This is a guest post by Elizabeth Tilton, founder and CEO of Oyster Sunday

All across the US, restaurants are being forced to lay off their staff, close their businesses and make heartbreaking decisions in hopes to weather the storm caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

At my company, Oyster Sunday, we are committed to supporting independent restaurants with in-kind consultations to ensure they have another resource in their corner during these unimaginably trying times. From communicating with your team, to pro-bono legal counsel, to thinking through cash flow constraints, please contact us. Beyond our leadership team, we are connected with a remarkable community of professionals (including lawyers, PR professionals, accountants, CPAs, copywriters and more) who have generously offered to donate their time and resources to restaurants that need help navigating this crisis.

In challenging moments, creative measures and alternative paths are essential. As a result, we have been working around the clock to pull resources so that restaurants have the information they need to make these incredibly difficult decisions about labor, financials, compliance and, in the future, how best to open their doors. Below we’ve highlighted some of the most important information, all of which is available in more detail on our website.

Food+Tech Connect has also created database of resources for people working across the food system who are impacted by this crisis. Please peruse and add you resources to the database.

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Safety Best Practices

Everyone understands the critical importance of safety during this crisis, and below are two key resources to share with your teams.

• CDC
• Restaurant Guide

Communications

Now more than ever, clear messaging is key, and restaurants have a direct line to not only their employees, but also their customers. Operators should ensure they are communicating clearly with their team and customers about topics including changing offerings, hours, and safety measures on all applicable platforms: website, email listserv, social media, and on-premise signage. If you need help communicating with your team and / or guests, we’re here to help.

Operations

Although many restaurants around the US have closed, restaurants that continue to operate can utilize pickup and delivery to continue service. Alternatively, operators can turn to alternative revenue sources such as selling gift cards, merchandise, dining bonds to be redeemed upon re-opening, and creating GoFundMe campaigns.

Pickup + Delivery 
Restaurants across the country are still open and offering pickup and/or delivery, enabling them to continue to bring in revenue while maintaining the health and safety of their employees and customers. Some state liquor authorities are now allowing restaurants off-premises privileges for licensed businesses with on-premises privileges, as long as the alcohol is sold in conjunction with food.While delivery services like Grubhub and UberEats are deferring fees to restaurants, this doesn’t mean they’re waiving fees entirely and the fine print has been difficult to navigate. You can read more about this on Eater.

Gift Cards + Merch
Restaurants are encouraging customers to purchase gift cards, and some are even selling “dining bonds,” reduced price gift certificates that can be redeemed for a greater value at a later date.. With the purchase of a gift card or bond, some restaurants are also offering an invite to their re-opening party when the time comes.

HR

Your teams are the heartbeat of the industry, but we understand that safeguarding the future of your business is requiring you to make enormously difficult decisions. The goal is to balance your team’s immediate needs while ensuring they will have a job and a community to return to in the months to come.

While we understand that many restaurants have already had to lay off their teams so that they can start collecting unemployment, we have outlined different options for those who have yet to make these decisions for salaried and hourly employees. To help understand the differences, you can read more here.

• Salary reductions
• Transitioning salaried employees to hourly compensation
• Adjusted pay rates
• Unpaid leave of absence
• Work furlough
• Layoffs

Finance + Accounting

This crisis is impacting the bottom line for restaurants in unimaginable ways. It is critical to understand how much cash you have available, what the next few weeks look like (we recommend budgeting up to 12 weeks out, if possible), and what fixed costs you can immediately reduce to help free up available cash.

• Build a 12-week budget
• Reduce ongoing fixed costs
  • Ask your landlord for temporary rent abatement
  • Ask your bank for temporary loan forgiveness
  • Ask your vendors for extended payment terms

• Reduce monthly subscription and software costs,
  • POS
  • Inventory management

• Reservation system
  • Effective March 9th, Resy is providing 100% relief on all fees and billing for at least 30 days.
  • OpenTable is waiving subscription fees for restaurants that are closed through April 30th.

