Nowadays
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Nowadays was a San Francisco-based plant-based chicken startup. Founded in 2020 by Dominik Grabinski and Max Elder, it made clean-label vegan chicken nuggets using a patented low-moisture pea-protein extrusion process that delivered an ultra-short ingredients list and superior nutrition. It launched direct-to-consumer in 2021, entered natural and organic retail accounts including Whole Foods on the west coast in 2022, and raised just under $10 million from investors including Stray Dog Capital and meat processor Standard Meat Co. In August 2023 it ceased operations and laid off its team.
02 / Nowadays FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Co-founder and CEO Max Elder told AgFunderNews the products were performing well with strong repeat purchase rates, but the unit economics of distributing frozen food did not work for a startup without significant scale: 'The economics only work if you have the capital to really push a multi-year brand building and marketing strategy, and it's really hard to access capital now.' The company simply could not raise venture funds in the 2023 market and chose to shut down, putting its patents and other assets up for sale.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founded
Dominik Grabinski and Max Elder founded Nowadays in San Francisco to build clean-label plant-based chicken.
- Launched
Nowadays launched its pea-protein chicken nuggets direct-to-consumer.
- Retail expansion
The nuggets entered natural and organic retail accounts including Whole Foods on the west coast; the company closed an oversubscribed $7 million seed round, taking total funding to just under $10 million.
- Ceased operations
In August 2023, Nowadays ceased operations and laid off its team, citing an inability to raise venture funds in the market; the founders sought buyers for the IP and other assets.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
In August 2023, Nowadays ceased operations and laid off its team after failing to raise venture funds.
- 02
The founders entered active conversations about selling the IP — including patents on low-moisture extrusion of clean-label pea-protein chicken — and other assets.