Once Upon a Farm’s IPO signals growing interest in better-for-you kids’ food
Earlier this month, organic kids’ food brand Once Upon a Farm began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “OFRM.” The company raised $198 million at a $724 million valuation for its initial public offering.
The success of Once Upon a Farm’s IPO shows there is a growing appetite among consumers, retailers and investors for CPG brands dedicated to toddlers and young children. The ongoing growth of brands like Little Spoon and formula startup Bobbie also shows this increased interest. New brands in this space say that this momentum is pushing their growth, as more retailers look to bring in better-for-you brands that parents can trust to feed their children.
Once Upon a Farm is partly spearheaded by celebrity mom and actress Jennifer Garner, who joined the company in 2017 as co-founder and chief brand officer. The startup is particularly known for its refrigerated pouches, consisting of fruit and vegetable blends like green kale and apples or mama blueberry, making for an easy on-the-go snack. “We want to feed [children from] babies to big kids, as we’re helping make parents’ lives easier,” Garner told CNBC upon the company’s public debut. Other brands in the kids’ food and beverage space say that retailers know they have to cater to today’s parents to keep up with the competition and stay relevant in their assortment.
In January, kids’ beverage brand Roxberry launched nationwide in more than 2,200 Walmart stores across the country. The brand launched at independent grocers in 2025. It now joins Walmart’s “Modern Soda” aisle, featuring brands like Olipop and Poppi, becoming the first dedicated soda brand for kids among the set. According to Roxberry, its soda is made with real fruits and vegetables, contains five grams of sugar, and has no artificial flavors, sweeteners or dyes; its tagline proclaims “no fake stuff.”
Roxberry co-founder and COO Dan Haugen said that, prior to launching in Walmart, the company had been in talks with the retailer for over a year on how to bring a made-for-kids soda to its shelves.
At the early stages, Haugen and his co-founder Lauren Sauer began with the idea to create a better-for-you drink akin to Kool-Aid. However, he said they settled on creating a healthier alternative soda because it offers parents a solution for when kids ask for the nostalgic fizzy drink. Moreover, the company’s research showed that many kids were already drinking healthy soda brands that had emerged in recent years.
There was also an opportunity to design a soda that better catered to kids’ tastes and aesthetic. “One of the biggest things we recognized, as parents ourselves, is that kids leave a lot of half-empty cans around,” Haugen said. Instead of the standard 12-ounce cans, Roxberry’s soda comes in mini 7.5-ounce cans. Haugen said the portion size will help the brand differentiate itself as a more personalized take on the better-for-you soda trend.
“We have seen the growth of these challenger brands that have become big [companies] recently,” said Haugen. And over the last few years, the retail growth of these premium brands helped create more grocery shelf space for other better-for-you brands geared toward children. “The sentiment now is that consumers are ready to try new things, and retailers are catering to that.”
Mission MightyMe, a kids’ snack brand aimed at preventing food allergies, is also gearing up for a big year of growth. The company, which started in DTC in 2020, raised $2.35 million in March of 2024 to fund its near-term growth plans. That year, the brand made its physical retail debut at Target. Mission MightyMe is now available at over 1,300 stores nationwide, including 750 Target locations and all Sprouts locations.
Last fall, Mission MightyMe’s founders participated in Walmart’s Open Call 2025, where the company won a “golden ticket” deal to appear on-shelf in Walmart stores this year.
Mission MightyMe co-founder J.J. Jaxon told Modern Retail that Once Upon a Farm’s IPO is a positive sign for the category at a time when investors are grappling with uncertainty around valuations and allocating much of their capital to tech and AI.
Jaxon added that backing a tangible category like baby food shows that investors view the category’s reinvention as a long-term bet. “Parents innately want the best for their children in up markets and down,” Jaxon said. “And investors see the value in brands that are creating differentiated product offerings and experienced management teams.”
Jaxon said that, based on his brand’s growth trajectory, many top retailers are constantly looking for better offerings for their customers, knowing that many parents go out of their way to source better products on their shopping trips. “They know that bringing a mom or dad in the store for the baby offering will likely lead to them deciding to shop there for the whole family,” he said.
Roxberry’s Haugen said the IPO of a brand like Once Upon a Farm shows that CPG startups dedicated to kids can cultivate a loyal customer base and grow incrementally. “A large portion of retailers recognize that consumers are looking for better-for-you products, regardless of where they are in the store,” Haugen said.
Much of this macro trend is being fueled by millennial and Gen-Z parents, he said, who are much more critical of ingredients and labels than previous generations. “Now they can look up any product to see what’s in it and whether it’s healthy enough for their kids,” he said.
Haugen expects more innovation in the kids’ food and beverage assortments across retailers. And as Gen Alpha grows into a more conscious consumer cohort, demand for healthier versions of their favorite products will continue to rise. “We recognized early on that kids want something for themselves that’s designed specifically for them,” Haugen said.