UPCOMING SYNDICATION CALL

SAVE THE DATE

About this event:

On behalf of the Boston chapter, we would like to share the following investment opportunity:

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Product

Lupii is building a food business and platform for the most nutritious, versatile, and sustainable protein - the lupini bean - the next generation of plant-based protein.

Opportunity & Problem

Plan-based is going mainstream: In 2020, the plant-based food category grew faster than any other segment and the global plant based snack market is currently at $35BN, projected to grow to $74B by 2028, with an 8.7% CAGR.  Still, consumers express major concern around not getting enough or the right type of protein when eating plant-based. Current options - animal protein, processed plant protein, or imitation meat - are all suboptimal and have negative trade-offs related to health and the environment.

Solution

It's time for a new generation of protein, that is plant based, minimally processed and tastes delicious. Meet Lupii’s hero ingredient and queen, the lupini bean. Lupii is solving the protein problem with Lupini beans, one of the best sources of plant based protein on the planet. Lupini beans have the highest concentration of plant based protein and fiber among all beans, they also have almost no net carbs, are one of the only complete plant-based protein sources, and are highly sustainable.

Products

Lupii launched in January 2020 with its first product range, Lupii Bars, that currently come in 4 flavors. Lupii Bars are best described as ‘Quest meets Larabar’, delivering functional benefits with a minimal, unprocessed nutrition profile. Lupii bars are the first whole-bean based bars on the market, and are also packed with protein & fiber from whole foods, using only 5-6 clean ingredients. Long-term, Lupii’s vision is to build out a cross category platform for this ingredient and expand into adjacent categories in the snack space over the next few years.

Financials

With strong product gross margins, Lupii closed its first year in market with $215K in revenue. Lupii made a successful pivot to D2C when the pandemic hit. However, in 2021, Lupii’s core channel focus will be on ramping up retail distribution. So far this year, the company has made significant progress unlocking UNFI (leading natural distributor),100+ independent retail accounts in the NYC area, and its first chain, Metropolitan Market. The business is currently in conversation with a number of other chains, has recently been accepted into KEHE’s emerging brands program (another top natural distributor), and will begin partnering with a major broker for the bar category in May. Lupii is projecting close to $1.5MM in revenue in 2021 and $7MM in revenue in 2022.

Management Team

Isabelle Steichen is the CEO and co-founder of Lupii. She moved from Europe to the US in 2013 and throughout her career she worked closely with founding teams for various early stage VC backed startups in NYC in the food and tech space. Isabelle is a long time passionate vegan, certified in plant based nutrition from e-Cornell, and creator of the Plantiful Podcast. She has spent the last 4+ years studying the ins and outs of the lupini bean, building relationships with growers, researchers and entrepreneurs in Europe and the US.

Alexandra Dempster is the CMO and co-founder of Lupii. She has spent most of her career working across the food & beverage industry, both agencies and in-house at Fortune 500 brands. She started her career at Carlsberg Group and was, before Lupii, most recently with PepsiCo’s Global Foods team.

Lupii has notable industry experts as advisors:

• Mike Kirban, CEO and Co-founder of Vita Coco (also an investor)

• John Leahy, former President & COO of Kind

• Lorna Davis, former CEO of Danone North America.

Raise

Lupii is currently raising a convertible note of $500K at a $6MM cap. - 50% of the note is already committed and in the bank.

Current investors include: Human Ventures, Simple Foods Ventures, Mike Kirban, CEO of VitaCoco, HBS angels, and other angels.

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