Business Loans + Grants

A number of associations and non-profit organizations are offering business loans and grants to restaurants. This is a comprehensive list of from Gusto outlining available COVID-19 resources for small businesses on federal, state, and local levels, as well as assistance being offered by private companies. You can also read more information on our website, and we have outlined a few key loans below.

• SBA | Economic Injury Disaster Relief Program: Small businesses and nonprofits impacted with revenue loss re: COVID-19 can apply for low-interest loans up to $2M.
• SBA | Loan Programs: Small businesses can apply for SBA-approved loans for working capital to support their business.

Donation + Additional Resources

If you’re looking for donation opportunities to help those affected, we have information on relief funds, organizations accepting food donations, and more on our website. [link to Food Donation Opportunities]

Advocacy
Restaurateurs and their guests are banding together to save America’s restaurants. Below are links to petitions you can sign, as well as information on how to call your local representatives, mayors, and governors to ensure your voice is heard. We’re all in this together.

National

• Save America’s Restaurants – National petition calling on the government to include restaurants in relief bills
• RWCF COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund – Provides direct relief to individual restaurant workers, non-profits serving restaurant workers in crisis and zero-interest loans to restaurants.
• One Fair Wage – Emergency coronavirus tipped and service worker support fund

Local

• ROAR (Relief Opportunities for All Restaurants) – NYC / National petition calling on the government to include restaurants in relief bills
• Call Local Representatives, Mayors, + Governors

To emphasize the importance of giving restaurants a stake in upcoming emergency relief funds. Below are local representatives for New York City + New Orleans, but all numbers are available to the public online. Sample Call Script is here.

Congressional Reps and Senators | 202-224-3121

[NY] Governor Cuomo | 518-474-8390

[NYC] Mayor Bill de Blasio | 311 or 212-NEW-YORK

[LA]  Governor  Edwards | 225-342-7015

[NOLA]  Mayor Cantrell  | 504-658-4900

For more information + an in-kind consultation, please visit us at Oyster Sunday or email us at hello@oystersunday.com.

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About OS | Oyster Sunday is a company based in New Orleans and New York City with the mission to reimagine the infrastructure necessary to build stable, progressive businesses in the hospitality industry.

Elizabeth is the founder of Oyster Sunday, an operating system for independent restaurants based in New Orleans and New York City with the mission to reimagine the infrastructure necessary to build stable, progressive businesses in the hospitality industry. Prior to Oyster Sunday, Elizabeth started her carrier as a pastry cook in New Orleans and moved to NYC to join the team at Momofuku. On the Public Relations and Marketing team at Momofuku. she helped manage public relations and marketing for Momofuku’s New York restaurants and major partnerships for the restaurant group. After Momofuku, Elizabeth was the Head of Brand at W&P, a vertically-integrated design and manufacturing company developing culinary products, managing the launch of over 300 products including product partnerships with Lucas Films, Williams-Sonoma, West Elm, and Food52.

The post COVID-19 Hospitality Resources & Best Practices From Oyster Sunday appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

This is a sponsored post from the PepsiCo Greenhouse Collaborative Accelerator

Apply Now To Be a Part of PepsiCo’s 2nd North American Greenhouse Accelerator Program

The post Apply to PepsiCo’s Greenhouse Accelerator Program By January 10 appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

We are thrilled to partner with Ryan Williams to publish our 2018 U.S. Food & Beverage Startup Investment Report. A reformed banker, Ryan now leads finance and special projects for RISE Brewing Co., an award winning nitro cold brew coffee brand. On the side, he likes techno, backpacking, helping other food entrepreneurs, and long walks through the grocery store.

$1.45+ Billion Invested Across 247 Food & Beverage Deals

With acquisitions on the rise and more capital flowing into the industry, 2018 was another great year for U.S. based food and beverage startups. The year saw $1.45 billion invested across 200 disclosed deals, according to our research. In total, there were 247 reported financings in 2018. The largest check size of the year was for $114 million to Impossible Foods, with a median check size of $2.4 million (down from $3.9 million in 2017) and average check size of $7.3 million (up from $8.9 million in 2017). Despite a slight decline from 65 deals in 2017, M&A remained strong with 59 branded food and beverage deals closed in 2018, according to data compiled by Houlihan Lokey.

