S2G's $40M bet treats protein as the snack, not the supplement
WILDE built a salty-snack business on chicken breast rather than potatoes or protein powder. New growth capital now tests whether that model can scale from a challenger chip into a multi-format snack platform.
Capital for scale, not for proof
A $40 million investment from S2G Investments into WILDE says less about the brand than about where protein snacking now sits. The category no longer needs proof of demand. It needs manufacturing depth, a wider range of formats and brands that hold their price outside the sports-nutrition aisle. That is the gap this capital is meant to close.
Founded in 2015 by Jason Wright, WILDE makes protein chips and, since May 2026, protein crackers, both with chicken breast as the first ingredient. The company says it now sells in more than 35,000 stores and has passed $100 million in sales. KarpReilly, which led a $20 million round in 2024, stays on as an investor alongside S2G.
Key Takeaways
- The round funds production, new snack formats and a brand refresh, marking a shift from building distribution to building a product platform.
- A 130,000 sq ft USDA-regulated plant in Winchester, Kentucky, opened in July and lifts capacity sixfold, per the company, giving WILDE control of cost and quality as it adds formats.
- S2G closed a $1 billion inaugural growth fund in May; a growth-stage cheque signals that institutional capital now treats protein snacks as an established category.
- For Saudi poultry processors and snack manufacturers, the model shows chicken breast can move from the protein counter into a branded, shelf-stable snack.
From fitness niche to the core snack set
Protein chips have moved from a fitness niche into the main salty-snack set. Quest and Atkins compete with powder-based formats, start-ups are adding protein to potato chips, and confectionery majors such as Ferrero are committing to high-protein lines. The demand data points the same way: Cargill's 2025 Protein Profile shows most consumers raised their intake and now look for protein in snacks.
What S2G is buying is a production process, not a flavour range. WILDE starts from whole chicken breast rather than added isolate, which gives it a clean ingredient story and a position that is hard to copy without owned capacity. S2G framed its decision around exactly that: quality ingredients delivered without giving up the taste that drives salty-snack purchases.
"We started this company to prove that protein snacks don't have to taste like punishment."
What the model means for the region
The relevance for Saudi Arabia sits upstream. The Kingdom's integrated poultry producers already control the raw material WILDE builds on. The case WILDE makes is that a shelf-stable snack built on chicken breast can turn primary poultry output into a branded, higher-margin product, and enter the salty-snack aisle without relying on protein isolates.
A regional link is already on record. PitchBook lists Abu Dhabi's Agthia Group, which runs a processed-protein business with a production facility in Jeddah, among WILDE's minority investors; no regional launch has been announced. Poultry integrators, snack manufacturers and investors in the Kingdom should track how WILDE's unit economics hold as it adds formats.
Editorial View
Protein is moving from an added claim to the base ingredient. WILDE's model, whole-food protein made in its own plant, is the kind of position growth capital is now willing to fund at scale, and the step from chips into crackers shows the platform logic: one process, many snack occasions. Brands built on powder and co-packing will find that position harder to defend.
For operators in Saudi Arabia and the region, the opening is local production of protein-led snacks that start from domestic raw material. The signal to watch is whether WILDE's new capacity delivers more formats at stable pricing. That test will decide whether chicken-based snacks remain a challenger niche or become a standing category.
