Nutrition Capital Network (NCN), San Diego, CA, an organization that connects high-potential growth companies in the nutrition and health and wellness industry with investors, saw investments hit an all-time high in 2012, with 247 transactions recorded in categories ranging from food and beverages to dietary supplements, ingredients, fitness and enabling technologies. While M&A activity by itself was down 12% to 155, 2012 saw more than 50% growth in financings, to 92, indicating a strong interest among venture capital and other funds in fueling growth for the next generation of nutrition and health and wellness companies.

Among food and beverage company financings in particular, during the course of 2012, four were previous Nutrition Capital Network presenting companies. Especially notable in 2012 was the unprecedented number of investments in technologies that support nutrition and health and wellness, with 28 financings recorded.

NCN also released its list of Top 15 Transactions in Nutrition and Health & Wellness for 2012, including Campbell Soup’s $1.6 billion acquisition of Bolthouse Farms, U.K.’s Reckitt’s $1.4 billion acquisition of Schiff Nutrition and the $500 million and $900 million acquisitions of leading fish oil suppliers Ocean Nutrition and Pronova BioPharma by DSM and BASF, respectively. The list was compiled based on strategic importance, size or scale, relevance of the players involved and other factors.