One mom entrepreneur received a dream gift this Mother’s Day: a sale of her company for hundreds of millions of dollars.Danone reached out to Ms. Visram in early fall 2012 after they connected through a third party, they said, and Ms. Visram said she was intrigued. In her original business plan 10 years ago while a student at Columbia Business School, Ms. Visram, who is now 36 years old, wrote that Danone was an ideal corporate partner for the exit strategy of her budding company.
«I knew that at one point we would want to bring on a major partner to take the business to the next level,» she said, adding that Danone’s focus on health and social responsibility made it a optimal fit.
Happy Family makes a range of organic foods from yogurt to rice cakes. Flavors include elderberry and amaranth, according to the company’s website.
Happy Family’s revenue nearly quadrupled in two years to $62.3 million last year, from $13.3 million in 2010, according to the company.
Ms. Visram said she didn’t consider an initial public offering or private-equity funding because a partner like Danone offers research and development and consumer expertise in line with a health and wellness focus.
Ms. Visram, who has a three-year-old son, founded Manhattan-based Happy Family on Mother’s Day in 2006 to find an alternative to hyper-processed foods.
She spent eight months fundraising among friends and angel investors, ultimately scraping together $550,000. The company initially sold frozen baby food in ice cube trays to five New York-based Gourmet Garage grocery stores and Fresh Direct. Now products are sold in more than 20,000 stores across the U.S.—such as Whole Foods Market Inc. WFM +0.47%TGT +0.18%AMZN +1.56%
There are more than 50 full-time employees and about 70 part-time «Happy Mamas» that market the product and interact with moms in their local communities.
Investment bank BarclaysÂ
Source: WSJ