Nick Foles Invests in Mantra Labs
NFL quarterback Nick Foles has invested in functional powdered beverage brand Mantra Labs and will serve as an athletic advisor and brand ambassador for the Austin, Texas-based startup as it expands its reach online and with pro athletes.
Unbeknownst to the company, Foles had been an early adopter of Mantra after discovering the brand within its first month selling online direct-to-consumer in 2020, founder and CEO Paul Janowitz told BevNET. The Super Bowl MVP’s agent approached Mantra late last year about getting involved with the brand and officially closed the investment last month. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“The funny thing is we thought they were reaching out to get an endorsement, and we’re like, ‘Yeah, we don’t really do paid engagement,’” Janowitz said. “They said ‘No, no, Nick loves the company and loves the product and wants to be involved in a real meaningful way.’”
Foles’ investment is part of an ongoing funding round that Janowitz said will likely close later this year, but the quarterback is already getting involved in promoting Mantra within the NFL and helping develop new products. The brand previously closed a $1.5 million seed round last year.
While Foles is the only player at the moment to be officially affiliated with Mantra, the company is actively courting athletes as customers. Janowitz noted that the company made a number of connections earlier this year through local Austin gym Kollective, which hosted several players for an event.
“People like [New York Giants receiver] Alex Bachman and others have become huge fans of the Mantra Hydration products as well as our Go for working out and then Rest, especially when they’re recovering or traveling between games, as that sleep and recovxery is paramount,” he said. “So it’s kind of grown organically inside the league like that.”
Mantra’s full product line of functional powdered drinks is Informed Sport certified and Janowitz said that Foles is now advising the company on its R&D to develop more efficacious products.
“As we’re building new formulas, we’ll be doing new products based on a lifetime of learning of Nick,” he said. “Having every single supplement brand and ingredient at his fingertips, he’s realized most of it doesn’t work, and knows what works really well and what combinations work even better. So we’ll be working on some exciting new stuff.”
The brand is available via ecommerce as well as taking “ginger steps” into independent retail accounts in Texas, including wellness and running stores around Austin, Janowitz said, however he said that Mantra is in discussions to launch with a national retail partner this summer.
Mantra is also expanding its marketing efforts this year; this month the company brought on former Daysmith Coffee marketing manager Sarah Kleiman as its director of social and community.
“We’re still heavily focused on our DTC side and really growing that customer community that people want to be a part of,” Janowitz said. “But being at the mercy of an algorithm is not a great way to run a business. So we have doubled and tripled down in both people like Nick who believe in the brand and that can accelerate the brand, and [thinking about] how we continue to engage with our customers in a meaningful way around the mission of better nutrition and mental health.”
Bala Rolls Out Into Retail
As online sales rise triple digits year-over-year, California-based functional powder maker Bala is expanding its footprint in brick-and-mortar retail across the country.
Founded in 2019 by husband and wife dental surgeons Arash Aftabi and Farnoush Fadavi, Bala produces a line of powdered plant-based enzyme drinks intended to support hydration and muscle recovery and alleviate inflammation, aches and pain. Working with a third party biochemist, Fadavi helped develop the products based on her experiences prescribing plant enzymes to her dental patients after surgery to reduce swelling.
The single-serve sticks are available in berry, pineapple and lime flavors and contain turmeric, bromelain from pineapple and papain from papaya. Online the powders are available in 10-packs for $17.99 and 30-packs for $44.99.
Speaking with BevNET, Aftabi and Fadavi said that although the brand faced early challenges during the first year of the pandemic, Bala’s focus on health and wellness has helped it to achieve fast-paced sales growth, with online revenue for Q1 up 195% year-over-year and up 59% quarter-over-quarter. Returning customer order rates have increased 99% in the past year.
The brand has now partnered with Threshold Enterprises to service retail distribution and will launch in 379 Sprouts stores nationwide in August. With a focus on the natural channel, Bala is also available in Bristol Farms, Mother’s Market, Lazy Acres, Wild By Nature and Green Natural and is pending category review at Kroger.
Aftabi noted that the shift in focus towards retail came in March during Natural Products Expo West 2022, when he and Fadavi met with representatives from Sprouts and Kroger.
For retail, Bala is producing an 8-pack which will sell for $14.49 and the sticks are also labeled for individual sale at checkout counters, Aftabi said.
“If you want to make a national brand, you need to have a presence eventually in brick-and-mortar,” Aftabi said. “That’s why we decided, looking at other brands and other companies, it was time for us. Sprouts was the one who approached us to pitch to them and then we realized that it’s the right time for the brand to get into brick-and-mortar.”
The small company has now built a senior leadership team of pharmaceutical and food and beverage industry veterans, including biotech executive Terrence Tormey as chief commercial officer, former Celsius EVP of marketing Matthew Kahn as brand manager, former Advantage Solutions manager Karyn McCarthy as head of sales, and digital marketing and ecommerce director Mo Hassan as head of ecommerce.
Bala has been financially bootstrapped to date, with Aftabi and Fadavi investing over $1 million into establishing the brand. Now, Aftabi said the brand is seeking outside investors to support its growth. However, even as Bala picks up momentum, he said the company intends to take a cautious approach to expansion.
“Everyone tells us ‘Don’t go too wide, too fast, you need to be cautious in retail, it’s expensive to play, and you need to be conservative and make sure you capture a few retail stores at the time, get some momentum, get some velocity and then scale the brand,’” he said. “So we just don’t want to go too wide, too fast. So we just want to use the reviews that we have and get some result under our belt and make sure that we make sure that the brand moves on the shelf.”