Manna Tree

What Manna Tree does

Manna Tree Partners is a Denver-based private equity investment manager founded in late 2018 that specializes exclusively in consumer health and wellness companies. The firm is structured around three investment pillars — Nutrition, Active Lifestyle, and Clean Products — and targets the lower middle market with $25M-$75M equity tickets (inclusive of co-invest) into growth-stage, founder-led brands, typically taking significant minority or control positions with board governance. Co-founded by Gabrielle 'Ellie' Rubenstein (daughter of Carlyle Group Co-Founder David Rubenstein, who serves as a Firm Advisor) and Ross Iverson, the firm is led by Managing Partners Rubenstein, Iverson, Allyson Patterson, and Steve Young, with senior leaders including CFO/CCO Katie Collins and Managing Directors across Investments, Asset Management, and Capital Formation. The firm manages approximately $840 million in assets under valuation as of January 2026 across Fund I, MT Nutrition II, and the currently-raising Manna Tree Fund III (target $500M, with parallel Cayman vehicle), supported by institutional and family-office LPs across 18 countries.

Manna Tree's portfolio spans roughly seven active holdings: Plant People (functional supplements, #1 at Whole Foods/Sprouts/Erewhon), Generous Brands/Health-Ade (kombucha, $500M exit to Generous Brands in August 2025 with retained minority stake), Good Culture (clean-label cultured dairy, majority stake sold to L Catterton in Q1 2026 with Manna Tree continuing as investor), Verde Farms (organic grass-fed beef, controlling stake acquired July 2024), Gotham Greens (40+ acres of hydroponic greenhouses across 9 U.S. states, 6,500+ retail locations), Tandem Foods (nutrition bar/chocolate/granola contract manufacturing), and True Food Kitchen (wellness restaurants). Past holdings include Vital Farms (pasture-raised eggs, exited and now publicly traded).

Revenue is generated through traditional private equity economics: recurring management fees on committed capital and lumpy carried interest on profitable realizations (Health-Ade $500M exit in 2025, Good Culture partial exit to L Catterton in 2026). The firm employs no proprietary product technology stack — operational value creation is delivered through a deep bench of consumer/CPG Operating Partners (ex-WhiteWave Foods COO Kevin Yost for Gotham Greens; former Red Robin CEO Denny Marie Post for True Food Kitchen; Jim Skidmore for Verde Farms; Nomit Shah for Plant People) and an in-house Asset Management team, supported by Firm Advisors including David Rubenstein, Afsaneh Beschloss, and Jolyne Caruso-FitzGerald. Distribution to LPs runs through a relationship-led capital formation team (Jessica Schmitt, Lauren Russell) backed by an AltaReturn investor portal at mannatree.altareturn.com, while portfolio value creation is delivered directly via board governance and operating-partner engagement.

Name

Manna Tree

Legal name

Manna Tree Partners, LLC

Website

https://mannatreepartners.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Manna Tree Partners is a Denver-based private equity firm founded in 2018 that invests $25M-$75M growth-stage equity into lower middle market consumer health and wellness companies across Nutrition, Active Lifestyle, and Clean Products, managing ~$840M AUM from global institutional LPs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Denver

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Private equity fund management fees & carried interest: Manna Tree earns management fees on capital commitments and carried interest (carry) on profitable realizations from its successive PE funds (Manna Tree Partners Fund I, MT Nutrition II, and Manna Tree Fund III series of Cayman/LP/GP vehicles disclosed in the Privacy Policy). Revenue is recurring on committed AUM and lumpy on realizations (e.g., Health-Ade exit at $500M in 2025, Good Culture partial exit to L Catterton in 2026).
2. Realizations / portfolio exits: Realized gains on portfolio company exits including the $500 million sale of Health-Ade (kombucha brand) to Generous Brands in 2025 and the majority stake sale of Good Culture to L Catterton in Q1 2026, with Manna Tree retaining minority equity in Generous Brands. These realizations drive carried-interest revenue.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Manna Tree Partners is a private equity firm that invests $25M-$75M equity tickets (inclusive of co-investment) into growth-stage consumer health and wellness companies across three pillars: Nutrition, Active Lifestyle, and Clean Products. The firm provides growth capital, board governance, and operating-partner support to founder-led brands in the lower middle market, targeting both significant minority and control equity positions in companies typically at $30M-$100M in revenue.

