Nutrition bars are big business, especially the high-protein and meal replacement varieties. But, new entrants are focused on functional ingredients.
In recent years, bar brands made bank.
- Kellogg’s paid $600M for RXBAR.
- Hershey bought ONE Brands for $397M.
- Simply Good Foods acquired Quest Nutrition for $1B.
- Mondelēz spent $277M on Grenade, a UK-based bar maker.
Now, a new batch of bars is doubling down on brain health.
Brain Food. As we detailed in Issue No. 49, the global brain health market is expected to reach $11.6B by 2024. And the nootropics category could reach $6B by 2024. Taking notice, upstarts are creating brain health bars.
- Rob Dyrdek and Joe Jonas invested in Mindright’s nootropic bars.
- IQBAR landed a $2.8M investment from CircleUp Growth Partners.
- TruBrain says its bars “boost mental output.”
- myAir raised $2M for stress-reducing bars made using machine learning.
Next up: Bar makers are turning their attention to gut issues. To that end, Healright developed a micronutrient-dense food solution that supports gut health. And BelliWelli recently secured $1M for its low-FODMAP snack bars.
