Food and beverage startups backed by tech investors are having a rough go of it this season, with Juicero all butmelting down and companies like Beyond Meat, Urban Remedy and Soylent recalling products, according to required disclosures on the federal site Foodsafety.gov.
Now, Hampton Creek Foods, a packaged goods company backed by the likes of Horizons, Khosla, andAME Cloud Ventures,is in the midst of a management shakeup.
According to Bloombergs Olivia ZaleskiHampton Creek hasdismissed its chief financial officer and human resources chief along with finance and logisticsstaff.The companys COO, Dave Wengerhoff, is also leaving but will remain as an advisor. Its priorCOO, Andy Rendich, left inthe fall of 2016 according to his own LinkedIn profile.
The Bloomberg report also alleges Hampton Creek was burning a huge amount of money, as much as $10 million per month at one point.We reached out tomultipleHampton Creek investors, and its CEO Josh Tetrick for more information about the startups financialhealth and fundraising status. Sources were not immediatelyavailable to comment.
Hampton Creek CEO Josh Tetrick has come under fire previously forhis management practicesand engaging in buybacks,wherein the company purchased some of its ownproducts from store shelves.
The startupmakes plant-based foods designed to taste likeegg-based counterparts,including mayo, dressings and different flavors of cookies and cookie dough. Its products are sold to commercial kitchens and at retailers like Target, Whole Foods and other major groceries.
One reason it has drawn the support of venture firms that normally invest in cutting-edge tech is that Hampton Creek has promised to use big data analytics to develop itsformulations, and to amass a huge set of data about plant-derived proteins.
Its products gained enough traction in the US market that the startup wastargeted by theAmerican Egg Board in 2015. The USDA-affiliated organization promotes eggs usingfunds supplied by industry compatriots.
Instead of promoting egg commodities broadly, as it was authorizedto do, the American Egg Board used its fundstoshow ads topeople who were searching for info about Hampton Creek products online.Egg board employeesalso exchanged cavalier emails threatening the startupand Josh Tetrick.
Tetrick told Fortune magazine earlier this week thathis startup has attained a $1.1 billion valuation, making it a unicorn. Ithas not disclosed exactly how much venture capital and possibly venture debt financing it has raised to-date.
Tetrick sent a statement to media, including TechCrunch, about the recent dismissals and new hires at his firm. He said:
These peoplemade us a better company while they were here. Some changes were madedue to structural reasons and some changes were made due toperformance reasons. Out of respect for the individuals who helpedbuild this company, we wont comment further.
According to a company spokesperson, Hampton Creek employs about 140 full-time today.Despite itsissues, Hampton Creek is stilldrawing in talent. Itsincoming CFO and COO is Erez Shima, who previously worked at Stratasys, and its newCMO and revenue officer Brian Irving previously worked at Apple, Google and Airbnb, for example.
Corrections: An earlier version of this story incorrectly listed Memphis Meat among companies that had issued product recalls. That company was Beyond Meat.