Our Investment Report examines U.S. based food and beverage investor trends, investment trends by category, and overall industry trends from 2018. Additionally, the report concludes with a detailed overview of notable exists and investments.

Please note, we used new data sources for 2017 and 2018 figures. Please do not refer to 2017 figures in our prior report for comparison purposes, as updated data alters prior year results. Improvements to our tracking and methodology allowed us to better track deal activity in 2018 than the year prior, allowing us to catch some of the smaller deals that are less widely publicized. We also began tracking three new categories, including CBD & THC, meal kits, and supplements.

The database underlying this report relies on a variety of public sources of information such as industry publications, SEC filings, Crunchbase, newsletters, and social media to track investments made by by angel investors, incubators, venture capital firms, and private equity firms. While a best effort is made, no guarantee is given regarding its comprehensiveness or accuracy. The database covers the U.S. branded food and beverage category, which includes in-market products sold to consumers through e-commerce or traditional retail channels.

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Report Content

Click on the links below to easily navigate this report.

1. Investor Trends
2. Food & Beverage Investment Category Data & Trends
3. Notable 2018 CPG Trends
4. Notable Exits
5. Complete List of 2018 Food & Beverage Investments

Investor Trends

On the investing side, 2018 was more focused on maturation than innovation. Last year saw the full scale arrival of traditional tech investors, the advent of data-driven funds such as CircleUp, and the emergence of mega rounds backing category leaders. These strategies continued through 2018, albeit directed at the ever widening scope of exciting categories and trends, from plant-based to CBD.

As more investors have flocked to food, capital providers have sought to differentiate their dollars. CircleUp, for example, notes on its website: “We now provide not only access to capital, but also introductions to retailers and strategics, as well as actionable insights, powered by our machine learning platform, Helio.” Similarly, influencer-centric Wild Ventures specializes in online distribution and sales. It has assembled an investor syndicate of wellness influencers that can help drive direct sales. Bringing something unique to the table is becoming increasingly important and VCs are seeking to establish their value-add.

Some investors are generalists, investing in a wide variety of brands. One of the most active firms this year, AccelFoods, participated in 17 deals ranging from bone broth (Bonafide Provisions) to cold brew coffee (Wandering Bear). Cambridge SPG was also lively, closing seven deals in brands such as Vive Organic, Tosi Health, and Once Upon a Farm. More frequent participation helps firms learn faster, diversify their risk, and double down on category winners.

While other investors target specific sectors, particularly when it comes to plant-based. New Crop Capital, Powerplant Ventures, and Stray Dog Capital have all built impressive portfolios by focusing exclusively on the industry’s continued embrace of alternatives to meat, seafood, and dairy. Other niche focused investors include The DTX Company, Elizabeth Street Ventures, and Outbound Ventures, which have concentrated on e-commerce standouts such as Dirty Lemon, RISE Brewing Co., Ark Foods, and spero.

Just as interesting as who came to the table in 2018 is who didn’t. Whereas tech focused VC firms made many showings in 2017, very few of the big names closed new deals in 2018. Neither Accel, Andreessen Horowitz, Box Group, First Round Capital, Greycroft nor GV did a food related deal. Only Horizons Ventures, which placed tech angled bets on Endless West, Impossible Foods, and Perfect Day; Kleiner Perkins, with its check to Beyond Meat; and Khosla Ventures, with its participation in Perfect Day and Ripple, represented the tech set. The intersection of new technology paired to food brands most excites this group.

Also worth noting is the distribution of deal activity more generally. Of the 412 investors tracked in 2018, 160 wrote no checks at all. While some of that group may have quietly shuttered or some deals went unnoticed, the 202 active firms were still predominantly one check ponies. Of the 430 tracked checks written in 2018, nearly half (45 percent) came from just 30 firms. Another notable development is that A-tier firms appear to be increasing the size of their investment, while decreasing their investment frequency. VMG, for example, made just four disclosed investments in 2018, but the rounds in which they participated averaged $37 million, including Ancient Nutrition ($108,000,000), SmashMallow ($10,000,000), Spindrift ($20,000,000), Humm Kombucha ($10,000,000).

