Make Room!, a 1966 dystopian science fiction novel (which was the basis of the 1973 film Soylent Green) that explores the theme of resource shortages in the context of overpopulation.

The company developed a following initially in Silicon Valley and received early financial backing from GV, the investment arm of Alphabet, Inc., and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

[2] In January 2013, American software engineer Rob Rhinehart purchased 35 chemical ingredients—including potassium gluconate, calcium carbonate, monosodium phosphate, maltodextrin, and olive oil—all of which he deemed necessary for survival, based on his readings of biochemistry textbooks and U.S. government websites.

[3] Rhinehart's blog posts about his experiment attracted attention on Hacker News,[4][7] eventually leading to a crowdfunding campaign on Tilt that raised about $1.5 million in preorders[8][9] aimed at moving the powdered drink from concept into production.

Media reports detailed how operations began for Soylent Nutrition, Inc., in April 2014, using a relatively small $500 system to ship the first $2.6 million worth of product.

[10] In January 2015, Soylent received $20 million in Series A round funding, led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

[21][22] On August 13, 2015, As You Sow filed a notice of intent to pursue a lawsuit against the makers of Soylent, claiming that the company was in breach of California's Proposition 65 for not adequately labeling its product given the levels of lead and cadmium present in the drink.

[27] The company also published an infographic and spreadsheet based on an FDA study of heavy metal content in common foods, comparing two selected example meals to servings of Soylent with a similar amount of caloric intake.

In 2016, the company announced it would halt sales of the Soylent bar due to reports of gastrointestinal illness, including nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

[40] Dylan Matthews of The Washington Post noted in 2013 that Soylent fulfills a similar need as medical foods like Abbott Laboratories' Jevity, but at a much lower cost.

Writing for The Verge, Chris Ziegler said he was "pleasantly surprised" with the "rich, creamy, and strangely satisfying" flavor,[22] and a reviewer for Business Insider likened it to a vanilla milkshake with the texture of pancake batter,[42] while a writer for The Guardian wrote that it was "purposefully bland", "vile", and made the taster "gag".