. Eat Well Group’s management team has an extensive record of sourcing, financing and building successful companies across a broad range of industries and maintains a current investment mandate on the health/wellness industry. The team has financed and invested in early-stage venture companies for greater than 25 years, resulting in unparalleled access to deal flow and the ability to construct a portfolio of opportunistic investments intended to generate superior risk-adjusted returns.
The Canadian Securities Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the information contained herein and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.