In 2018, an expanded array of corporate VCs began to invest off their balance sheets, following the precedent set by name brand corporate venture incubators and funds such as Coke’s Venture Emerging Brands (“VEB”). Ingredient supplier Döhler Ventures, for example, has taken positions in Bizzy, Vive Organic, Vrai and Your Super. WeWork’s Food Labs, which wasn’t officially announced until March 2019, had nonetheless begun meeting with brands and touting its global reach before the new year.

As usual, however, and the above notwithstanding, the only thing more exciting than the trends within the investment community were the trends among the brands themselves.

Food & Beverage Investment Category Data

The following is a breakdown of investments by category, including alcohol, alternative dairy, alternative protein, bars, beverages beyond water, CBD & THC, chips & salty snacks, coffee, tea & kombucha, keto, protein beverage, sweets, soups & broths, supplements, and other.

Please note, for the graphs and data presented below, every company is only classified in one category. Editorial judgement is used when determining how to group these brands.

Top 20 Food & Beverage VC Investments by Brand

Like 2017, there were two brands in the $100 million club. Following Brewdog ($190 million) and JUST ($150 million) in 2017, this year’s nine-figure club included Impossible Foods and Ancient Nutrition. Six of the top 20 brands (Beyond Meat, Bulletproof, High Brew, Impossible Foods, Perfect Day, and Spindrift) appeared years, raising a combined $461 million.

2018 Food & Beverage Funding by Category

Besides “Other” being the largest category and encapsulating companies ranging from Once Upon a Farm to RollinGreens, the most noteworthy outcome was alternatives to dairy and animal-based protein were both the first and second tracked categories, representing one-third of the overall pie. No wonder plant-centric investment firms have had no trouble expanding their portfolios.

2018 VC Investments By Quarter

As compared to 2017, the quarter over quarter deal activity volumes were more stable. The two biggest quarters of the year, Q1 and Q3 also included to the two biggest deals of the year – $108 million to Ancient Nutrition in March and $114 million to Impossible Foods in October, respectively.

2018 Funding For Coffee, Tea & Kombucha

High Brew has been highly funded, occupying the top spot in 2018 after raising $17 million just a year earlier. Humm has also been humming along, following its 2017 raise of $10 million with another $10 million in 2018. These two leaders have been backed by what many would call the biggest respective brands on the venture side of the table – CAVU Ventures and VMG.

Note: undisclosed fundings in 2018 included Brew Dr. Kombucha, VitaCup, Wicked Lekker, Sweet A Little, Metabrew, and Vera Roasting Company.

2018 Funding for Beverages Beyond Water

Investor willingness to back cold-chain beverage has grown. In fact, about half of category dollars went towards cold-chain brands, led by Harmless Harvest and Dirty Lemon. What remains to be seen, however, is large CPG willingness to acquire and support such companies. For example, Coke’s relationship with Suja has proven challenging and even at $100 million in sales, Coke backed kombucha breakout Health-Ade remains unprofitable. The costs and supply chain complexities of cold-chain distribution need to be addressed before these brands can successfully integrate with publicly traded CPG portfolios.

Note: undisclosed fundings in 2018 included GIVN Water, Poppilu, and Vitox Drinking Vinegar.

2018 Funding for Alcohol

Wine, beer, whiskey, and canned cocktails – alcohol investments of 2018 run the gamut of the booze spectrum. Alcohol is often considered a staid category, but in recent years, more attempts are being made to introduce truly differentiated products. Endless West, for example, employs a proprietary process to accelerate the aging of its spirits. Willie’s Superbrew offers unique flavor combinations and advocates for nutrition label transparency beyond the lax requirements afforded to alcohol producers. And finally, KeVita founder Bill Moses’s newest venture, Flying Embers, embraces the natural alcohol of kombucha for a refreshing, bubbly yet boozy, creation.

