SmartyPants Vitamins Closes $2.59 Million In Funding

VENICE, Calif., Aug. 20, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- SmartyPants Vitamins and CircleUp today jointly announced that SmartyPants has raised $2.59 million on a convertible note from both current and new investors. CircleUp is a crowdfunding investment platform that helps small consumer and retail companies raise money directly from a community of sophisticated accredited investors.

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SmartyPants, a leader in nutrient dense gummy supplements, has experienced explosive growth with total sales increasing 1,000 percent since its launch in the fall of 2010.  The new funding will enable them to accelerate their marketplace growth strategy, expand their trade marketing support and hire key executives.

"Partnering with CircleUp gave us access to an incredible community of value-added investors who will help us position to capture greater market share," said Courtney Nichols Gould, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of SmartyPants. "They saved us valuable time by managing the process for us and gave us access to investors who might not have crossed our paths but have strategic importance to us."  One such investor is Chinese and could be of service as the company examines key expansion opportunities abroad.

"I see tremendous potential in supporting a company like SmartyPants that delivers a high quality, healthy product to customers and has a compelling combination of large market opportunity, a unique formula within the supplement industry and healthy financial performance," said Lei Dei, one of SmartyPants angel investors.

"I am incredibly impressed with the SmartyPants team. Their excellent product supported by their vision and ability to execute has been driving absolutely stellar revenue growth," said Melissa Kasper Shapiro, another SmartyPants angel investor. "This is one of the most promising companies I have seen in the last several years of consumer investing and I'm extremely excited to support their expansion."     

Founded by a foursome of parents, entrepreneurs and leading health care practitioners, SmartyPants is the first to combine a full multivitamin, Omega 3 DHA & EPA and over 100% RDI of Vitamin D in a tasty gummy that addresses a core hurdle to good health: compliance. Vitamins only work if taken consistently in the right forms at the right times and this combination of variables have made them less useful than they could be. SmartyPants' goal is to change that by making products that are highly nutrient dense in one serving and very tasty despite being an excellent source of Omega 3 from eco friendly anchovy & sardines. Free of artificial flavors, colors and preservatives, SmartyPants is made in California and uses organic and natural sweeteners – no high fructose corn syrup here – and is always gluten and casein free.

"With a wealth of experience, talent and outstanding growth, SmartyPants fits the trend of high quality, healthy brands in which investors and consumers are interested," said Ryan Caldbeck, Founder and CEO of CircleUp. "We are excited about the opportunity to have SmartyPants join our community and look forward to helping them scale more quickly."

CircleUp is an online social marketplace that helps small consumer and retail companies raise money directly from a community of individual investors. The crowdfunding startup focuses on high-growth consumer product and retail private companies and provides them with an efficient way to access a wide ranging, sophisticated investor network. In addition, CircleUp provides consumer and retail companies access to a community of value-added partnerships including General Mills, Procter & Gamble, SPINs and Presence Marketing.

ABOUT SMARTYPANTS
SmartyPants are the makers of the first and only All-in-One gummy vitamin. A Venice, CA based company, each of their great tasting gummies contain a full multivitamin + over 100% RDI  Vitamin D and an excellent source of Omega3 DHA & EPA fatty acids. Created by families and leading health practitioners, the SmartyPants line of easy-to-chew vitamins are free of artificial flavors, colors, preservatives and use organic and natural sweeteners-- no high fructose corn syrup. SmartyPants are always gluten and casein free. Through their partnership with Vitamin Angels, SmartyPants makes a matching 1-for-1 nutrient grant to a child in need for every bottle sold. For more information, please visit SmartyPantsVitamins.com.

About CircleUp
CircleUp (www.circleup.com) is an online private company investment platform. We provide accredited investors free access to direct investments in high-growth consumer product and retail private companies that were previously difficult to identify and access. For retail and consumer product entrepreneurs, we offer an efficient way to access a network of sophisticated investors as well as value added partners.

As one of the largest equity based crowdfunding site, CircleUp provides not only access to interesting consumer and retail private company investments, but also a wide ranging, sophisticated investor network. Our investor base includes retail and consumer product industry experts, venture capital, private equity and other financial professionals, business leaders, angel investors and others interested in expanding their investment portfolios with private company investments.

For more information, visit the CircleUp Press Room, like us on Facebook, follow us on LinkedIn orTwitter, or visit our blog.

Contact:
Jane Westgate: 336-209-9276, [email protected]
Jen Sharpe: 704-451-3960, [email protected]

SOURCE SmartyPants