Sunrise invests in natural egg producer Vital Farms

BOULDER — Sunrise Strategic Partners LLC, the Boulder-based natural and organic accelerator co-founded by industry veteran Steve Hughes, has invested an undisclosed amount of funds in Vital Farms, an Austin, Texas-based provider of pasture-raised eggs.

The minority investment represents the seventh by Sunrise since it was launched by Hughes and Trilantic North America in 2016, and the fourth investment in grass-fed and humanely treated animal products, the companies said in a press release.

Vital Farms was founded by Matthew O’Hayer in 2007. Chickens on the company’s farms have full access to pastures, fresh air and a diet of grass, bugs other naturally obtained foods.

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“Vital Farms began pasture-raising eggs with a mission to bring ethical food to the table. We believe that raising healthy, happy birds outside on fresh pastures also produces the most nutritious and flavorful eggs,” Vital Farms founder and CEO O’Hayer said in a prepared statement. “Sunrise will help us grow our operations and let more people enjoy our eggs. We share passion and experience and are excited to partner with Steve, his team and their like-minded mission-driven brands.”

Hughes, Sunrise’s co-founder and CEO, said, “As a result of Matt’s vision and perseverance, Vital Farms created the category of ‘pasture raised’ and has established the first-ever scalable and sustainable pastured farming model with over 100 independent family farms. As evidenced by our four investments in market leading grass-fed, pasture-raised companies, Sunrise is a big believer that this major trend is here to stay. We believe that once the consumer understands the difference pasture-raised eggs provides they will switch to Vital Farms and never look back.”

Sunrise Strategic Partners provides growth capital and expertise to emerging brands in the healthy, active and sustainable living space.