Note: undisclosed fundings in 2018 included Bodega Luigi Bosca, Laws Whiskey House, Flying Embers, Vivify Beverages, Swish Beverages and Brooklyn Gin.

2018 Funding for Soups & Broths

Sometimes, it’s what seems less exciting that has the most potential. Case in point – B.O.U, a modern, better-for-you bouillon maker that, while competing in a lower velocity, smaller, and admittedly unbuzzworthy category, also faces significantly less competition and impediments to gaining shelf space.

Note: undisclosed fundings in 2018 included Splendid Spoon.

Funding for Keto

For diet-trend led brands, their identify is dual-defined. Is Bulletproof a keto brand that makes coffee or a coffee brand that makes keto? Nonetheless, keto deserves a mention in 2018 as it has become just as popular as gluten-free was not so long ago. Many companies, including Cave Shake, Bear Squeeze, and Quevos, wisely embrace keto while remaining cautious in fully ensconcing their identities in the trend.

Note: undisclosed fundings in 2018 included Cave Shake and Disruptive Enterprises.

2018 Funding for CBD & THC Food & Beverage Brands

Funding for CBD and THC has started to light up. Once a taboo and restricted by tight regulations, increased acceptance at the state and, perhaps soon, federal levels has opened a path for national, big-time brands. Coke CEO James Quincy continues to be skeptical, recently commenting, “The way I think about ingredients is the following: Is it legal? Is it safe? And is it consumable?…It’s not legal in the U.S…Is it safe? Science is out…We want to sell drinks that people can drink each day.” On the opposite end of the spectrum, Constellation Brands placed a $4 billion bet on Canopy Growth in October 2018, describing its view as, “extremely bullish, if not more bullish” on an earnings call. Risk-tolerant investors agree, with RTDs such as Recess and California Dreamin’ receiving millions in investment despite nascent sales data. Even if their investments go south, at least those VCs will be able to relax.

2018 Funding for Chips & Salty Snacks

Every notable crunchy or salty snack investment of the past year went towards a non-potato based brand. Leading the group was CAVU Ventures backed Hippeas, which has raised $22 million to date on its reported path to both profitability and $100 million in sales. Following a stint of Powerplant Ventures and Zico founder Mark Rompolla briefly assuming the CEO role, Beanfields has also matured nicely.

Note: undisclosed fundings in 2018 included Quevos.

2018 Funding For Supplements

Supplements and direct-to-consumer make a great match. Low weights, high margins and the ability to target specific demographics helps explain why e-commerce has been a focus of most venture backed brands in the category. The $108 million round for Ancient Nutrition generated quite a stir. In addition to VMG and ICONIQ Capital, Ancient Nutrition attracted a veritable “who’s who” roster of angel investors. Supplements are also one of the few categorizes in which “personalization” is actually happening. Joining the likes of Care/of and Ritual, Persona, which makes customized vitamin regimens, closed a $4.5 million round from Emil Capital Partners, L Catterton, and Mindset Venture Group.

Note: undisclosed fundings in 2018 included Uplift Food, Hangnever, Cure Hydration, and Enduraphin.

2018 Funding for Protein Beverages

It feels like not too long ago, the only protein beverage option was Muscle Milk. Over the past few years, a number of better-for-you protein brands have emerged, with unique twists to differentiate themselves from a broadening set. From REBBL’s use of adaptogens to Ample Foods’s “just add water” format, the protein enhanced beverage category reflects the rapid innovation that is occurring throughout the industry as a whole.

2018 Funding for Bars

Investors continue to support innovation in the bar category in terms of deal frequency, with 11 brands attracting institutional dollars in 2018. The average check size, however, was just $1.9 million, significantly less than the $7.3 million average across the industry. Especially with the exits of companies like RXBAR to Kellogg and Health Warrior to Pepsi, startups are going to face an increasingly difficult time getting on shelf, getting off shelf, and ultimately, getting acquired.

