MooBella, Inc. Closes $18M in Series A Funding
Company Positioned for Commercial Roll-Out of Make-Your-Own Instant Ice Cream Machines
TAUNTON, Mass -- MooBella® Inc., which marries innovative technology with the world's most popular dessert, ice cream, today announced it has secured $18 million in Series A funding from W. Health L.P., a venture fund managed by Inventages. MooBella's multi-patented technology allows consumers to make-their-own fresh, hard-scoop ice cream in just 40 seconds.
This funding has positioned the Company to execute its initial market launch, beginning with the deployment of20its first 100 commercial machines. With the completion of this round of funding, the Company has transitioned its corporate structure from MooBella LLC to MooBella, Inc.; moving from research and development to a commercial enterprise.
"By again joining forces with Inventages, a world-class and experienced investor, we have successfully completed an exhaustive development process and have positioned the Company to begin a commercial launch later this year," said Bruce Ginsberg, President and Chief Executive Officer of MooBella, Inc. "Our immediate focus is to launch MooBella machines in 100 selective high traffic locations throughout New England within the next six months. We look forward to changing the premium ice cream experience for consumers and foodservice operators, one scoop at a time."
MooBella, Inc. lets consumers "make their own" fresh, hard-scoop ice cream in just 40 seconds. Consumers can choose from 96 possible combinations via a computer touch screen, and in three easy steps, make their own ice cream from a menu of two ice cream varieties (e.g., Premium and Light), twelve flavors and three mix-ins. MooBella ice cream is made with 100 percent all natural, real dairy ingredients. The MooBella Ice Creamery has been designed to be extremely simple for customers to operate and is also very space efficient, at less than 10 square feet - about the size of a household refrigerator.
"In this challenging economic climate, only the best and most innovative companies are securing funding," said Erich Sieber, partner at Inventages and a member of the MooBella, Inc. Board of Directors. Geneva-based Inventages is one of the world's largest life-sciences, nutrition and wellness focused venture capital funds with $1.5 billion under management. "MooBella has the potential to affect a paradigm shift in the ice-cream industry, by changing the supply chain. It will allow the manufacturing and distribution of ice cream at ambient temperature without a major investment in assets. And because consumers make it fresh, on the spot, they know they are getting the highest quality ice cream. We're pleased to continue working alongside the expert team at MooBella, Inc. We believe in the people, the technology and the business plan behind this great product," Sieber continued.
MooBella, Inc. also provides a radical supply chain breakthrough by completely eliminating the need for traditional and costly frozen supply chain, thereby increasing, dramatically, the potential points of retail distribution.
Since the 2006 introduction of the initial prototype machines-which garnered awards and significant national press attention- the company has totally re-engineered the initial prototype and expanded the senior management team to include industry leaders with global experience in engineering, marketing and food science. Equally important, MooBella, Inc. has joined forces with IDEX Corporation (NYSE: IEX), a leader in sophisticated specialty machinery, to develop, manufacture and provide technical service for the first generation of commercial machines.
About Inventages
Inventages (www.inventages.com) is one of the largest venture capital/private equity firms specializing in life sciences, with more than $1.5 billion under management. Inventages' investment focus includes innovative food, nutrition, nutraceuticals, medical food, cosmeceuticals, pharmaceuticals, consumer20relationship management processes and novel packaging technologies. Inventages is operating out of four offices around the globe, Geneva, London, Auckland and Nassau.
About MooBella, Inc.
MooBella, Inc. (www.moobella.com) has developed a revolutionary, disruptive technology that has the potential to transform and expand the nearly $60 billion ice cream industry. It enables instantaneous aeration, flavoring and freezing of ice cream into scoops of premium hard ice cream within seconds, and thereby eliminating the frozen supply chain. MooBella, Inc. has received the INNY Award from the San Jose, California-based Tech Museum of Innovation, the 2006 Kitchen InnovationsTM award from the National Restaurant Association and was honored by the Food Network as a recipient of the first annual Food Network Award. MooBella, Inc. has also been featured in top-tier publications including Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, USAToday, Fortune, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe and showcased on "Good Morning America", "Rachel Ray", the "Profile Series" hosted by Louis Gossett Jr. and a number of Food Network Shows including "The Secret Life of..." and "Unwrapped". MooBella® is a registered trademark of MooBella, Inc.