NEW YORK — RXBAR founder Peter Rahal and Zach Ranen, former investor and founder of Raize, an online bakery, have launched a protein-focused brand called David, which has raised $10 million in seed funding. The funding round was led by Rahal, chief executive officer of David, with participation from Valor Siren Ventures, Peter Attia, MD, and Andrew Huberman, PhD.

Rahal is not new to the snack space. He formerly led RXBAR, which was acquired by The Kellogg Co. in 2017 for $600 million. He remained CEO of RXBAR for about a year following the acquisition.

Rahal also launched Litani Ventures in November 2017, an investment company that partners with food industry startups to help scale product concepts. He later became the CEO and co-founder of food tech company Linus Technology, Inc.

In between, Rahal said he noticed a shift around “nutrition culture from the Atkins to the paleo movement (and) transforming into the keto and fasting movement,” causing confusion among consumers.

“The right way to eat has been very dynamic and very confusing,” he said. “It’s riddled with all these ideologies of my ancestors didn’t eat it (and) therefore it’s bad for me, or (that) animal products are good or bad, and those aren’t very sophisticated approaches.” 

Rahal began observing the protein bar category with a view of “stability and a real evidence-based approach on how to eat.”

David was created based on three principles: “Don’t overeat calories, get an adequate amount of protein and don’t spike your blood sugar,” Rahal said. “There was an opportunity to make a bar with more protein, fewer calories, and zero sugar.”

Rahal’s observations about protein align with consumer perception of the nutrient. In a 2024 Food and Health Survey from the International Food Information Council, 3,000 participants were asked, “Do you generally try to consume or avoid the following?,” and 71% said they are trying to consume protein, up from 67% in 2023 and 56% in 2022.

The survey also showed protein has migrated into the healthy eating pattern/diet category. In response to the survey question, “Have you followed any specific eating pattern or diet at any time in the past year?,” 20% identified a high protein diet — the highest-ranking eating pattern/diet listed — ahead of “mindful eating” (18%), intermittent fasting (13%), “calorie counting” (12%) and “clean eating” (11%).

Upon exiting RXBAR, Rahal took notes from his former company and used a different approach for David.

“The biggest learning from RXBAR was it was based on the paleo ideology and philosophy around nutrition, and that was the position of the brand and business,” he said. “I saw the world change, and then I saw us in a vulnerable position. With David, or any company, I don’t want to have it in a vulnerable position.

“I want to build a brand that has real longevity and is anti-fragile,” he added. “It’s the evidence-based approach. If the science changes, we’re allowed to change, too. I want that logic and freedom.”

David’s bars contain 28 grams of protein per, have 150 calories and zero grams of sugar.  In an interview with Food Business News, Rahal did not want to discuss the bars’ ingredients panel in detail prior to launch. 

“We put a lot of energy into making the best-tasting and textured (bar),” he said. “We have 75% of our calories coming from our protein.”

Rahal said future protein-centric innovations are possible, but the company is focused on protein bars for now. He also said to expect its flavors to be “decadent and dessert-forward” but did not disclose the flavor details prior to launch.

“We have a lot of different places we can go, but our strategy is choosing what not to do for the near term,” he said.

David will officially launch online Sept. 16, followed by introduction as a direct-to-consumer retail brand in the first quarter of 2025, according to Rahal.

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