Note: undisclosed fundings in 2018 included Cherryvale Farms and Milkful.

2018 Funding for Desserts & Sweets

The best and brightest sweets companies prove it’s possible to survive the sugar inquisition. Whether through innovation like SmashMallow’s snackable marshmallows or moderation, as demonstrated by Chloe’s all-natural fruit pops, creating something unique, tasty, and responsibly indulgent continues to open investor wallets and consumer mouths.

Note: undisclosed fundings in 2018 included Buff Bake, Fancy Sprinkles, Good Day Chocolate, JJ’s Sweets, Little Secrets, and Van Leeuwen.

2018 Funding for Meal Kits

Amidst the struggles of category creator Blue Apron, many would expect investors to have written off the meal-kit category. Even though category funding is down significantly, focused offerings targeting specific dietary needs or recipe formats have received continued support, with Sun Basket’s organic options leading the charge.

Note: undisclosed fundings in 2018 included Ono Food Co.

2018 Funding for Plant-Based Dairy

Dairy alternatives was the top category of the year, raking in over $200 million in total investment, with three companies (Ripple Foods, Califia Farms, and Kite Hill) raising $40 million or more. In addition to the direct leaders, products from brands in other categories have also embraced the trend, with offerings ranging from oat milk cold brew coffee to almond milk based ice cream.

2018 Funding for Plant-Based & Cultured Protein

Second only to alternative dairy was alternative meat and seafood, which collected a combined $192 million.

Note: undisclosed fundings in 2018 included Alpha Foods.

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Notable 2018 CPG Trends

Notable 2018 CPG Trends

CPG Retail Innovation

Following the playbook of brands like Warby Parker and Away, digitally native food and beverage brands began looking for ways to connect with their customers in person. Recognizing the value of in-person experiences to increase retention and lifetime value of their existing customers, while also presenting an increasingly cost effective customer acquisition channel amidst the rising prices of online ads, some of the most innovative brands launched Instagramable brick-and-mortar stores to engage with their customers offline.

Dirty Lemon, for example, launched The Drug Store, an instagram-perfect concept store in Tribeca, this past September to much fanfare. The goal of the store was to use a unique retail experience as a way to stand out in a sea of competitors with equally compelling digital marketing. Dirty Lemon is reallocating nearly all of its $4 million annual digital advertising budget to opening more Drug Stores, CEO Zak Normandin told The New York Times. More than a mere new channel for sales, the store forces customers to check out using its text-based payment flow. This brings in both sales and facilitates a digital connection. The buyer can then be marketed to via text, email and other means.

Hint, one of the leaders in D2C beverage, opened a 1,500-square foot experiential water bar in San Francisco’s Cow Hollow district where customers can sample and purchase its products. The purpose of the store is to turn Hint into an omni-channel lifestyle brand, CEO Kara Goldin told BevNET. Not to be outdone, Daily Harvest, a healthy meal delivery startup, launched a four day pop-up in New York City, which it has taken on the road to more cities in 2019. Rachel Dori, the company’s CEO, described her desire to, “to learn from and interact with consumers offline,” as its primary objective.

Far from the neon lights, crowded aisles, and disenchanted staff of traditional brick-and-mortar, these brands and more are successfully rethinking retail. By applying the same attention to detail and relentless customer focus reflected in their online experiences to their first forays in the physical world, an increasing number of food and beverage startups are successfully reimagining retail for the coming decades.

Meal Kits Fade

Meal kits illustrate how yesterday’s trend can quickly become today’s has-been. Once lauded as a disruptive alternative to traditional grocery purchase and prep, they have fallen out of vogue. Category creator Blue Apron’s stock price has hovered beneath $1.00 – down nearly 90 percent since its June 2017 IPO debut. Chef’d, which had raised $35 million from Campbell’s and Smithfield Foods, abruptly shuttered in July 2018. Munchery, Maple, Just Add Cooking and others have also seen their demise.

