Your Super

When cancer struck Michael Kuech at age 24, Kristel de Groot was determined to raise her boyfriend's energy levels, and spirits, as he went through chemotherapy. She raided the cabinet for the random selection of bags of superfood she'd collected, and started a smoothie diet for Kuech. "It really helped improve his health, and he just felt so much better," she says. What was then just a slapdash regimen would, in 2015, transform into Your Super, a direct-to-consumer supplement company that has attracted $7.1 million from PowerPlant Ventures, a growth equity fund in Manhattan Beach, California, along with seed-stage funders Döhler Ventures and 500 Startups. They see consumer demand for healthier living and eating as a growth area. Interestingly, demand in the middle of the U.S. has been healthy, says de Groot, whose superfood mixes start at $29.90. "We actually sell to people who live in food deserts," she says. "And that's something we're really, really excited about." --Talib Visram