From Dum Dums to candy that fights food waste

Amy Keller's family makes about two billion Dum Dums lollipops a year.

She calls herself the "disruptive granddaughter."

The turning point came on a trip to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, in a conversation about the planet's climate pledge. Amy came home asking a question most people raised in the candy business probably don't... what if candy could actually help?

The numbers she was staring at: roughly a third of produce gets rejected just for how it looks. Fruits and veggies are the most wasted food category, with the biggest climate impact. And about 90% of Americans don't eat their daily servings anyway.

So she co-founded PurePlus and launched FAVES, aka Climate Candy. Plant-based fruit chews made from "perfectly imperfect" produce, at real industrial scale. Each pack rescues six carrots, three beets, a sweet potato, half a squash and a bit of pumpkin. Over a million fruits and veggies a year kept out of landfills.

A seven-time Ironman making candy. Somehow it all adds up. In her words: "Food is fuel."

We're proud to have FAVES in the LvlUp CPG Fund portfolio. Here's Amy on working together:

“LvlUp VC saw the potential in our vision early and chose to invest in the team, the market opportunity, and our ability to build something truly differentiated. Their belief and partnership give us the capital and momentum to turn our vision into a scalable, category-defining company.”

If you're a Seed to Series A consumer goods brand raising capital, apply to our CPG Fund.