Peter Rahal, the co-founder of RXBAR and founder of David Protein, is now a billionaire after his second food company reached a $2.25 billion valuation. Medici Brands, the parent company of David Protein and HallPass, raised $250 million in Series B funding in September 2026, sharply increasing the value of Rahal’s stake.
The more important business story is how Rahal got there. He sold RXBAR to Kellogg for $600 million in 2017. Seven years later, he launched David Protein. By 2026, David had expanded from one protein bar into frozen desserts and ready-to-drink shakes, reached more than 35,000 retail locations and was on track to exceed $300 million in revenue.
Medici is now trying to turn that growth into a larger food platform built around multiple brands and proprietary food technology.
Why is Peter Rahal a Billionaire?
Peter Rahal’s billionaire status is tied largely to his ownership in Medici Brands and the higher valuation assigned to the company in its latest funding round. The $2.25 billion figure is Medici’s private-company valuation; it is not a $2.25 billion cash payment to Rahal.
Medici’s September 2026 Series B was led by Greenoaks and Valor Equity Partners, with participation from Rahal, ICONIQ and Imaginary Ventures. The same two lead investors had participated in David’s $75 million Series A in 2025.
Private-company founders can become billionaires when the value of their equity rises, even if they have not sold those shares. Rahal’s latest financing therefore increased the estimated value of his holdings without requiring him to cash out his ownership.
The scale of the increase is notable. Medici’s latest valuation is about three times the approximately $725 million valuation reported after its previous financing.
Medici’s latest numbers
|
Metric |
Latest figure |
|
Series B funding |
$250 million |
|
Medici valuation |
$2.25 billion |
|
Previous reported valuation |
About $725 million |
|
David Protein launch |
September 2024 |
|
David retail footprint |
35,000+ locations |
|
Expected 2026 revenue |
$300 million+ |
|
David Gold bar |
28g protein, 150 calories, 0g sugar |
|
New brands |
HallPass and Rowdy |
How Did Peter Rahal Build His First Fortune?
Peter Rahal co-founded RXBAR with Jared Smith in 2013. The company built its brand around straightforward ingredient messaging and grew from an early direct-sales business into a major nutrition-bar company.
Kellogg agreed to acquire the company behind RXBAR for $600 million in 2017. Kellogg said at the time that RXBAR was expected to generate about $120 million in sales for the year.
That exit gave Rahal capital and experience in consumer packaged goods. His second venture uses a different model.
David Protein launched direct-to-consumer in September 2024 with one product: a protein bar containing 28 grams of protein, 150 calories and zero grams of sugar. The company later expanded into frozen desserts and ready-to-drink protein shakes.
The central idea is simple: create familiar foods with substantially different nutritional profiles while keeping the taste and eating experience close to conventional products.
What is Medici Brands?
Medici Brands is the parent company Rahal is using to build several consumer food businesses rather than relying on one product line.
David Protein is its established brand. HallPass is its confectionery business, while Rowdy is the planned chips brand. Medici also owns Epogee, the company behind EPG, a plant-based fat substitute used in products across the portfolio.
This makes Medici different from a conventional food startup.
Its structure can be understood in three layers:
- Consumer brands: David, HallPass and Rowdy.
- Food technology: EPG and related product-development capabilities.
- Parent platform: Medici, which provides capital, infrastructure and operating resources across the brands.
Greenoaks, one of Medici’s lead investors, describes the company as a technology-enabled food platform and a house of brands.
That structure helps explain why investors are valuing Medici rather than simply assigning a valuation to David Protein.
Why is David Protein Growing So Quickly?
David Protein has grown rapidly because it combines a clear nutritional proposition with aggressive retail expansion.
The company launched in 2024 as a direct-to-consumer brand. By September 2026, David was available in more than 35,000 retail locations, including Walmart, Target and Costco. Medici says David is on track to exceed $300 million in revenue during 2026.
The product strategy is built around protein density.
