LONDON — In the spirit of the Olympic Games and the female athletes competing in them, Iris Ventures has led a round of investment into Maurten, a global sports nutrition company based in Sweden.
Iris has led a 20 million euros round of investment into the company, which has annual revenue of approximately $40 million.
Founded in 2015 by Marten Fyknäs, Olof Sköld and Karl Sköld, Maurten aims to create high-energy foods that enable professional and amateur athletes to improve their game.
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The company started by developing and launching its patented Hydrogel Technology, which enables athletes to consume high-carbohydrate “fuel” during training and racing without gastrointestinal distress.
The Maurten range includes gels, drink mixes and solids. It also offers the Maurten Bicarb System, which uses microdoses of bicarbonate of soda mixed in a biopolymer soup. The soup is meant to improve performance and help with recovery afterward.
Maurten describes itself as a “fueling partner” to global events including the Ironman Global Series, Berlin, Chicago and Boston marathons, and the T100 Global Triathlon World Tour.
It also partners with elite athletes including the gold medal-winning triathletes Flora Duffy and Alex Yee, both of whom will be competing at the Paris Games this summer.
Montse Suarez, founder and managing partner of Iris Ventures, called Maurten a game changer that has “redefined athletic performance through world-class innovation in the sports nutrition category, seamlessly marrying product excellence with brand uniqueness and edge. The company consistently delivers on their ambitious plans, and we are thrilled to join forces with Olof and team.”
Florian Wojewodzki, partner at Iris, said that “fueling is so mission-critical to performance that elite endurance athletes are incredibly discerning with what they consume. Credibility is vital. Maurten’s long and growing list of professional athletes is testament to the efficacy of its products and uncompromising focus on innovation.”
In an interview, Sköld said he and his cofounders chose Iris from more than 20 private equity firms.
Maurten raised the capital as a secondary investment following the exit of some of its early shareholders. He said the company is healthy, profitable and growing around 120 percent annually.
He said the team went with Iris for a variety of reasons, including its existing investments. Those investments include Saysh, the sneaker brand founded by the Olympic champion Allyson Felix, and Biomel, the British, plant-based gut health brand.
Sköld, whose title is chief executive officer, also liked that Iris is a female-led fund that takes a strong interest in consumer products for women.
“Women are often neglected in both sports and medicine,” he said, adding that Maurten is currently undertaking research aimed at fine-tuning its understanding of women athletes, and the different effects that altitude, environment, body weight and sports nutrition have on men and women.
Sköld said the new investment will contribute to growth and strengthen the diversity of the board.
“I have no doubt that accessing the expertise and network of female-founded Iris Ventures and their deep understanding of the sports culture scene, will greatly benefit our ambitions to expand the reach of our innovations across new markets and industries,” he said.
Maurten is also looking at opportunities outside the sports arena. “An exploration of how Hydrogel Technology could benefit the medical arena, as well as driving forward female-specific fueling research, are now important objectives. The addition of influence from Iris Ventures will accelerate this expansion,” the company said.
Although products are produced around the world, Maurten has a strong Scandi skew, with factories in Denmark. It sources its Hydrogel components from Norway and gets its water from Sweden.
The U.S. is its largest market, followed by the U.K. and Europe. It has a team of scientists working in-house, trying to solve nutritional issues that have been plaguing athletes for years, Sköld said.
He said he and his cofounders started the company because they saw a gap in the nutrition space, and were determined to help athletes cope better with their bodies and resolve ongoing issues, such as stomach pain.
July has been a busy month for Iris, which has put its money behind research into future beauty trends with WGSN and which invested $10 million series into Essentialist, a new-generation, online travel agency that creates bespoke itineraries for members.
Iris is a growth equity fund that targets European and U.S. purpose-led, consumer-centric, next-generation brands and tech-enabled solutions. Other investments include Artemest, an online platform for Italian craft and design, and Olistic, which specializes in nutritional products designed to combat hair loss.