Investment firm acquires snacking tomatoes brand NatureSweet

Best-selling snacking tomatoes brand NatureSweet has been sold to Blue Road Capital, an independent investment firm focused on acquiring food and agribusiness companies.

NatureSweet, founded in 1990, became the largest controlled environmental agriculture company in the world to earn B Corporation Certification in June, according to a news release on the company’s website.

NatureSweet also produces greenhouse-grown peppers and cucumbers sold throughout North America.

“NatureSweet was built on a vision of agricultural workers ‘who look up,’ ”Kit Goldsbury, chair of growth equity venture capital firm Silver Ventures, said in a news release announcing the sale. “Everyone is proud to have been a part of our associates’ journey to not only transform their own lives but also to be a force in the transformation of the entire industry.”

The partners at New York-based Blue Road have worked together for more than 15 years, according to its website. The partners have more than 75 years of combined experience investing in private equity, food and agribusiness companies and have invested more than $2.5 billion of equity.

“We are confident in Blue Road’s ability to lead NatureSweet into a promising future,” Bryant Ambelang, CEO of Silver Ventures and former executive chair of NatureSweet, said in the release. “They understand the value of this company lies in its people and are committed to the principles of growing the best-tasting produce through transforming the lives of agricultural workers. NatureSweet is transitioning into capable and caring hands.”