Castanea Partners confirmed today that it has made an investment in Yasso, a leading frozen dessert brand offering “better-for-you” Greek frozen yogurt novelties and pints.
Headquartered in Quincy, MA, the Company is run by its co-founders and co-CEO’s, kindergarten friends, Amanda Klane and Drew Harrington. Yasso is a Greek frozen yogurt brand featuring stick bars, sandwiches, and newly announced pints that have 80 to 150 calories and 5-6g of protein per serving. Founded in 2009, the Company distributes products nationwide through conventional grocery stores, as well as the natural, club and mass channels.
“Amanda and Drew have created a differentiated product that has generated broad consumer appeal,” said Juan Marcos Hill, a partner at Castanea. “Yasso’s nutritional profile, simple ingredients and great tasting product fill a market void between high calorie, overly indulgent products and artificial tasting diet brands.”
“Drew and Amanda have built a fun, engaging brand which appeals to today’s health conscious consumers who are unwilling to sacrifice on taste. We look forward to working with Amanda, Drew and the Yasso team to support their continued growth,” said Tom First, operating partner at Castanea.
“We started Yasso because we couldn’t find desserts we liked that delivered great taste and superb ingredients. We never dreamed we could build a brand that would achieve this level of success. Yasso was at a stage where we knew that the company would benefit from additional resources and investment. We set out to find a partner who would allow us to maintain our independence and who shares our vision and values,” said Drew Harrington.
Added Amanda Klane, “Castanea’s valuable insight and operating experience building long-lasting consumer brands will support Yasso’s accelerating growth and help our team respond to the many attractive opportunities in the frozen desserts segment.
Piper Jaffray and Nixon Peabody advised Yasso in the transaction. Ropes and Gray advised Castanea Partners.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
About Castanea
Castanea is a private equity firm that works in partnership with founders and management teams of innovative passion brands to grow their businesses through a combination of capital investment and operating expertise. We are focused on select consumer verticals including beauty, food and beverage, multi-unit services, and enthusiast lifestyle. We typically invest between $15 to $150 million of equity in minority or majority transactions. Our team of talented operating executives offers critical expertise in key verticals and functional areas, and provides our partner companies with strategic and tactical support. Castanea has more than $1 billion in assets under management and is currently investing from a $735 million fourth fund. For more information about Castanea Partners read our story.