Culture Fresh Foods, Naugatuck, Conn., completed an $11 million Series A round of financing with co-investors CEI Ventures, Brunswick, Maine; FreshTracks Capital, Shelburne, Vt., and several angel investors. The investment will enable the company to reimagine and re-start a former Danone-owned, milk-based dairy plant in Naugatuck as a new plant-based processing facility.

“We are bringing to fruition an innovative concept that taps into the fastest growing segments of the non-dairy drinks and cultured foods business,” says Tom Moffitt, co-founder. “With this seed capital, we can move into an ideal facility and accelerate the time to ramp up production. We are deeply committed to our new community and are pleased to work with CVI.”

The Naugatuck facility features specialized equipment. Furthermore, Culture Fresh Foods intends to hire employees that lost their jobs when the prior plant closed.

“Culture Fresh Foods is the right idea at the right time,” says Chandler Jones, principal of CEI Ventures. “Tom’s proven experience, coupled with a robust consumer market, gives us great confidence for the company’s success. Sweetening the deal is that the company’s hiring forecast fits our mission of building an economy that works for everyone.”