Pinc raises minority investment from Shift Capital to scale clean-label protein bars
What's the deal? PincDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a Brazilian "clean label" protein bar brand, has raised an undisclosed minority investment from Shift CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, one of Brazil's leading consumer-focused private equity firms. The company — founded in 2021 by husband-and-wife duo Eduardo Rech and Juliana Klein — generates R$21M in annual revenue and sells through more than 2,500 retail points.
The funds will go towards building a new factory in Rio Grande do Sul state, tripling Pinc's monthly production capacity from 350,000 bars to over one million. The facility is expected to be operational by March 2027.
Shift Capital, which also backs brands like ZerezesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Bluefit, and The Coffee, is Pinc's first outside investor. Until now, the founders were the company's sole shareholders.
Why now? Brazil's protein bar market is worth R$800M a year and growing at roughly 15% annually. Pinc is positioning itself to capture share from dominant players like Bold, Nutrata, and Integralmédica by leaning into two trends: clean-label products and the rise of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs.
The company plans to launch a new product line, Pinc Bar Crispy, designed for consumers on GLP-1 treatments who need high protein and fibre in smaller portions. The bar will pack 10g of protein and 6g of fibre into a 32g format.
Pinc's name is itself a selling point — it stands for "poucos ingredientes, nada complicado" (few ingredients, nothing complicated). Its bars use just four or five ingredients, with egg-derived albumin as the protein base instead of the whey used by most competitors.
That ingredient choice may also offer a cost advantage. Murilo Barreto, who advised Pinc on the round, argued that whey prices face inflationary pressure as GLP-1 adoption reduces cheese consumption — a dynamic that doesn't affect egg-based products.
Pinc is also cheaper at the shelf: a 12-bar pack costs R$143, compared with R$170–180 for Bold or Nutrata.
What could go wrong? The protein bar space is fiercely competitive, and Pinc's R$250M revenue target over five years would require capturing a significant share of a market currently dominated by well-established brands with deep distribution networks. Scaling production while maintaining a genuinely minimal ingredient list is another challenge — clean-label products often face shorter shelf lives and tighter supply chain constraints.
The signal: Pinc's bet reflects two converging forces reshaping the food industry. First, consumers — especially in Brazil's fast-growing health-food segment — are increasingly reading labels and rejecting synthetic additives. Second, GLP-1 drugs are creating an entirely new consumer category: people who eat less but need nutrient-dense food when they do.
With the new factory, Pinc expects to nearly double revenue to R$40M this year. About 40% of its sales come from traditional grocery retail, a channel the founders say is showing surging demand for health-oriented products — a sign that clean label is moving from niche to mainstream.
Read more: Brazil Journal
