NEW YORK — Paine Schwartz Partners, an investor in sustainable food chains, said its Paine Schwartz Food Chain Fund VI has acquired Promix LLC. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Promix, Gainesville, Fla., was founded in 2014 by Albert Matheny and produces such nutritional products as low sugar high protein bars, supplements, vitamins and meal replacements.
Promix said it develops its formulas in-house and said its products are free of fillers, gums, hormones, glyphosate, GMOs, gluten, soy and antibiotics, according to the company.
“As a leading investor in high quality brands, Paine Schwartz brings significant expertise and resources — particularly in the consumer and wellness space — that will help us grow our business, including launching new innovative products, improving our operational capabilities, and expanding into new markets and channels,” Matheny said. “We look forward to working closely with them to build on our strong foundation and capture exciting new growth opportunities.”
Matheny, Devon Levesque, co-founder and chief brand officer of Promix, and Ryan Lockwood, chief operating officer of Promix, will continue to lead the business through support from Paine Schwartz.
As part of the transaction Bob DeBorde, former CEO of Paine Schwartz’s portfolio company Suja Life, will join Promix as its executive chairman. Paine Schwartz also owns Urban Farmer, Manteno, Ill., a plant-based specialty dough contract manufacturer.
The acquisition is a part of Paine Schwartz’s long-term plan of identifying companies that provide access to healthier, more nutritious and safer food, said Kevin Schwartz, CEO of Paine Schwartz Partners.
“I have been a long-term customer of Promix, using the company’s products daily, and have been impressed with the company’s founders since we met several years ago,” Schwartz said. “We appreciate Promix’s strong brand loyalty and its track record of growth acceleration, which we believe can lead to growth within existing categories and into adjacent consumers and products lines. We look forward to working closely with the Promix team to continue innovating new products that tackle a variety of health and wellness needs and capturing market share in the rapidly growing supplements and functional nutrition space.”Enjoying this content? Learn about more disruptive startups on the Food Entrepreneur page.
