Barilla, the Italian family-owned food company, agreed to acquire Pasta Evangelists, a UK-based specialist in D2C fresh, high-quality pasta & sauces, from Pembroke VCT and Guinness for $54m. This acquisition represents a new step of Barilla’s international growth, especially in the UK, and its willingness to invest in new marketing and sales approaches, up to digital as a priority platform for interacting with consumers. Online food sales have seen massive growth in recent years, both in the recipe box category as well as in the online take-away sector. Pasta Evangelists operates at the convergence of these.