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MEXICO CITY — Bimbo Ventures, the venture capital arm of Grupo Bimbo SAB de CV, has made a minority investment in Olyra Foods, a Wilmington, Del.-based producer of organic and nutritional breakfast biscuits made with stone milled ancient Greek grains. Financial terms of the funding were not disclosed.
Olyra Foods was founded in 2017 by Yannis Varellas. Mr. Varellas, who also is chief executive officer of Olyra, drew on inspiration from his family’s grain mill in Thrace, Greece, to create a line of biscuits that include barley, oats, spelt and lupine. The biscuits are organic and non-GMO and feature 4 grams of fiber, 5 grams of protein and 6 grams of sugar per serving.
The company’s first products were crunchy breakfast biscuits in flavors such as hazelnut carob, cinnamon tahini and fig anise. Over the past several years Olyra has expanded its offerings to include sandwich breakfast biscuits in double chocolate, hazelnut cocoa and Greek yogurt blueberry varieties, and more recently, filled breakfast biscuits in peanut butter, almond butter and double chocolate flavors.
Olyra distributes its products online and in more than 5,000 retail locations across the United States. The investment from Bimbo Ventures will be used to fund Olyra’s expansion in retail and online marketplaces, the company said.
“Olyra, in a very authentic way, has tapped into a consumer need for more nutritious and delicious breakfast solutions,” said Constantino Matouk, vice president of Bimbo Ventures. “We are excited to work with them to help grow the business and expand availability of Olyra’s products to more consumers.”
Bimbo Ventures was established in April 2017 as a new area of Grupo Bimbo that aims to strengthen the relationship with joint ventures and to identify and develop startups with disruptive technology or ideas, particularly in areas such as ingredients, manufacturing, commercial, distribution and new products. In addition to Olyra, Bimbo Ventures has made minority investments in Jüsto, a Latin American e-grocery store; LiveKuna, a vertically integrated supplier of gluten-free snacks and pantry staples; and Rule Breaker Snacks, a maker of vegan, gluten-free, allergen-friendly snacks.
“These past few years have been exciting as we’ve worked toward offering consumers new nutritional breakfast options,” Mr. Varellas said. “We are looking forward to working with Bimbo Ventures as we continue our growth and expansion into the market.”
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