The Startup That Claims Its Drink, Soylent, Can Replace Meals

— -- Like so many great startups, Soylent, a beverage classified as a food product by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and marketed to replace any meal, got its start in Silicon Valley when four friends -- all engineers -- set out to solve a problem. Back in 2013, co-founders Rob Rhinehart, Matt Cauble, John Coogan and David Renteln were working on starting other companies and simultaneously running out of funds.

In an effort to save money, the group decided to downsize, and moved from a five-bedroom house to a two-bedroom apartment. Despite their best efforts to cut costs, they were still spending excessive amounts on food. "A couple of us were living in this hacker house in Silicon Valley and we were spending a lot of money on food… but we couldn’t keep the fridge stocked." David Renteln, Soylent CMO and co-founder tells, ABC’s News chief business and economics correspondent Rebecca Jarvis.

Rhinehart began researching a more efficient way to eat in order to optimize nutrition while minimizing cost, effort and time. After identifying the essential nutrients for the human body to thrive, Rhinehart started concocting a mixture of supplements and ingredients. Soylent was born. With the help of a beta program of about 100 people and sheer persistence, the group landed on a recipe they say checked off all the right boxes.

"What we’ve really tried to do is create a neutral flavor, so the idea is … you can have it every day and not get too exhausted" Renteln said, "Of course the nutrients are the most important …so it’s important to find sort of an ideal combination that people find usable."

That same year Soylent raised more than $3 million on fundraising Tilt making it the largest crowdfunded food project in history. Two years later in January of 2015, the company received $20 million in Series A funding led by venture capitalist Andreessen Horowitz with the help of Lerer Ventures, Index Ventures and individual investors.

Thanks to this funding, Soylent was able to accelerate its growth and focus on product development. "Our mission is to bring affordable nutrition to everybody and one way we can do that is spreading the use of this product as well as launching new products."