College Savings App UNest Buys Littlefund, Doubling Its User Base
UNest, a mobile app that helps parents build college nest eggs for their kids, announced Wednesday it has acquired Littlefund, a similar app that will double UNest's user base to over 60,000 people. The integration will also make it so extended family members and friends can contribute directly to a UNest account on behalf of a child.
"Both are applying a modern, technology-driven approach to making financial solutions more affordable, accessible and user-friendly for a new generation of parents," said Ksenia Yudina, chief executive officer and founder of UNest, in a written statement. "Our teams share the same values and there is a lot of synergy in terms of vision and demographics."
Yudina, who was previously a senior executive at Capital Group, said she got the idea for UNest after seeing that her millennial friends having babies did not know how to invest in college savings plans and were put off by the stacks of paperwork that traditionally have been required.
UNest makes the investing simpler. It charges users a $3 monthly advisory fee for the service that funnels cash into 529 plans, an investment tool that provides tax breaks for college savings. It also offers trust accounts for minors.
The deal comes after UNest closed an oversubscribed $9 million Series A financing in June at a $25 million, post money valuation, according to Pitchbook data. The round was led by Anthos Capital, which also made an introduction to NBA All-Star Baron Davis, who ended up becoming an investor in the company and a brand representative.
UNest, which is headquartered in North Hollywood, launched in February and says it has seen "rapid growth" in users during the pandemic as the savings rate increased and families focused on long-term savings goals.
Following the completion of the acquisition, Littlefund founders Mimi Chan and Isaac Dressman will join UNest as head of experience and head of research and development, respectively. They are currently based in San Francisco but are planning to relocate to L.A. when employees can go back into the office.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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Daring Foods wants to do for plant-based chicken what Beyond Meat and the Impossible Burger did for faux meat: Take it mainstream and, in the process, convert a few carnivores.
The Los Angeles-based company just raised $8 million and is about to launch its newest product: Plant-based protein "chicken" tenders.
<p>Originally conceived in the United Kingdom in 2018, the founders moved to New York after U.S. investors showed interest at the end of last year.</p><p>Soon after, co-founders Ross Mackay (CEO ) and Eliott Kessas (COO) decided to move full time to Los Angeles, joining El Segundo-based Beyond Meat and other plant-based startups that have found a receptive market in the region's health-conscious residents. </p><p>"L.A. is really the capital of health and wellness. And I was very inspired by a lot of CPG (consumer packaged goods) brands here," said Mackay, who moved in March. </p><p>Los Angeles has long been a hub of food experimentation, as restaurants and bars embraced vegan options long before chain restaurants like Burger King and Starbucks added faux meat to the menu. </p><p>It was here that Mackay and Kessas found a natural fit for their lifestyle. </p><p>"We've been friends for more than 10 years and really shared a passion for health, nutrition, but also plant- based diet," Mackay said. "The business was really built for a real need: We were consuming a lot of other plant based meats on the market and thought that there was a gap... particularly in the chicken forum."</p><p><br/></p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDQzMTU0MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MTc2NTk4NH0.wV7fo_qxfzAc08SAe2FEtcE4Dnham_PJvOUrGVXOwjA/image.jpg?width=980" id="c1c4e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d0105755d145437b45b53483baf8f0bf" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p><a href="https://www.ubs.com/global/en/wealth-management/marketnews/home/article.1441202.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Analysts are projecting</a> the plant-based protein and meat alternative market to grow to $85 billion by 2030, and Daring is looking to compete with their plant-based chicken. Beyond and other imitation meat makers have similar products, but none have broken through.</p><p>Late last year, Darling struck a distribution deal with Arizona-based Sprouts Farmers Market. Darling's original, cajun, and lemon-and-herb flavored pieces are now sold in Sprouts, Gelson's, Bristol Farms and Fresh Thyme, but the company still offers them to consumers directly through their website.</p><p>The fresh round of funding will help Daring expand their 12-person team as they look to establish outposts on the East and West coasts. </p>
<p>Meanwhile the company will boost its marketing efforts as it readies to sell their breaded chicken-like products in stores on October 1st.</p><p>The series A funding is led by Maveron with additional support from GoodFriends, Stray Dog Capital, Palm Tree Crew Investments and private investors Mike Smith and Brian Swette.</p><p>Daring hopes to use their products to help educate people on the health benefits of consuming plant-based products and promote alternatives to chicken farming, which has been criticized as cruel.</p><p>With the pandemic, they see an opening.</p><p>"Without doubt, COVID as a whole has placed an emphasis on the importance of health," said Mackay. "And if you double down on that, what we put in our body in particular animal protein has been questioned. So consumers have looked for alternatives to meat. And of course, steering being available both online and in stores, and groceries, it's actually improved our sell through rate in retail."</p>Related Articles Around the Web
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As soon as I stepped into the new Amazon Fresh store in Woodland Hills an employee asked if I wanted to shop with a regular cart or use their 'dash cart.'
