Soylent is a brand of meal replacement powders and shakes produced by Starco Brands, Inc. The brand was founded as Soylent Nutrition, Inc. in 2013 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. The company developed a following initially in Silicon Valley and received early financial backing from Andreessen Horowitz and GV. In 2021, Soylent announced that it had become profitable starting in 2020. In 2023, Starco Brands acquired the company.
Name Soylent is named after a food in Harry Harrison's 1966 science fiction novel, Make Room! Make Room! In the book, most types of "soylent" are made from soy and lentils, hence the name of the product, a combination of "soy" and "lent". The word also evokes the 1973 film adaptation, Soylent Green, in which the eponymous food is made from human remains. Rob Rhinehart, the founder, has said he chose the name, with its morbid associations, to pique curiosity and deeper investigation.
History
Founding, incorporation, and crowdfunding (2013) In January 2013, American software engineer Rob Rhinehart purchased 35 chemical ingredients, including potassium gluconate, calcium carbonate, monosodium phosphate, maltodextrin, and olive oil, all of which he deemed necessary for survival, based on his readings of biochemistry textbooks and U.S. government websites. Over the course of the next two months, he adjusted the proportions of the ingredients and further refined the formula to counter various health issues that arose. Rhinehart claimed a host of health benefits from the drink and noted that it had greatly reduced his monthly food bill, which fell from about US$470 to $155, also mentioning reduced time spent preparing and consuming meals, which ultimately provided him greater control over his nutrition. Later in 2013, Rhinehart and three fellow engineers, Matt Cauble, John Coogan, and David Renteln, who had been working on other startup ventures while facing financial constraints in Silicon Valley, co-founded Soylent together as a four-person team, eventually leading to a crowdfunding campaign on Tilt that raised about $1.5 million in preorders.
Early operations and launch (2013–2015) Rhinehart's blog posts about his experiment attracted attention on Hacker News, which detailed how operations began for Soylent Nutrition, Inc. in April 2014, using a relatively small $500 system to ship the first $2.6 million worth of product. In January 2015, Soylent received $20 million in Series A round funding, led by the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.
Growth (2015–2022) In 2017, the company raised $50 million in venture funding, led by GV, bringing its total funding to $74.5 million. Later that year, Rhinehart stepped down as CEO, naming Bryan Crowley to that position, while Rhinehart stayed on as chair. In 2021, Soylent announced that it had become profitable starting in 2020. During this period, the company introduced new ready-to-drink products alongside its original powdered formula, diversifying its offerings to meet growing consumer demand. By the end of the 2010s, Soylent had become one of the leading brands in the meal replacement and nutrition beverage market in the United States.
Acquisition and recent developments (2023-present) In 2023, Starco Brands acquired Soylent, its third acquisition in six months. In 2024, Starco reported that Soylent made a profit of $7.8 million.
Distribution Soylent was available for purchase and shipment only within the United States until June 15, 2015, when it began shipping to Canada. In October 2017, Canada disallowed further shipments due to a failure to meet food regulations on meal replacements; shipments to Canada resumed in 2020. In July 2017, 7-Eleven stores in and around Los Angeles became the first offline venues to sell Soylent. By April 2018, the product was sold in over 8,000 U.S. 7-Elevens and was available at Walmart, Target, Kroger, and Meijer. By 2021, over 28,000 retail stores carried Soylent.
Health effects The makers of Soylent claim it contains the nutrients necessary for a healthy lifestyle. Some people have experienced gastrointestinal problems from consumption of Soylent, particularly flatulence.
Lead and cadmium content On August 13, 2015, As You Sow filed a notice of intent to pursue a lawsuit against the makers of Soylent, claiming that the company was in breach of California's Proposition 65 for not adequately labeling its product given the levels of lead and cadmium present in the drink. Although Soylent contains levels of lead and cadmium far below the national safety levels set by the FDA, it does contain 12 to 25 times the level of lead and 4 times the level of cadmium permitted in California without additional labeling. A lawyer who had worked on settlements of Proposition 65 suits described the case as "alarmist", as the levels are well below FDA limits of what is allowed in food products. However, as Soylent is marketed as a complete meal replacement, many customers consume the drinks three times a day, equating to 36 to 75 times the lead and 12 times the level of cadmium without the Prop 65 label. Soylent's website displays the Proposition 65 warning required by California. Soylent Nutrition, Inc. published the position that the levels of heavy metal content in Soylent "are in no way toxic, and Soylent remains completely safe and nutritious". The company also published an infographic and spreadsheet based on an FDA study of heavy metal content in common foods, comparing two selected example meals to servings of Soylent with a similar amount of caloric intake.
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