SPECIAL FEATURE: So Soylent secures $20m… Money well spent?

By Elaine Watson

- Last updated on GMT

Investors aren't just buying into a product with Soylent, but a loyal online community of engaged users, says venture capital exec
Investors aren't just buying into a product with Soylent, but a loyal online community of engaged users, says venture capital exec

Related tags Soylent Nutrition

While uncharitable observers have described Soylent as “only slightly more appealing than an IV bag”, news that the LA-based food substitute firm has just secured $20m in funding and is now generating “millions of dollars per month in subscription revenues” from a loyal online  fan base  suggests that it may be more appealing than first meets the eye.

Space porridge jokes aside, the numbers don’t lie, said CEO Rob Rhinehart in a blog post​  after announcing that venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is leading a $20m investment in Soylent with participation from Lerer Ventures, Index Ventures and individual investors including David Friedberg, CEO of The Climate Corporation. 

And since the seed round in 2013, Soylent​ (classified as a food, not a supplement, by the FDA) has sold one million daily pouches (three million meals) and now generates “millions of dollars per month in subscription revenues”, ​said Rhinehart, who has raised more than $3m on CrowdTilt​ in what he claims is the largest crowd-funded food project in history.

“This is a huge leap forward for our company.”

The focus will be on dramatically reducing the price of Soylent

The company - which Rhinehart claims is already profitable - will put the cash into long-term R&D and “significantly expanding​” its manufacturing and shipping capabilities (it’s made by Rosa Labs) to meet demand for its "neutral-tasting​" meals, which promise to deliver all the vitamins, minerals and macronutrients you need for less than $10 a day.

 “This process has already begun with two new manufacturers that will ramp up our production to more than fifty times its previous rate allowing us to vigorously tackle our order ​backlog [there is currently a 4-5 month delay for new customers] while working toward imminent real-time shipping fulfillment,” ​said Rhinehart.

Another area of focus according to Andreessen Horowitz general partner Chris Dixon, who is joining Soylent’s board, “will be on dramatically reducing the price of Soylent, from the current $3 per meal to a fraction of that”. 

Woman drinking soylent
“During a typical week there’s several meals I eat alone in front of the TV, weekday dinners mostly. Those were usually fast food, or frozen or canned. So I thought Soylent would be faster, easier, and healthier than what I had been doing before. I still eat out with friends several times a week, and the food at work is actually quite good.” Soylent customer

‘Contrary to the caricature of Soylent as a complete food replacement, it mostly replaces unhealthy meals’

But who is actually eating the stuff, and isn’t food fatigue a huge problem, given that adding a packet of powder to a vial of oil (a combination of canola oil and algal oil delivering the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA) and adding water to make dinner every night seems, well, pretty joyless, not to mention nutritionally suspect?

According to Dixon, that’s missing the point. While you could eat the product exclusively, most customers don’t, he observed in a recent blog post​.

"If you read the Soylent forums you’ll see that – contrary to the caricature of Soylent as a complete food replacement – it mostly replaces unhealthy meals”.

Soylent recipe

The website ​also notes that “Soylent is more of a healthy, convenient and cheap option available as a default when you don't have the time, inclination or money to cook or eat at a restaurant. It can be consumed for every meal, 90% of meals, once a day, or whatever you decide​.”

Meanwhile, the community that Soylent has built up via its discussion forum and DIY Soylent site (where users share their own Soylent recipes) is key to its value, said Dixon.

How many other brands have such a clear understanding of who is buying their product, how they are using it and where they want it to go next?

“Many investors decided not to invest in GoPro because they saw it as a camera company, and camera companies generally get quickly commoditized,” ​added Dixon. “However, investors who properly understood GoPro saw it primarily as a highly engaged community of sports enthusiasts, something that is very hard for competitors to replicate.”

Soylent screengrab
The name Soylent is an inside joke based on a ‘60s sci-fi novel adapted for the 1973 film Soylent Green in which the eponymous food supplement is made from human remains.

If you look at Soylent as just a food company, you misjudge the core of the company

Soylent, similarly, is not just a product, he said, but a “community of people who are enthusiastic about using science to improve food and nutrition. The company makes money selling one version of that improved food (some users buy ‘official Soylent,’ others buy ingredients to make their own DIY Soylent recipe). If you look at Soylent as just a food company, you misjudge the core of the company, the same way you would if you looked at GoPro as just a camera company​.”

Notably, Soylent does no advertising and distributes its products solely through e-commerce, he said. “Soylent’s ‘marketing plan’ is to invest in its online community and in peer-reviewed scientific studies. The belief is that the internet has made people smarter, and that the old tactics of selling junk food using clever advertising will be increasingly ineffective.”

I guess this means $20m is no longer tough to come by in the private equity food space

So what do nutritionists and market researchers make of the product?