The 35,000 square foot store that opened to the public on Friday is Amazon's first so-called smart grocery store as the e-commerce giant attempts to remake in-person shopping and push into the supermarket space.
<p>The dash cart is the center of that effort. The toy-like cart has a screen in the middle of the handles that walks you through a tutorial on how to process the different items and which also allows you to see the total price of your trip as you're shopping. It's bright green and black and smaller than your average grocery cart with no place for the dangling legs of a toddler. </p><p>I grabbed the dash cart. To start I had to open my Amazon app to sync it to the cart. </p><p>I held my account's QR code in front of a camera affixed to the cart and once scanned, the cart made a pinging sound and told me I could start shopping. Now everything I put in the cart would be charged to my account.</p><p>The cart is not required, though. And shoppers can still opt to go through a checkout stand with a clerk. </p><p>Amazon Fresh opened their store to the public last week after previously being invitation only.</p><p>The Woodland Hills location at 6245 Topanga Canyon Blvd is likely a window into the future of Amazon grocery shopping. It allows customers to shop in-store, pick up Amazon Fresh online orders within the hour and even includes a return drop off center. It comes in the middle of a pandemic in which the online retailer has seen their grocery sales triple year-over-year.</p><p>At the same time, growth of their Prime membership which is key to the grocery store experience is accelerating.</p>
<p><br/></p><p>When I arrived on a Monday morning, the aisles were eerily quiet. Clerks that normally stock aisles or buzz around the cash register were nearly non-existent. But Alexa seemed to be everywhere.</p><p>She's also available at different stands throughout the store to help customers locate specific items.</p><p>The store has a variety of produce, a meat and seafood section, and even a kitchen area where you can pick up prepared items like sushi or pizza. It felt like Whole Foods cafeteria-like layout but a bit less expensive. The chicken tenders looked especially appealing.</p><p>The different aisles carry your typical brand name items like Quakers and Coca-Cola, but there's often signs pointing out items that are locally grown and produced. Across the store, Amazon had their own packaged goods sprinkled throughout, including in the meat and seafood section, which was filled with Fresh-branded options.</p><p>Fresh produce has a number code that needs to be entered into the monitor on the dash cart, once detected and placed in the cart it weighs the item to give the total price. Barcode items are scanned as you place them in the cart through the use of the cameras and sensors placed in the front area of the cart.</p><p>Both options release a ding sound to let you know the item has been added correctly, but the process is hardly seamless. I had to re-enter items like my strawberry flavored Chobani a few times until the cart was able to detect it.</p><p>The cart itself was very small as it can only hold two bags before overflowing with items which is not ideal for a family looking to shop for a week's worth of groceries.</p><p>Yet, the simplicity of the checkout almost felt unreal. To checkout, all I had to do was walk through the dash cart lane. Once I walked over a mat, an automated message appeared on my cart monitor showing my bill. That was it. I was done. But the experience was so new, I wasn't even sure that I paid. I asked the clerk, 'Oh, is that it?" Yep, he replied and told me to watch my email for a receipt.</p><p>I grabbed my bags and walked out, having minimal interaction with humans.</p>
Inside Amazon Fresh Grocery Store
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDQyODU0MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMzYxNDQ5NH0.WV1TIlVYmQGPwqGMXoMOU3Ib5ftm1mse7xbXwfYhW8o/image.jpg?width=980" id="86c7d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ee49b38adfcaefd8ddf853e5d5c30cfd" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
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Sabrina Kay, PhD., is a serial entrepreneur, investor, fashion designer and philanthropist.
Born in South Korea, Kay moved to the U.S. with her family at 18. As a recent immigrant who barely spoke English, she became a janitor to help make ends meet and enrolled in a local college to pursue the education she always dreamed of.
By the age of 20, Kay dropped out of school and was a single mother who was solely focused on creating a better life for her future daughter.
<p>In less than a decade, she founded the Art Institute of Hollywood, grew it to one of the big four fashion colleges in North America, and sold it for 8-figures — making her a multimillionaire in her 30s. </p><p>Although she had more than enough money to retire, she decided to go back to school to earn her MBA and Ph.D. </p><p>While in graduate school, Kay continued her entrepreneurial journey by founding and selling multiple businesses, including a fashion line, a community bank and an accredited graduate-level college institution.</p><p><em>Want more? Subscribe to Behind Her Empire on <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/behind-her-empire" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Stitcher</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/behind-her-empire/id1514068478" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6hn08EnS8Vh3RLMZVqpjyM?si=XTfbhXDkS3mnoJourSTk4g" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spotify</a> <a href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-behind-her-empire-63368006/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">iHeart Radio</a> or wherever you get your podcasts.</em><br/></p>
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