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Hey Crew,
Welcome to Issue #001 of the KIND FIND email series! I’m so glad you’re here. It’s been a long road to hitting send on this email. This series only exists as the result of sheer will, lots of ADHD meds, and the grace of my friends and family.
A special thanks go to my wife, to my buddy Josh, and to my friend Morgan for helping me publish this series. To everyone else, thank you for being here.
Why am I doing this, you ask? I'm obsessed with all things vegan. Like most men, my vegan journey started with being duct-taped to a chair by my wife and forced to watch some obscure, vegan propaganda film called What the Health? I’m kidding. It’s not obscure 😄. All jokes aside, I wouldn’t trade being vegan for all the bacon in China.
I plan on sharing five new brands with you each week. Issues will be published every Sunday and archived on the blog for you to reference later. KIND FIND is and always will be an ad-free, affiliate-free, sponsor-free zone.
I love interacting, so don’t be too shy to hit reply. All comments are welcome unless they’re crazy. Keep those to yourself. Everything else will get a real-life response. If you’re not a fan of email and want to send something short and sweet, text me. No SMS novels, please. Let’s save those for email.
Each email will follow a theme, and the brands I share will match that theme. This week's theme is staying healthy, which makes sense given that we’re in the middle of flu season and a global pandemic. My heart goes out to all who’ve lost someone to COVID-19. Please stay safe and stay healthy, Kind Crew.
That being said, let’s jump right into this week’s brands.
No. These aren’t your parents’ free-love, Pink Floyd, psychedelic mushrooms. These super shrooms have been formulated to boost your energy, defend your immune system, tune your focus, elevate your mood and improve your clarity. With the exception of Shroomies, their product for dogs, everything FreshCap sells is vegan.
Founded in 2015 by Canadians Tony and Tegan Shields, FreshCap began as a gourmet mushroom farm and a way to teach others how to grow these fantastic fungi at home. Today, freshcap.com is a booming online enterprise with over 1M website visitors in 2020 according to data from Ahrefs. Congrats to these two plucky Canucks on raising a Series A investment round at the end of 2019 to fuel their current growth and future expansion!
FreshCap mushrooms come in many varieties including Lion’s Mane, Turkey Tail, Cordyceps, Chaga, Maitake, the recently launched Reishi, and other new products coming soon. Their website has been beautifully redesigned to be easier to search, navigate, and checkout. They've also revamped the "Learn" section with a fungi crash course you won’t soon forget.
FreshCap only extracts the whole fruiting body of the mushroom and doesn’t add grain fillers like their competitors. Testimonials aren’t typically my thing, but these are powerful shrooms! The last two months for me have been absolutely glorious in terms of focus and productivity.
Each variety comes in pill form (for those who want to down their shrooms on the go) and powder form (for those with a little more time on their hands). Most of the mushrooms are neutral-tasting, which means the powders go great in juices, smoothies, or plain ol’ water. I know some who even add them to their herbal tea or hot chocolate.
If you haven’t already clicked on one of the links above, go ahead and mosey on over to their site and get your shroom on — after you finish reading this issue of course. 😊
Vivo Life
The premier plant-based protein and supplement choice of vegan fitness and lifestyle influencers. Vivo Life is based in the U.K. but sell their products all over the world. From vegan protein powders to creatine, meal replacement to vitamins, Vivo Life has you covered. All their products are 100% vegan with zero chemicals or additives and come in sustainable, compostable packaging.
Amazing Grass
Tell your friends that you’re on Amazing Grass and prepare to get some odd stares. Thankfully, everything they sell is legal in all 50 states. Amazing grass specializes in plant-based superfood powders. It’s like getting a daily dose of fruits and veggies in a couple of servings. The Lemon Lime Green Superfood Energy powder has been part of my morning wake-up and afternoon energy routines for years. My days don’t start right without it.
Encha
In 2014 Dr. Li Gong left his VP position at Silicon Valley giant SAP to pursue his passion, organic green tea matcha. Though it’s trendy now to drink matcha, it wasn’t always. You can thank Li for his part in that. Locally sourced from a small city outside Kyoto, Japan, a region famous for its quality matcha, Encha prides itself on an organic-only tea product catalog. Its teas come in two grades, ceremonial (premium) and latte (all-purpose). Neither grade contains any preservatives and is non-GMO, gluten-free, vegan, and certified delicious.
Numi
Chamomile Lemon, Rooibos Chai, and Moroccan Mint are just a few of our favorites of almost 30 different varieties of teas available on numitea.com. Not to be outdone, their new drinking chocolates have received rave reviews from fans of the brand. Founded in 1999 by brother and sister duo Ahmed Rahim and Reem Hassani, Numi introduced virtually unknown teas to the States from their childhood home in Baghdad, Iraq with a vision to share the transformative, healing power of tea with the world.
Web searches for vegan collagen have exploded in popularity 4900% over the last 5 years. If you’re scratching your head wondering “What in the world is vegan collagen?”, then hold on to something; it’s about to get scientific.
Vegan collagen comes from yeast and bacteria, the most effective and successful of which is a yeast strain called Pichia Pastoris or P. pastoris. It has quickly become the protein darling of the biotech industry, but there’s a catch. This wonder-yeast can’t produce vegan collagen on its own. *
For P. pastoris to produce human collagen, scientists must add four human genes to the structure of the microbes. It's only after these genes are in place that it can begin producing the building blocks of human collagen. Pepsin, a digestive enzyme, is added to help structure the building blocks into human collagen molecules, and voila!
Mind-blowing, right?!
Vegan collagen is unquestionably the holy grail of plant-based supplements, and much like the famed drinking vessel, it appears to only be a legend. At least for now.
While there are many vegan collagen “boosters” and “builders” on the market (supplements designed to stimulate your body’s production of collagen), no companies are producing or selling vegan collagen at the moment. At least none that we could find. We’ll be sure to update you when this changes.
Not to be deterred, though, several brands are cashing in on the increased popularity of vegan collagen web searches, including Ora Organic, Rae Wellness, and Future Kind. Kudos to them for their vision and execution!
Dozens of new vegan brands launch their new ideas and products to the world every month. Some companies choose to bootstrap, while others prefer to raise capital. These are some of the vegan crowdfunding projects looking for support.
Boku International
A superfood powder and supplement brand started by a tight-knit family that’s truly living the aloha spirit. All Boku International products are 100% vegan with fully compostable, sustainable packaging, and they’re looking for funding.
WellWell
Designed to help combat burnout that’s commonplace in the Western world. WellWell has developed seven functional, powerful, science-backed beverages to help you take on whatever life throws at you. Their formulas are 100% plant-based, gluten-free, Kosher, and low in sugar.
Genius Juice
You’ve never had a smoothie like this before. Genius Juice is the first and only whole-coconut smoothie. That’s right, they use the whole thing. Their smoothies are 100% organic with no gums or emulsifiers, no added sugar, and only real ingredients. Did we mention they were on Shark Tank?
Finding jobs at vegan companies isn't easy, neither is finding talented people who are vegan. We connect both. All of the companies listed below are 100% vegan and the job openings are 100% remote. Tap or click the links below.
Thanks for being an early bird to this email series. It means a lot to me. If you enjoyed this issue, would you please do me a solid and tell others about it? Thanks! 😎