Sunscoop is raising a Crowd SAFE at a $9 million valuation with 10% discount. This is a decent price in comparison with other startups currently seeking funding. Sunscoop has built a compelling brand and has secured significant nationwide distribution in leading supermarkets. The company generated $289,315 in revenue in 2019. Financials from 2020 aren’t available, but a ballpark graph on the company’s raise page indicates that 2020 revenues were $300,000. Due to Sunscoop’s growing revenue and reasonable valuation, the company scored strongly in the price metric.

The global ice cream market is expected to reach almost $80 billion by 2025 with a projected CAGR of 4.1%. Healthy ice cream alternatives are a growing segment of this market. While plant-based ice creams hardly existed 10 years ago, they now compose a $1.2 billion market growing at 14.8% per year. Sunscoop is a viable player in the healthy ice cream market and can even draw consumers from the full-fat market. Anyone can appreciate that Sunscoop has fewer calories and less lactose than traditional treats, regardless of their food sensitivity status. 

That being said, these markets are sizable but not enormous. Given the size of the ice cream aisle at grocery stores, it’s actually surprising that the market is less than one-fifth of the size of the global carbonated beverages market. Sunscoop is playing in a medium-sized market, and its high price per pint (just shy of $10 in stores) limits its potential pool of customers even further. Therefore, the company’s market rating is rather low.

Sunscoop was founded by Carli Blum, who struggles with numerous food allergies and sought to design an ice cream that even she could enjoy. Blum attended the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising and later served for two years as a co-founder and Consumer Sales Director at everywear, an e-commerce technology company. 

Sunscoop’s team also includes Chelsea Fisher as head of research and development, a restaurant owner and flavor developer; Burt Jacoby as head of sales, who brings more than 12 years of experience in food and beverage sales; and Chris Peterson as director of operations, who previously served as the director of operations for ice cream brand Phin and Phebes. 

Overall, the Sunscoop team includes collaborators with various perspectives in the food and beverage industry. However, Sunscoop’s CEO has little business experience, and no one on the team has served in particularly entrepreneurial roles before. Therefore, Sunscoop’s team score is relatively low.

Sunscoop touts its differentiators from other healthy ice cream brands newly dominating the ice cream aisle, including Halo Top and the low-calorie editions of major traditional brands like Dreyer’s and Ben & Jerry’s. While Sunscoop does seem to contain fewer allergens and artificial flavors than most of those competitors, Sunscoop is likely indistinguishable from other healthy ice creams in the eyes of the average consumer. 

The ice cream alternatives section of the frozen aisle is expanding rapidly, and almost all offerings are well-branded and tout their various health promises — whether dairy-free, soy-free, low-calorie, etc. On a quick glance from a shopper, the main thing that differentiates Sunscoop from its competitors is price. At almost $10 per pint in stores and an incredible $17.50 per pint for online orders, Sunscoop is even more expensive than the traditionally “expensive” ice creams that sell for $6 or $7 per pint. Because Sunscoop’s primary differentiator is negative, the company’s differentiation score is its lowest. 

Sunscoop launched in May 2019 and has already achieved distribution in 500+ stores nationwide in less than two years of sales. More than 100,000 pints have been sold so far, in large part thanks to Sunscoop’s partnerships with leading distributors like UNFI, KeHE, and Rainforest. 

Financially, Sunscoop performed well in 2019. Revenues in 2018 were $98,587 (note that it’s unclear how the company generated revenue that year if it supposedly launched ice creams in May 2019), and 2019 revenues grew almost 300% to $289,315. These revenues didn’t get the company far toward generating a profit, though. Sunscoop’s 2019 net loss was almost $850,000. 

Things seemed to take a turn in 2020, though. While Sunscoop doesn’t offer full 2020 financials for review, a graph on the company’s raise page indicates that 2020 revenues were around $300,000, roughly the same as 2019. While this could indicate that growth is slowing, it is still encouraging that Sunscoop continues to show decent revenue figures. Thus, the company scored well in the differentiators metric.

The biggest source of concern for prospective investors ought to be Sunscoop’s stalled growth in 2020, which the company does not address in its raise materials. For the business, 2019 was a big year with nearly 300% year-over-year revenue growth. What happened in 2020? COVID-19 doesn’t seem to be a viable excuse, as ice cream sales went up during the pandemic. 

A mysterious 2020 performance is arguably a major red flag for investors. It’s also not promising that Sunscoop’s team is relatively inexperienced and that its products aren’t well-differentiated from competitors in the ice cream aisle (except in price, which is likely driving many customers away). There are some significant operational questions about Sunscoop’s potential to grow, and as investors aren’t getting in at a particularly favorable price, they might be wary of the risk.

Sunscoop has built a lovely brand that is perfectly in line with the food and beverage concepts that are growing rapidly among health-conscious millennial buyers. The company is clearly talented at forging distribution partnerships, and a deepened focus on Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Southern California markets has the potential to grow wholesale revenues in coming years. Sunscoop is also experimenting with brick-and-mortar concepts, one of which is already profitable. These efforts diversify revenue and expand Sunscoop’s brand recognition among target consumers. 

All of these positive signals seemed to contribute to Sunscoop’s success in 2019. The company grew revenues almost 300% over 2018, a meaningful increase for a company in only its first couple years of sales. Though 2020 seemed to have been a hiccup, Sunscoop could have the potential to grow in 2021 and beyond.

Sunscoop is a plant-based ice cream brand providing allergen-free, delicious treats to both consumers with food sensitivities and those without. The company has secured valuable distribution relationships with Whole Foods and Erewhon. Strong year-over-year sales between 2018 and 2019 offer evidence that Sunscoop is primed for growth. 

On the other hand, Sunscoop seems to have suffered a major setback in 2020, with revenues practically flat from the year before (per one graph on the company’s raise page, not full 2020 financials which are unavailable). The company doesn’t address this stall in its pitch to investors, which is a large red flag. An inexperienced team and extremely high price point are further negative signals. Therefore, Sunscoop has been rated a Neutral Deal.

For questions regarding the KingsCrowd staff pick or ratings for this company, please reach out to support@kingscrowd.com.