GroundForce Capital Research
Investment Thesis
GroundForce Capital is a founder-led, growth-equity investment firm backing bold consumer brands, technologies, and services that it believes are driving the next era of health and wellness. The firm was founded in 2015 as PowerPlant Partners, originally focused narrowly on plant-based food and beverage companies, and rebranded to GroundForce Capital in August 2023 to broaden its mandate. Under the new name, the firm invests both in front-facing consumer brands reshaping how people live, eat, and care for themselves, and in the underlying technologies and services (supply chain, ingredients, co-manufacturing, packaging and circularity) that power those brands' growth. The team describes itself as investing 'as founders and operators,' leveraging decades of direct CPG operating experience (co-founder Mark Rampolla built and sold ZICO Beverages to Coca-Cola) alongside institutional investing backgrounds.
Stage Focus
GroundForce invests exclusively at the growth stage. It does not participate in seed or early venture rounds; portfolio companies are typically already generating meaningful revenue and are scaling toward or through profitability. The firm positions itself as a first institutional growth partner for founders who have proven a category and now need capital plus operating support to scale nationally.
Check Size
The firm's public site states equity investments of $10M to $35M+, targeting consumer brands with $20M-$100M in annual revenue and technology/services companies with $10M-$100M in ARR or revenue at the time of investment, generally EBITDA-positive or with a clear near-term path. A 2024 press release describing the firm's active fund (GroundForce Growth I) cited a somewhat wider range of $15M-$50M per company, consistent with the firm's stated flexibility to write larger checks for the right opportunity.
Lead Tendency
GroundForce explicitly states it will lead or co-lead rounds, taking primary or secondary positions, and typically takes board representation. It targets minority stakes but is opportunistically willing to take majority positions, as it has done in creating platform/roll-up structures like SYSTM Foods.
Recent Activity
The firm has been active through 2025 and into 2026, closing growth investments in Righteous Felon (craft meat snacks, December 2025), Rock River Laboratory (agricultural testing, July 2026), and Epicutis (science-backed skincare, July 2026). Its most recent dedicated fund is GroundForce Growth I, launched alongside the 2023 rebrand; the prior vehicle, PowerPlant Ventures III (PPV Fund III), closed at $330M in September 2022. Third-party trackers estimate current firm AUM near $439M. Portfolio company Liquid Death remains a marquee holding, having reached a $1.4B valuation in March 2024 and announcing a January 2026 launch into energy drinks (Liquid Death Sparkling Energy).
Portfolio Highlights
Notable current and past portfolio companies include Liquid Death, Bobbie (organic infant formula, following its 2023 acquisition of Nature's One), KinderFarms (co-founded by actress Jessica Biel), Beyond Meat, Zico (Rampolla's own coconut water brand, reacquired from Coca-Cola), Thistle, OWYN, Thrive Market, Ripple Foods, and Apeel Sciences. The firm executed a beverage roll-up strategy through majority-owned platform SYSTM Foods, which acquired REBBL, Chameleon Organic Coffee (from Nestlé, 2022), and Humm Kombucha (2024). Notable exits include Vive Organic, acquired by Suja Life (a Paine Schwartz Partners company) in October 2022 -- Suja subsequently completed a Nasdaq IPO (ticker SUJA) in May 2026, in which GroundForce retained an equity interest via its earlier PPV II fund -- and OWYN, which exited to Simply Good Foods in 2024.
Team
GroundForce is led by co-founders and Co-Managing Partners Mark Rampolla (founder/CEO of ZICO Beverages, acquired by Coca-Cola in 2013) and Dan Gluck (former Weiss Multi-Strategy Partners portfolio manager and co-founder of Health Warrior, acquired by PepsiCo in 2018). Eric Desai, a Partner who joined in 2024, leads technology and services investing tied to the food and CPG supply chain. Kathryn Cicoletti (COO & Head of Investor Relations) and Laura Quine (CFO & Chief Compliance Officer) run firm operations and finance. The investment team includes Adam King (SVP), Graham Garzon (VP, promoted from Associate in January 2024), Parker Murphy (Senior Associate), Summer Farren, Kate Borden, and Jacob Spigelman (Associates). The firm also maintains a bench of operating advisors with deep CPG and beauty operating experience, including former Nestlé Health Science President Shawn Bushouse and former Uber CMO Rebecca Messina.
Decision Process
GroundForce operates as a partnership led by its two Co-Managing Partners, with the broader investment team (Partner through Associate level) sourcing, diligencing, and executing transactions and then supporting portfolio companies post-close, often via board seats.
Founder Preferences
The firm favors founder-led teams with a clear, unifying vision; strong team and culture; a compelling product, service, or brand addressing a large TAM; an optimized, scalable operating model; and a genuine focus on health and wellness impact. It emphasizes wanting aligned, values-driven partners for the long term, reflecting its own founders' backgrounds as operators rather than pure financiers.
Geographic Focus
GroundForce is U.S.-focused but opportunistically international. The firm maintains offices in Venice, CA (Los Angeles) and Mill Valley, CA (San Francisco Bay Area).