Brand New Brands Completes Mission by Launching Four Pioneering Therapeutic Food Companies

20/06/07 Brand New Brands, the innovative venture accelerator that was created to improve and enhance Americans' lives through the development of next-generation healthful foods and beverages, announced the successful completion of its mission. Within two years the venture accelerator launched four pioneering companies -- LightFull Foods, Corazonas Foods, Attune Foods and Dreamerz Foods -- which have successfully introduced their science-based products into the market and have made the food and beverage world take notice. Brand New Brands and its companies were recently featured in the article "Companies to Watch" in the June 2007 issue of Nutraceuticals World. LightFull Satiety Smoothie and Corazonas Heart-Healthy Tortilla Chips -- which were created by LightFull Foods and Corazonas Foods -- are featured as "Best New Foods For You" in the July 2007 issue of Prevention magazine.

Core to Brand New Brands mission of creating innovative companies and products is its one-of-a-kind business model which combines the nimbleness and entrepreneurial spirit of a start-up; seasoned management, led by food innovators Will Rosenzweig (cofounder of the Republic of Tea) and Pete Mattson (founder of Mattson and Company); and capital. Brand New Brands raised more than $15 million from investors including Burrill & Company, Great Spirit Ventures, Prolog Ventures and Unilever Ventures. Starting with 75 new product concepts that incorporated leading-edge science, Brand New Brands vetted those ideas for their taste, efficacy and ingredients' bioavailability in order to fast-track the final four concepts to market.

"Brand New Brands incubated and gave birth to four distinct companies that are addressing specific health issues and changing the way that people think about and consume functional foods," said Will Rosenzweig, who served as chief executive officer of Brand New Brands and is currently managing director of Physic Ventures. "Previously people had to sacrifice taste for functionality and efficaciousness, but that's no longer the case with the introduction of our companies' products -- LightFull Satiety Smoothies, Corazonas Heart-Healthy Tortilla Chips, Attune Probiotic Wellness Bars and Dreamerz all-natural drinks that help you relax and fall asleep."

Research shows that Brand New Brands' emphasis on taste and efficaciousness is gaining popularity among consumers. According to the 2007 Food & Health Survey conducted by the International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation, 80 percent of Americans say they consumed or are interested in consuming functional foods and beverages. And while taste has always played an important role in Americans' food consumption decisions, the importance of "healthfulness" grew from 58 percent in 2006 to 65 percent in 2007.

"Prolog backed Brand New Brands because its innovative business model and accomplished team of founders offered a particularly effective way to invest in the health and wellness space, to which we're committing a meaningful share of our capital," said Ilya Nykin, managing director of Prolog Ventures and chairman of Brand New Brands. "Prolog invested additional funds in all companies that emerged from Brand New Brands because of their excellent growth potential."

Each company that spun out of the Brand New Brands venture accelerator is focused on addressing a specific health platform.

-- LightFull Foods (LightFullFoods.com) is dedicated to healthy weight management. Its surprisingly-filling, all-natural LightFull Satiety Smoothie is a 90 calorie snack that is filled with six grams of fiber and six grams of protein, keeping people satisfied for two-three hours on average.

-- Corazonas Foods (Corazonas.com) is inspired by the Spanish word for heart, corazon, and offers all-natural, heart-healthy alternatives to Americans' favorite snacks. Its debut product is Corazonas Heart-Healthy Tortilla Chips, the first snack chips proven to reduce low density lipoprotein cholesterol by up to 15 percent.

-- Attune Foods (AttuneFoods.com) promotes daily wellness. Attune Wellness Bars combine great taste with the health benefits of probiotics to support digestive health, increase immunity and heighten overall health and well-being.

-- Dreamerz Foods (DreamerzFoods.com) champions the importance of healthy sleep and stress reduction. The Dreamerz product line is comprised of a rich-tasting dairy beverage that delivers clinically proven active ingredients that support sleep and relaxation.

Prior to spinning out of the Brand New Brands accelerator, each company demonstrated its product's viability in a test market. They subsequently raised a combined total of nearly $30 million in series B funding, both from current Brand New Brands investors and additional investors.