And yet, there remains hope. HelloFresh recently overtook Blue Apron as the top meal kit company in America, with revenues surpassing $1.3 billion. Sun Basket, an organic focused provider, had enough traction to close a $57.8 million round to begin the year. In their favor, meal kits offer convenience, entertainment, and personalization. Navigating fierce competition, challenging logistics and unit economics, and the retention of fickle customers over long periods will be key qualities for the winners of this space.

Sugar Reduction and Alternatives On The Rise

First they came for fat, then they came for gluten, and for the past few years, they’ve come relentlessly for sugar. While fat and gluten seem to have survived – in fact, (good) fat has recently become in vogue for followers of the keto diet – the assault on sugar sees no sign of abating. According to data published by the USDA, per capita sugar consumption has been down for four consecutive years and is now at a 30 year low.

This trend has given life to new startups, including Spindrift, Koia, Quest Nutrition and Halo Top. It has also spurred growth at legacy companies like La Croix and even forced innovation at the largest CPGs such as Pepsi, which launched its own sparkling water brand, bubly, in February 2018. The avoidance of sugar – and increasingly consumer distaste for sugar alternatives such as stevia and monk fruit – has and will continue to foster innovation in nearly all categories of food and beverage.

Big Meat Invests in Cultured Meat

In the face of shifting consumer preferences, industry incumbents have been surprisingly supportive of startups developing cultured meat and seafood products. Tyson Ventures backed Memphis Meats and Future Meat Technologies. JUST (formerly Hampton Creek), which has raised about $220 million, began exploring cultured meats, with controversial CEO Josh Tetrick targeting a launch of lab-grown chicken by the end of 2018. Although that deadline has passed, the company nonetheless has expanded its offerings from mayo to cookies, egg-whites and other animal free products. While this report only covers the U.S. landscape, it is notable that Israel-based SuperMeat closed a $3 million seed round in early 2018 with participation from PHW, one of Europe’s largest poultry producers, while leading Swiss meat manufacturer Bell Food Group participated in Mosa Meat’s $8.8 million round.

In addition to the scientific and manufacturing challenges of making lab-grown meat taste just like the real thing, however, startups will all face regulatory issues and a cultural hurdle in convincing people to switch away from traditional meat.

Plant-Based Growth

Plant based has hit prime time. The plant-based foods industry saw a 20 percent growth in dollar sales since 2017, according to the Plant Based Foods Association (“PBFA”). In the U.S. alone, sales of plant-based meats grew over 23 percent, exceeding $760 million in 2018.  Nielsen, a leading retail data company, reported plant-based food sales topped $3.3 billion over the past year.” The global plant-based protein market is projected to reach $5 billion by 2020.

The economic, environmental and health benefits associated with a plant-centric diet has enabled startups to gain traction in everything from plant-based yogurt (eg. Kite Hill) to seafood (Ocean Hugger Foods) to dairy (Perfect Day) to mention plant-based meat. Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods are the vying contenders in what has the makings of a new duopoly and continue to trade punches. Beyond Meat has already secured partnerships with chains such as Carl’s Jr. and TGI Fridays while Impossible Foods has responded by inking deals with White Castle, and recently, Burger King.  This trend truly deserves its own report and the recently published research brief from CB Insights, “Our Meatless Future: How The $90B Global Meat Market Gets Disrupted” is a great primer for anyone wishing to dig deeper on this important trend.

CBD & Cannabis

The CBD space has been anything but chill. California Dreamin’, Plus Products, Recess, Sunsoil and Weller, in addition to others under the radar, all received institutional backing in 2018. From the hemp supply side (Plus Products, Sunsoil) to RTD (California Dreamin’, Recess), the industry has begun to evolve, despite the legal grey area in which the industry operates. That said, anyone reading and looking for inspiration would be well advised to examine this list as there still remain product categories ripe for development. Cannabis pizza? THC Twinkies?  Why not kill two birds with one stone?

As reported by Time, “CBD that is extracted from hemp (which must have an extremely low level of THC) has only been legal nationwide since the Agriculture Improvement Act — better known as the Farm Act — was passed in December 2018. CBD that is extracted from other cannabis plants is still illegal on the federal level, but may be legal under state law.”