A David Gold bar provides 28 grams of protein for 150 calories. The company has subsequently extended the same protein-focused positioning into frozen desserts and ready-to-drink shakes.
Rahal has also said he expects David to become profitable in 2026. That matters because the latest $250 million financing is being positioned primarily as capital for expansion, new brands, new formats and product innovation rather than simply funding David’s operating losses.
What Makes EPG Important to Medici?
EPG is one of the most important pieces of Medici’s strategy because it is a food ingredient rather than a consumer-facing brand.
EPG is a plant-based fat substitute designed to provide the taste and texture associated with traditional fat while contributing far fewer calories. David uses EPG in products including its bars and frozen desserts, and HallPass also uses the ingredient.
Medici acquired Epogee, the company producing EPG, after supply became strategically important to David’s expansion. That acquisition gave Medici greater control over an ingredient that supports its low-calorie product strategy.
The strategic value is broader than protein bars.
If the same ingredient technology can be incorporated into protein foods, candy, desserts and other categories, Medici can use one technological capability across multiple consumer brands.
That is a major reason the company is pursuing a portfolio model.
What Legal Issues Surround EPG?
Medici’s ownership of EPG has also created legal exposure.
OWN Your Hunger, Lighten Up Foods and Defiant Foods brought an antitrust case against Linus Technology, doing business as David Protein, Epogee and Peter Rahal. The plaintiffs alleged anticompetitive conduct involving access to EPG. Those allegations remain allegations and are disputed by the defendants.
The litigation has developed through several court filings. In March 2026, a federal judge granted the plaintiffs permission to amend their complaint in the antitrust case.
AgFunderNews reported in September that Lighten Up Foods had settled its claims with David, while litigation involving other plaintiffs continued.
The issue matters to Medici’s business model because EPG is not simply another ingredient purchased on the open market. Control over a strategically important food technology can provide a competitive advantage, but it can also raise questions about supply, competition and access for other food companies.
Why Did Medici Launch Hallpass and Rowdy?
Medici is using new brands to apply its product-development approach to categories outside protein.
HallPass launched nationally at Walmart in August 2026. The brand sells confectionery products designed to deliver the familiar taste of candy with fewer calories and less sugar. Rowdy, which Medici plans to launch later in 2026, is focused on chips.
The significance is strategic.
David has already demonstrated that consumers will buy a food product built around a strong protein-to-calorie proposition. HallPass tests whether Medici can apply a similar approach to candy. Rowdy will test the model in salty snacks.
If the strategy works, Medici does not need every new product to become another David.
It can build separate brands for different categories while sharing technology, product development, manufacturing knowledge and infrastructure at the parent-company level.
What is Medici Doing With the $250 Million?
Medici says the new capital will fund HallPass expansion, additional David products and categories, product innovation and the infrastructure required to launch and scale brands such as Rowdy.
That means the Series B is effectively financing the next stage of the platform.
David already has significant retail distribution. The next challenge is to prove that Medici can repeat the formula across multiple food categories without diluting the individual brands or losing the product quality that drove David’s early growth.
Rahal’s own $20 million investment in the latest financing also puts additional capital behind that strategy.
What is Different About Rahal’s Second Act?
Rahal’s first major food company was a single-brand success that ended in a $600 million acquisition.
His second company is being built differently.
RXBAR Was a Brand. Medici is a Platform.
David Protein is the proof of concept. HallPass and Rowdy are expansion bets. EPG provides an underlying food-technology capability. The parent company supplies the capital and infrastructure to develop and scale the portfolio.
That model explains why the latest funding round matters beyond Rahal’s billionaire status.
Medici has already demonstrated that David can move from a direct-to-consumer launch to more than 35,000 retail locations and projected revenue above $300 million in roughly two years. The harder question is whether the same product-development system can create several large food brands.
For now, the $2.25 billion valuation represents what investors are willing to pay for that possibility. Rahal’s billionaire milestone is the visible result. The larger business story is whether Medici can turn one successful protein brand into a repeatable food-building platform.
