Snack brand SMPL secures investment from Zell Founders Fund

US-based organic snack brand SMPL has secured an investment from Zell Founders Fund, a student-led venture fund in the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of Michigan.

The seed investment of $100,000 in SMPL is expected to drive the organic snack brand into New York City health and fitness scene.

SMPL snack brand was founded in 2016 by the health and fitness enthusiast Ellis Fried.

Funds will be used by the company to expand distribution, as well as advance branding and marketing efforts.

Fried said: “I founded SMPL out of my personal dissatisfaction with the energy bars on the market, they were either filled with sugar, didn’t deliver on taste or I never wanted to finish the entire bar at once.”

SMPL has also launched its new snack brand, introducing a line of organic superfood bites.

The snack brand use a blend of organic fruit, nuts, and superfoods in a single-serve resalable package for convenient on-the-go consumption.

SMPL sells its products online and through lifestyle retail stores including juice bars, fitness studios, speciality grocers and athleisure apparel stores.

Zell Lurie Institute executive director Stewart Thornhill said: “Ellis has shown great initiative and promise as an entrepreneur, and we’re proud to have supported him at every step of the journey.

“We’re committed to helping him on his mission to make healthy eating convenient, and we look forward to his future successes.”

Last month, the Zell Lurie Founders Fund made a $100,000 seed investment in Chicago-based Mindwell Snacks, which manufactures and markets jerky made from plants.