Rachel Cheatham, PhD, founder and CEO of consultancy Foodscape Group, told FoodNavigator-USA that she was initially surprised to learn that Soylent had attracted such a large investment: “I guess this means $20m is no longer tough to come by in the private equity food space…”

soylent pack portrait
Customers mix the oil with the powder and add water. The formulation has evolved in recent months. The most recent update, Soylent 1.3, replaces fish oil with algal oil and tries to address digestive issues reported by some customers (flatulence).

However, the community aspect is tantalizing, she said. “The bigger investment at hand is perhaps not really betting on this liquid meal replacement approach to simplifying nutrition, but rather funding an active, engaged online community of potential subscribers who just want food, health and nutrition to be as simple and easy as possible. The community appears to be rather geek chic too as they dialogue about dextrose equivalents and the like.”

Meanwhile, much of the investment money “may wind up going towards Soylent formulation variations to ensure the taste is there, plus getting rid of unwanted ingredients like artificial flavors and sweeteners,” ​she speculated.

However, food fatigue still seemed like a major barrier given the “human need for taste, variety, chewing and experiencing the smells, flavors and textures of a varied diet”, ​she said.

“This is proven out already as the DIY Soylent community is already so active. They are doing things like taking Soylent and using masa harina as the base and calling it the tortilla version. It won't be long till that Soylent user is just back to eating burritos no doubt.”

Where are the phytonutrients?

From a nutritional perspective, meanwhile, she said, “They have taken maltodextrin, rice protein and then some canola and algal oil all mixed in with a bunch of vitamins and minerals. This is basically nutrition reductionism from a product perspective in that the macronutrients and micronutrients are theoretically more or less covered, and one serving is conveniently made to offer 33% of the nutrients inside a third of the pouch and oil. So basically three a day and you’re done.​ [Click here​ for the complete ingredients list and Nutrition Facts.]

“If only it were that easy. I mean think of all the phytonutrients you get from eating fresh whole produce - isothiocyanates, anthocyanidins, and beta-cryptoxanthin. None of those are even in here.”

soylent
Soylent founder Rob Rhinehart: ' In time Soylent will be synthesized directly from light, water, and air with designer microorganisms. Genetic engineering to enhance our microbiome, and eventually ourselves. I don’t know who was the first farmer, but I want to be the last. We will make food so cheap only the rich will cook.'

Datamonitor Consumer: There is something about this that reminds me of Crossfit

Tom Vierhile, innovation insights director at Datamonitor Consumer, said Soylent will “have to be creative to stick around long-term and avoid being a flash in the pan”, ​and wondered if "the easy ability to raise money for this may be evidence of a food bubble".   

Rob Rhinehart Soylent founder and CEO
Founder Rob Rhinehart: 'Two years ago today I decided to bet my life on the idea that food could be empirically rebuilt.'

However, the community aspect is exciting, he added: “There is something about this that reminds me of Crossfit, for some reason. That exercise regimen seems to be very community-based and there are shades of that with Soylent.”

Drinkable snacks, meanwhile, are gaining momentum in the US, said Vierhile, “with breakfast drinks becoming trendy as well as blender-type drinks that can either supplement or replace a meal.  It would be interesting to see how blenders did this holiday season – they were one of the big items that stores like Target were pushing.  This plants the seed of liquefied meals with the consumer.”

Drinkable snacks are gaining momentum

Meanwhile, “younger consumers are much more intrigued by the ‘drinkable snack’ concept than older consumers,” ​he said, which was ironic in that liquid meals such as Ensure are targeted at older people.

“Globally, 52.3% of 15 to 17 year olds (the youngest group we survey) say the idea ​[of drinkable snacks] is 'appealing' versus just 33.7% of the least excited, and oldest, group of consumers – those 65 years of age on up.  So clearly there is a generational difference that may work in Soylent’s favor.”

The price ​is also appealing, he said: “To the extent that Soylent can save consumer’s money, this may be another winner for cash-strapped consumers.”

Click HERE​ to read more about Soylent's latest iteration, version 1.3. 

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3 comments

Soylent...'Green'

Posted by D.Miller,

Similar to a previous post, the first thing that came to mind was the movie Soylent Green, and the famous line that Charlton Heston cries out at the end of the movie. I agree that this may not be the desired Product Name.

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Soylent Green?

Posted by Donnie,

Soylent Green is people. I don't see that ingredient on the Soylent label, tho'. I'm allergic to corn, rapeseed, and have Celiac, so I can't use the product, anyway. LOL

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Soylent 'Green"

Posted by Mark,

Product tie-ins with movies are often useful marketing tools. Soylent Green was used to feed the masses in the movie by the same name. Considering the nature of the Soylent Green porridge from the movie, tie-ins with a new product might not be desired.

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