Venture Beat is reporting that Soylent, a meal-replacement startup, is raising $10 million lead by investor Andreessen Horowitz. According to Re/Code, Soylent has previously raised $1.5 million in funding from Lerer Hippeau Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. With this new round of funding, Soylent’s valuation is estimated at $100 million.
The search to find and create balanced meals at low cost is a common human endeavor. CEO Rob Rhinehart was no stranger to this experience, living off of Ramen and frozen Costco meals as a recent college graduate. Soylent was created from a need to find a simple, nutritious food source. It is a shake consisting of 100% of the daily value of necessary vitamins, minerals, and macronutrients obtained from normal meals. Classified as a food (not a supplement) by the FDA, Soylent reports that they are a “healthy, easy, and affordable drink.” At about $3 per meal, Soylent offers a cost-effective meal alternative.
When naming his shake, it seems Rhinehart hoped to draw a connection to the sci-fi film “Soylent Green,” in which the population of a dystopian and over-polluted earth survives off of processed crackers called, “Soylent Green” which was purportedly made of plankton, but was really made of human remains. We’ve looked at Soylent open source recipe and we can confirm that there are no human remains listed in the ingredients, although perhaps they’re trying to throw us off the scent.
Soylent has faced some controversy, namely from those who question its legitimacy as a long-term food replacement. With the recent funding, Soylent aims to continue to develop an improved formula, and further verify its nutritional benefits as a bona fide meal replacement.
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