On-Trend | ZeroCarb Lyfe

Have you ever had cardboard pizza? You know what I’m talking about, trying to be healthy, you picked up the “cauliflower” crust pizza at the store, only for your brain to recall, “hmm, this is exactly what cardboard would taste like wet and put in the oven.” Well, no fear: healthy Friday-night pizza night is back on, with taste and texture you will love.

A Health-Conscious Market on the Rise

The rise of the consumer health food industry is a fascinating story driven by a confluence of factors, most notably a global shift toward health consciousness and well-being. Drivers of this shift include:

• Increased health awareness: Consumers are increasingly aware of the link between diet and health, fueled by growing media coverage, public health campaigns, and accessible health information. This has led to greater demand for food perceived as healthier and more nutritious.
• Focus on preventative health: The rising cost of healthcare is prompting people to prioritize preventative measures, including a healthy diet. Interest has shifted toward preventive ingredients like antioxidants, probiotics, and whole grains.
• Personalized nutrition: Advancements in scientific research and data analytics are paving the way for personalized nutrition. Consumers increasingly opt for products tailored to their specific dietary needs and goals.
• Lifestyle trends: The popularity of fitness, wellness, and mindfulness practices has further ignited demand for health-conscious food choices. Consumers want convenient, flavorful options that fit active lifestyles.
• Environmental concerns: Growing concern about climate change and sustainability is influencing food choices. Consumers increasingly turn to organic, locally sourced, and ethically produced foods.

Welcome to the Dinner Table, ZeroCarb Lyfe

One of our fastest-growing Render Capital portfolio companies in Indiana makes an incredibly tasty ZeroCarb Lyfe pizza crust and a newly launched shelf-stable chip. The remarkable thing about ZeroCarb Lyfe is, as you could tell by the name, there are zero carbohydrates. This isn’t one of those fake, lab-style, 3D-printed foods. This is real food: a real pizza crust with zero carbs, packed with protein. Impossible, you say? Because of their unique process, ZeroCarb is made of only four simple ingredients: chicken, eggs, salt, and pepper.

There were many key reasons we made the investment in ZeroCarb Lyfe. Many of them lie in the underlying and growing market trends around healthy eating:

• Organic food sales are booming. According to the USDA, the organic food market in the US reached $58 billion in 2023, showing a steady growth trajectory.
• Plant-based alternatives are gaining traction. Vegan and vegetarian options are expanding beyond niche markets, driven by ethical considerations, health benefits, and growing taste variety.
• Functional foods are on the rise. Foods enriched with additional health benefits (like probiotics, omega-3 fatty acids, and prebiotics) are gaining popularity.
• Convenience is key. Busy lifestyles drive demand for ready-to-eat, healthy options like meal kits, pre-portioned snacks, and frozen meals with nutritional value.
• Technology is playing a role. Online platforms and apps enable consumers to research healthier food options, connect with local farmers, and track their dietary choices.

On top of the market movement, the founding team has deep expertise in food manufacturing and growing brands, so much so that they already have patents awarded and ongoing for their products, which secures their ability to be a strong candidate for both hyper-growth and acquisition.

Dots on a Line

Other key pieces of not only “why now” but why we continue to be big fans of ZeroCarb are their growth patterns. They penned a massive deal with Fresh Thyme across the US, and if you’re in Indiana, they’re in every single Fresh Thyme store throughout the Hoosier state.

Many of the best founding teams and companies we ultimately invest in do something we call “putting dots on a line.” It’s a simple analogy, but it’s a great tactic for startups sending investor updates to investors who might later write a larger check into a later-stage round, like we did with ZeroCarb. The same is true when a venture firm says something like “we’d like to see more traction” or “while we won’t be investing in this round, please add us to your investor updates.”

This “dots on a line” mentality is incredibly important, because the number-one job venture capitalists have, aside from making their investors a major return on capital, is to minimize the risk of those investments so they can reach their full potential. A key piece of that is working with founding teams who are able to (1) project where they’re going with the resources they have, (2) reach those projections with those resources consistently, and (3) ask for additional resources to get to their next set of projections. Then comes step four: founders getting those resources, because investors have seen repeatedly through monthly or quarterly updates that the team can set an aggressively attainable goal, achieve it, and manage resources well to get there. The ZeroCarb team consistently does this, which is why we’ve invested in them twice.

Owning the Supply Chain

Another key differentiating factor in why we invested in ZeroCarb Lyfe is their ability to control their supply chain. This is critical, especially post-COVID, when supply chains broke and became unreliable. ZeroCarb isn’t a healthy-food research firm that farms its products out to a myriad of unknown manufacturers where it couldn’t readily control quality, output, and price. From the very beginning, ZeroCarb chose to own its own manufacturing facility, which has been key to meeting the rapidly growing demand from direct-to-consumer sales and from expansion into business-to-business sales through grocers and markets like Fresh Thyme.

It also lets them rapidly prototype and immediately scale production of new products, like their newly launched shelf-stable chips, made from chicken breast meat. They taste great, they’re healthy, and unlike stale, oil-fried potato chips, they actually fill you up: one bag has 14 grams of protein.

With offices in New Albany, Evansville, and Fishers (manufacturing), Indiana, ZeroCarb is a Hoosier company through and through, a testament to Hoosier ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit. With unique and delicious products, the company is not only satisfying the cravings of carb-conscious consumers but also carving a path toward a healthier future of food choices.