Product overview

Manna Tree Partners operates a sector-focused private equity platform — not a single unified software product — composed of (a) its lower middle market investment funds (cumulatively ~$840 million AUM at the time of the ICR Conference 2026, with Fund III raising $500 million), (b) a portfolio of late-stage growth and control-stake consumer health and wellness companies including Plant People, Generous Brands (holding Health-Ade, Bolthouse Farms, Evolution Fresh, SAMBAZON), Tandem Foods, Gotham Greens, Good Culture, Verde Farms, and previously Vital Farms, and (c) supporting services such as the AltaReturn-hosted Investor Portal (mannatree.altareturn.com) for LP-facing capital formation and reporting, plus the Manna Tree Health+ research library of white papers (The Future of Health & Wellness: A Generational Shift, Live Better Longer, Built To Last) that articulate the firm's investment thesis. The architecture is platform-plus-portfolio: the core platform is the Manna Tree investment franchise and Investor Portal, with each portfolio company (Plant People, Generous Brands, Tandem Foods, Gotham Greens, Good Culture, Vital Farms, Verde Farms, True Food Kitchen) operating as an autonomous, branded sub-business under Manna Tree's sector specialization in Nutrition, Active Lifestyle, and Clean Products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Manna Tree Fund III Third private equity fund being raised by Manna Tree Partners with a $500 million target. Targets lower middle market, late-stage growth investments of $25M-$75M (inclusive of co-investment) in consumer health and wellness companies across Nutrition, Active Lifestyle, and Clean Products categories.
• Manna Tree Investor Portal Online investor portal hosted via AltaReturn (mannatree.altareturn.com) that supports Manna Tree's LP-facing capital formation, contribution and distribution notifications, confirmations, and tax and financial reports.

Quantifiable outcome

• $500M Health-Ade exit to Generous Brands (2025)
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• David M. Rubenstein (The Carlyle Group)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-Founder and Co-Chairman of The Carlyle Group serves as a Firm Advisor to Manna Tree and is the father of Co-Founder Ellie Rubenstein; provides credibility, network access, and firm-strategy guidance.
• Afsaneh Beschloss (RockCreek)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounder/CEO of RockCreek and former Carlyle Group Managing Director and World Bank Treasurer/CIO; serves as Institutional Channel Advisor supporting Manna Tree's fundraising with institutional LPs.
• Jolyne Caruso-FitzGerald (Eriu Advisors)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFormer divisional vice chair of Global Wealth Management at UBS and founder of Eriu Advisors; serves as Wealth Management Advisor supporting capital formation from wealth advisors and family offices.
• PolsinelliminorGTM or Marketing PartnerLaw firm sponsor of Manna Tree's 2024 Annual General Meeting (AGM 2024) in New York, supporting investor and portfolio convening.
• Skidmore Holdings (Jim Skidmore)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerJim Skidmore's consulting/advisory practice supports Manna Tree's Verde Farms portfolio through operating-partner services including acquisitions, capital budgeting, and turnarounds across food/protein businesses.
• Whole Foods Market, Kroger, Sprouts Farmers Market, Albertsons, The Fresh Market, FreshDirect, Harris Teeter, Publix, AmazonFreshcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorRetail distribution relationships for portfolio company Gotham Greens across more than 6,500 locations in the U.S.; cited as a key part of Manna Tree's retailer network used to scale health and wellness brands.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Freeman Spogli & Co. Consumer/retail-focused private equity firm investing in middle market branded consumer companies. Closely comparable in growth-equity consumer thesis and check size to Manna Tree.
• L Catterton: The largest consumer-focused private equity firm globally with $35B+ AUM. Direct competitor for consumer health & wellness deals and the partner that took a majority stake in Good Culture (Q1 2026) alongside Manna Tree. Operates across the same end-markets (food, beverage, beauty, wellness) at a much larger scale.
• VMG Partners: Sector-specialist consumer brands private equity firm investing in growth-stage food, beverage, beauty, and wellness brands. Closely comparable to Manna Tree in check size, stage focus, and category thesis.
• TSG Consumer Partners: Long-tenured consumer brands specialist private equity firm with a multi-decade track record of investing in emerging growth CPG brands across food/beverage, beauty, and wellness. Closest analogue in vintage and pure-play consumer thesis to Manna Tree.
• Yellow Wood Partners: Boston-based consumer-focused private equity firm specializing in branded consumer products, beauty, and personal care. Direct comparable in check size and lower middle market consumer thesis; former employer of Manna Tree Managing Director Jennifer Roach.
• Butterfly Equity: Los Angeles-based private equity firm focused on the food and consumer products sector. Direct strategic peer through its Generous Brands platform that acquired Health-Ade from Manna Tree and First Bev for $500M in 2025.
• Encore Consumer Capital: Consumer products specialist private equity firm investing in lower middle market food, beverage, and personal care companies. Closely comparable to Manna Tree in check size, stage focus, and category specialization.
• Trinity Hunt Partners: Lower middle market private equity firm with a dedicated consumer products group focused on branded food, beverage, and wellness businesses. Comparable in deal size, structure, and growth-stage consumer mandate.
• Centre Partners: Lower middle market private equity firm with deep consumer/retail expertise across food, beverage, beauty, and health & wellness. Comparable in mandate and check size to Manna Tree's lower middle market consumer health & wellness thesis.

Broad incumbents

• KKR (Consumer & Retail): Mega-cap alternative asset manager with a dedicated Consumer & Retail group that periodically invests in the same health & wellness and consumer brand categories as Manna Tree. Represents the broad incumbent tier that competes with Manna Tree only for larger platform deals but shapes overall sector valuations and LP appetite.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/mannatree
• Facebookfacebook.com/mannatreepartners

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles15 records

Subsidiaries8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments16 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Manna Tree