Loading organizations...

Partake Foods is a technology company.
Partake Foods produces allergy-friendly baked goods, including cookies, mini cookies, vanilla wafers, and grahams. Their products are gluten-free, vegan, non-GMO, and intentionally free from the top nine major food allergens. This precise formulation ensures safe, wholesome snack options, designed to meet diverse dietary requirements without compromise.
Denise Woodard founded Partake Foods in 2016, motivated by her daughter Vivi's severe food allergies. She recognized a significant market void for truly safe, delicious, and healthy snacks. This insight led Woodard to leave her corporate career in 2017, personally developing Partake to address this critical need for inclusive food choices.
Partake serves families and individuals managing food allergies or seeking inclusive, health-conscious snacks. Its vision is to cultivate a food landscape where delicious and safe options are universally available. This dedication to accessibility and well-being guides product innovation, fostering a more equitable snacking experience for all.
Partake Foods has raised $17.5M across 3 funding rounds.
Partake Foods has raised $17.5M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Partake Foods has raised $17.5M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Partake Foods's investors include Black Capital, Black Star Fund, CircleUp, Cleveland Avenue, Fearless Fund, FF2032, Kaya Ventures, Marcy Venture Partners, Supply Change Capital, Celesta, Shawn Modarresi, Lightspeed Venture Partners.
Partake Foods is a consumer packaged goods (CPG) company specializing in allergy-friendly baked snacks and mixes, not a technology company. Founded in 2016, it produces cookies, baking mixes, pancake & waffle mixes, and other items that are free from the top 8-14 allergens (including dairy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, soy, fish, shellfish), gluten-free, vegan, non-GMO, with 20-30% less sugar, and higher fiber/protein via fruits and vegetables.[1][2][3][9] It serves families with dietary restrictions, addressing the lack of tasty, safe options for the 32 million Americans with food allergies, and has scaled to 9,000+ retail stores like Whole Foods, Target, Walmart, Kroger, and Sprouts, plus Amazon.[4][5] Growth includes 200% YoY in 2021, 100% in 2022, 10x in 2020, total funding of $28.34M (latest $9.26M Series B-II ~1 year ago), and team expansion from 1 to 20 employees.[1][4][5]
Partake Foods was founded in 2016 by Denise Woodard in Jersey City, NJ (previously New York), inspired by her infant daughter Vivienne's severe allergies to nuts, eggs, corn, and bananas, after Woodard left her Coca-Cola career.[2][3][4][7] Woodard experimented in her kitchen with nanny Martha, failing initially due to poor market alternatives heavy in rice, gums, and sugars, then partnered with a developer for better recipes.[2] She bootstrapped via Kickstarter in 2017, sold three crunchy cookie flavors from her car to NYC grocers, maxed credit cards, emptied her 401(k), and sold her engagement ring by 2018, landing Whole Foods shelves without initial VC.[7] Early traction built to 350 stores by 2020, pivoting to soft-baked cookies, mixes, and expansions like pizza crust.[2][3]
Partake rides the CPG trend toward inclusive, health-focused snacking amid rising food allergy prevalence (32M Americans) and demand for clean-label, plant-based products, amplified by post-pandemic home baking and e-commerce.[2][3][5] Timing aligns with retail giants like Target/Walmart expanding allergen-free aisles and consumer shift to lower-sugar/vegan options, fueling 100-200% growth outpacing categories.[4][5] It influences the ecosystem by proving bootstrapped, mission-led brands (especially BIPOC-led) can disrupt Big Food, securing high-profile funding and nationwide distribution, while prioritizing regenerative practices via peers like Snacktivist Foods.[1][3]
Partake's momentum—recent Series B-II funding, product expansions (e.g., breakfast/pizza mixes), and #2 allergy-friendly growth ranking—positions it for further retail penetration, international push, and category diversification like savory snacks.[1][5][6] Trends like allergy awareness, veganism, and "lifting as we climb" inclusivity will propel it, potentially challenging incumbents as team scales beyond 20.[4][5] Its evolution from car-sales to CPG powerhouse underscores how personal necessity sparks market transformation, making safe snacking standard rather than niche.
Partake Foods has raised $17.5M across 3 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $11.5M Series B in October 2022.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 4, 2022 | $11.5M Series B | Black Capital, Black Star Fund, CircleUp, Cleveland Avenue, Fearless Fund, FF2032, Kaya Ventures, Marcy Venture Partners, Supply Change Capital | |
| Jan 1, 2021 | $5.0M Series A | ||
| Jun 1, 2019 | $1.0M Seed | Celesta, Shawn Modarresi, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Marcy Venture Partners, Sacramento Angels, Jay Z, Wayne Chang |