Evansville pizza crust maker lands additional seed funding
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Evansville-based ZeroCarb Lyfe announced Wednesday it has secured an additional $3.2 million in seed funding, bringing its total amount to more than $5 million.
The company produces low-carb, high-protein pizza crusts and pre-made pizzas, and said the funding will help further its national expansion and fuel new food products.
The new investment comes from venture capital and angel investors, as well as NFL and NBA athletes, though specific names were not provided.
“We are grateful for the support of investors who share our vision to grow our business in a strategic way,” Omar Atia, co-founder and CEO of ZeroCarb Lyfe, said in a news release. “We appreciate everyone’s confidence in our approach to introducing our products in various markets, and we are always excited to meet more investors and strategic partners who may help us grow our business exponentially.”
The company was founded in April 2020 by Atia, a Purdue University graduate, Chief Growth Officer John Pena, a graduate of the Purdue@WestGate Firestarter program, and Mohamed Aly, who originally created the pizza crust.
ZeroCarb Lyfe’s pizza crust is made from four main ingredients: chicken breast, olive oil, salt and spices. The company bills its product as gluten free, diabetic friendly and keto friendly.
The new funding comes in addition to the oversubscribed $1.5 million seed funding round the company secured last July. Since its inception, ZeroCarb Lyfe’s products are now available on menus in more than 300 restaurants and in over 480 retail stores across the country.
A spokesperson told IIB the company had $650,000 in revenue in 2021, which grew to $1.8 million in 2022. ZeroCarb Lyfe plans to use the funding to expand its B2B distribution footprint nationwide.
“We have laid the foundation to really start going after scale as a business,” the company said in an email to IIB. “Our biggest focus in 2023 is to expand our distribution network. We are currently in 18 distribution houses around the country where we have proved success and expect to be in over 50 by the end of the year. Growing our retail presence this year will also significantly improve our distribution footprint.”
The company currently has 22 full-time employees and plans to add 2-3 more jobs this year.
The quest for growth continues for ZeroCarb Lyfe, which said it plans to begin a Series A round of funding in 2024.