Danone Manifesto Ventures today announced that it has taken a minority stake in the Hawaii-based company Kona Deep. Kona Deep is creating a new category of premium water with its unique deep ocean water, sourced 3,000 feet below ocean surface in Kona, Hawaii, from a pure source containing natural minerals. Aligned with Danone’s One Planet. One Health strategic vision, Kona Deep shares Danone’s sustainable business agenda and vision of bringing consumers great tasting water with compelling hydration benefits.
After launching in Hawaii in late 2015, Kona Deep has recently expanded onto the U.S. mainland where the demand for premium waters and performance waters is growing rapidly. Hawaiian deep ocean water offers consumers both the purity of a trusted natural source and the benefits of naturally occurring deep ocean electrolytes. Kona Deep is sold primarily in leading grocery and natural food stores.
Danone Manifesto Ventures participated in Kona Deep’s $5.5 million financing round alongside Grand Crossing Capital and local Hawaiian investors.
Kona Deep intends to use the investment to support growth initiatives by expanding distribution, increasing and optimizing production capacity and raising awareness for the Kona Deep ocean water. Kona Deep’s management team, led by CEO Patrick Turpin, will leverage Danone Manifesto Ventures’ resources and expertise, to capitalize on the opportunities ahead.
Danone Manifesto Ventures is the corporate venture unit of Danone. It was created in 2016 to invest in early stage, disruptive food and beverage, and food technology companies. Danone Manifesto Ventures partners with companies that share its vision of a healthy and sustainable future of food and leverages its experience to support its partners’ growth as a collaborative investor.
About Danone Manifesto Ventures (www.danoneventures.com)
Launched at the end of 2016, Danone Manifesto Ventures is the venture unit of Danone, with a mission to invest and support innovative food and beverages companies that share its vision of a healthy and sustainable future. Through this unit, Danone makes investments and provides financial and operational support to its portfolio companies through access to its experienced teams around the world, while preserving the autonomy required to grow their entrepreneurial projects. To this day, Danone Manifesto Ventures has completed several investments including Yooji and Michel et Augustin in France, along with Farmer’s Fridge, AccelFoods and Kona Deep in the United States.
About Danone (www.danone.com)
Dedicated to bringing health through food to as many people as possible, Danone is a leading global food company built on four business lines: Essential Dairy and Plant-Based Products, Early Life Nutrition, Waters and Medical Nutrition. Through its mission and dual commitment to business success and social progress, the company aims to build a healthier future, thanks to better health, better lives and a better world, for all its stakeholders—its more than 100,000 employees, consumers, customers, suppliers, shareholders and all the communities with which it engages. With products being present in over 130 markets, Danone generated sales of approximately €22 billion in 2016. Danone’s brand portfolio includes both international brands (Activia, Actimel, Alpro, Danette, Danonino, Danio, evian, Volvic, Nutrilon/Aptamil, Nutricia) and local brands (Aqua, Blédina, Cow & Gate, Bonafont, Horizon Organic, Mizone, Oikos, Prostokvashino, Silk, Vega). Listed on Euronext Paris and present on the OTCQX market via an ADR (American Depositary Receipt) program, Danone is a component stock of leading social responsibility indexes including the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, Vigeo, the Ethibel Sustainability Index, MSCI Global Sustainability, MSCI Global SRI Indexes and the FTSE4Good Index.
