Harken Sweets raises funding to fuel Costco warehouse expansion

Harken Sweets has new capital and a sharper retail test ahead: can a better-for-you candy brand win in Costco, where value, package size and repeat purchase matter as much as taste? The brand said Taste Tomorrow Ventures and grt sht ventures backed the round, though it did not disclose the amount. The money is earmarked for inventory, operations, brand awareness and product development as Harken prepares to enter Costco warehouses across the Northwest.

The Costco push is the real story here. Warehouse clubs do not reward novelty for long, and they do not care much about ingredient virtue unless the economics work. Harken has already responded by building a larger-format Lil Gooey Ones pack for the channel, a sign that the company is trying to move beyond the one-off snack impulse and into a more dependable, repeat-buy business. It is also leaning into a launch playbook that includes demos, creator partnerships, social content and regional awareness campaigns, the sort of spending that matters when a functional indulgence brand has to educate shoppers as well as convert them.

Harken’s formulation helps explain why investors are leaning in now. The bars are built with dates, prebiotic tapioca fiber, sunchokes, palm kernel oil, prebiotic tapioca flour, vegetable glycerine, pea protein, oats, fair-trade cocoa, sea salt, sunflower lecithin, natural flavors and monk fruit. The company says the bars are no sugar added, plant-based and dairy-free, with 14 grams of gut-loving prebiotic fiber and 65 calories per bar. That puts Harken squarely in the space between candy and protein-adjacent snacking, where consumers want something indulgent that still feels functional.

Taste Tomorrow Ventures, a year-old firm focused on beverage and snack investments, said the deal is its eighth investment and its second in better-for-you indulgent snacks. Its Fund I is a $30 million debut fund, and the firm said it adds hands-on operational support along with retail, supply chain and strategic partnership connectivity. That backing fits Harken’s trajectory. Katie Lefkowitz founded the company after a 2018 health scare tied to colon cancer and fiber intake, following stints in biopharma and later as chief operating officer at Caulipower, where she helped scale the brand beyond its early days.

Harken launched three years ago and has moved fast. In August 2024, the company said it had launched in 3,500 Walmarts nationwide and was seeing 50% quarter-over-quarter growth. By March 2025, it had secured its first investment from Melitas Ventures, introduced snack-size Minis and said it had scaled to more than 5,000 stores nationwide. Today, its lineup includes Lil’ Nutty Ones, Lil’ Gooey Ones, Lil’ Crunchy Ones and Lil’ Coconutty Ones, with the new Costco bet signaling that Harken wants to graduate from niche wellness candy into a brand that can hold shelf space at scale.