Huge congratulations to LAIKI Inc., a Sasin alumni business led by founder Pradeep Akkunoor! LAIKI Inc., a Sasin alumni business led by founder Pradeep Akkunoor (MBA 2009), recently closed its Series A1 equity round and welcomed Santosh Padki to its Board of Directors. Santosh was the CEO of Bare Snacks, the iconic, plant-based snacking brand, which was acquired by PepsiCo. Santosh has held senior leadership roles at high growth consumer products companies after acquiring his foundational brand-building experiences at ConAgra and Sara Lee. “Pradeep and his team are building a high potential brand with products that strongly resonate with the growing consumer demand for crunchy, clean-label, better for you snacks,” said Santosh Padki. “I look forward to helping them build the LAIKI brand.” “We are excited with our next stage of growth and are fortunate to leverage the experience of Santosh as we bring LAIKI to more consumers across North America”, Pradeep Akkunoor, Founder of LAIKI Crackers stated. Aside from Santosh, the Series A sole investor, led by Board member John Crean, Managing Member, Sonoma Equity Partners, fully participated in the round. “LAIKI has shown significant progress since our original investment, and we are pleased both to welcome Santosh on Board and to participate to our full share in Series A1,” said John Crean. The team was also recently strengthened by the addition of Tony Sisneros, a former Sales Director at General Mills. His efforts have been focused on building new distribution within natural, specialty, and grocery channels. Under his leadership, LAIKI has rapidly expanded store count from 1,000 to over 6,000 U S locations. LAIKI offers wholesome, nutrient-dense, better-for-you crackers, made from 100% whole grain rice, in unique black and red varieties. Its deliciously crunchy crackers are vegan, gluten-free, and free from key allergens. They are available at over 6,000 locations worldwide.