Clockwise from left: Blue Stripes cocoa products, DMG Ventures logo, and a selection of Tripp CBD-infused drinks. Photo: DMG Media
DMG Media's venture capital arm, DMG Ventures, has made new investments in two food and beverage companies: cocoa pod “upcycling” company Blue Stripes and cannabid oil (CBD) product maker Tripp.
The size of the investment is undisclosed, but it comes as DMG Ventures announces the launch of two new £25m funds. One is the Headline Fund, which aims to support consumer startups from seed to Series A, and the other is the Scale Fund, which was established by DMG Ventures. Through its partnership with DMG Media titles, the company says it will help more established consumer brands “accelerate growth.”
DMG Media publishes news brands including the Daily Mail, Mail Online, Metro, the i, and The New Scientist.
DMG Ventures was founded in 2018 and has since invested in 29 consumer-facing startups, including electric toothbrush brand SURI, racing simulator F1 Arcade and money management app Plum. In line with DMG Ventures' pledge to support portfolio companies through exposure in DMG Media titles, SURI and Plum are written for Mail Online in both direct advertising content and product reviews.
Pure Stripes uses whole cocoa pods to make drinks and food products, setting it apart from typical chocolate companies that only use beans and discard “70% of the cocoa pods.” .
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Meanwhile, Tripp bills itself as the UK's 'number one CBD brand' and is best known for its CBD-infused drink cans, which are widely available in high street stores. CBD can also be extracted from cannabis (not just hemp) and is legal.
Trip suggests that its products can help calm the mind and reduce anxiety and stress, but a review of Trip products published in the Mail Online earlier this year found that stress levels decreased after using the product. No obvious changes were reported.
Manuel Lopo de Carvalho, Managing Partner of DMG Ventures, said:
“Thanks to our unique investment strategy, we are ideally placed to seize opportunities from what we see as transformative changes in the consumer sector.”
Rachel Muzicka, the firm's newly promoted partner, added: Trip is one of the most outstanding startups we've ever seen, but the Blue Stripes team is second to none.
“We are committed to putting DMGT's media brand and its vast global audience behind Tripp and the Blue Stripes.”
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