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Simple Mills provides clean-label food products, including baking mixes, crackers, and cookies, utilizing nutrient-dense, simple ingredients. Thoughtful processing ensures offerings are minimally processed and free from artificial additives. This delivers wholesome, health-conscious, and delicious alternatives to consumers.
Katlin Smith founded Simple Mills in 2012, inspired by personal dietary changes and positive health impacts. As a former management consultant, Smith recognized a clear market need for accessible, high-quality, better-for-you food options. This insight propelled her to establish the company.
Simple Mills caters to health-conscious consumers prioritizing natural, less processed, and allergen-friendly foods. The company's vision aims to revolutionize food production, benefiting human and planetary health. Through real ingredients and mindful sourcing, Simple Mills seeks to foster sustainable, nutritious eating.
Simple Mills has raised $3.0M across 1 funding round.
Simple Mills has raised $3.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Simple Mills has raised $3.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Simple Mills's investors include Advantage Capital.
Simple Mills is a food company, not a technology company. It produces better-for-you snacks like crackers, cookies, snack bars, and baking mixes using clean, nutrient-dense ingredients with nothing artificial.[1][2][3][7] Founded to make healthy eating accessible, it serves consumers seeking convenient, nourishing foods and has expanded its mission to advance regenerative agriculture for planetary health.[2][4][6] The company solves the problem of limited tasty, healthy packaged options by focusing on almond flour bases and regenerative sourcing, achieving growth through retail presence at stores like Whole Foods, Target, and Jewel Osco, before its acquisition by Flowers Foods in January 2025.[3][5]
Simple Mills raised $7.19M in funding from investors including Vestar Capital Partners and CircleUp, demonstrating strong early momentum with a 2014 startup competition win.[3][5]
Katlin Smith founded Simple Mills in 2012 (or 2013 per some records) while a Chicago Booth student and management consultant struggling with her health from processed foods.[3][5][6] After switching to whole foods and experiencing dramatic improvements, she created almond flour baking mixes to make nutrient-dense options simple and delicious for busy people.[3][6] A pivotal moment came in 2014 when her team won first place at the University of Chicago's Edward L. Kaplan New Venture Challenge, securing $30,000 and early validation.[3] The mission evolved in 2021 to emphasize planetary health through regenerative agriculture, building on initial traction in Chicago-based retail expansion.[2][4][6]
Simple Mills rides the wellness and sustainable food trends, intersecting food tech through regenerative agriculture innovation rather than pure software or hardware.[2][5] Its timing aligns with rising consumer demand for clean-label products and planetary health post-2021 mission pivot, amid market forces like supply chain disruptions favoring direct farmer partnerships and nutrient-dense alternatives to processed snacks.[1][4][6] By pioneering context-based regenerative pathways, it influences the food ecosystem, disrupting commodity models, supporting farmers (e.g., 8 partners in 2022), and inspiring brands to prioritize biodiversity and soil health in wellness tech's food & beverage segment.[2][4][5]
Post-acquisition by Flowers Foods in January 2025, Simple Mills will likely scale its regenerative innovations across larger distribution, amplifying impact on sustainable food design.[5] Trends like agroforestry adoption, direct trade expansion, and wellness tech integration (e.g., analytics-driven sourcing) will shape its path, potentially evolving it into a leader embedding ecosystem resilience in mainstream groceries.[2][4] Its influence may grow by setting standards for holistic food systems, tying back to Smith's original vision of empowering eaters through transformative, planet-positive snacks.[6]
Simple Mills has raised $3.0M across 1 funding round. Most recently, it raised $3.0M Series A in December 2015.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 1, 2015 | $3M Series A | — | Advantage Capital | Announced |