Given that the product doesn’t get users “high” and the progressiveness individual states including California, Colorado and Oregon have shown towards more potent cannabis, the full scale legalization of CBD appears within sight. Both Walgreens and CVS have begun selling CBD in their stores, paving the path for other retailers and other major players such as banks to accept producers without opposition.

Keto

It wasn’t too long ago that fat was the target and not the trend. In the late 1980s, former U.S. surgeon general C. Everett Koop went so far as to place fat on par with smoking, noting: “The depth of the science base underlying its findings is even more impressive than that for tobacco and health in 1964.” New research and understandings about the role fat plays in health has caused many to question the fat-wa, instead embracing it as part of a healthy, low carb diet.

No shortage of brands have been ready to seize on this explosive growth. But is fat – and by extension, keto – a fad? There’s keto cookies from Fat Snax, keto chocolate from ChocZero and keto cheese crisps from Whisps. On top of all of that, there’s the elephant in the room, Bulletproof, which has become a broader platform ranging from butter coffee to supplements. Diet preferences, however, come and go, which makes them risky investments. As Sophie Bakalar puts it, “invest in food trends, not diet fads.” Whether a new diet will earn a place on the chart below or keto will continue to grow, we’ll just have to wait for the 2020 report to see and know.

Digitally Native

More and more brands are choosing D2C models because it allows them to circumvent the costly and limiting realities of traditional retail, while also forging direct relationships with their customers. Even when they do enter the physical realm, it’s often been with their own stores, as Dirty Lemon, Daily Harvest and others have shown. Now, conglomerates are also putting dollars into comprehensive online strategies.

The party won’t last forever. CPC rates are increasing, low barriers to entry encourage even more competition and the biggest player, Amazon – which took over 50 percent of online sales in 2018 – now controls Whole Foods, the retail partner with the greatest cachet. Aside from the short list of true breakout brands built online, most will be forced to create and execute an omnichannel strategy. It may be in with the new, but it’s not going to be out with the old anytime soon.

Still, Brick Meets Click forecasts that online grocery sales will increase 10 times more than in-store sales over the next five years, as well as comprise 8 percent of total grocery sales by 2022.

Looking Forward

Food startups are trendy. It only takes a stroll down the aisles of Natural Products Expo West or a chat with recent college grads to realize this. Brands take center stage on Shark Tank and garner the attention of celebrity investors ranging from Kobe (Bodyarmor) to Drake (MatchaBar). There are nearly 400 active CPG focused venture capital and private equity firms, operating everywhere from West Palm Beach to Westport.

The existing food system remains ripe for revolution and the economic opportunity of modernizing everything from sugary soda to fatty frozen feasts persists. Of the $130.9 billion total venture capital invested in 2018, less than 1 percent went to food and beverage despite the industry accounting for approximately 1.4 percent of GDP and comprising about 2.6 percent of S&P 500 market capitalization (data as of April 2019).

And yet, there are whispers of a potential slowdown. The market can only support so many better for you XYZs and  direct to consumer CPGs. The headwinds to early stage food and beverage investing are multifold.

For startups, the barriers to entry have never been lower. Shopify, Amazon, and smaller-scale co-packers have allowed new companies to launch with limited capital investment. Relatedly, brands can attract niche followings through targeted online advertising and by gaining initial retail consumers by emphasizing their “local“ provenance.

The smattering of brands that differentiate based on geography, branding, and niche taste and diet preferences simultaneously erodres the market share of incumbents while hindering any single startup’s ability to become a high-priced acquisition target. As one example that may play repeat, the long tail of lingering, independent craft breweries cannot yield VC type returns. Sure, a few will reach escape velocity – Lagunitas in beer or Sir Kensington’s in condiments or Tate’s in cookies – but it’s increasingly difficult to separate from the pack. The “size of the prize” changes very quickly once shared.

For investors, deals have never been more competitive. Valuations average between 3x and 6x sales, although the hottest brands command 10x. LP dollars are also waiting to be deployed in old guard and newly launched funds alike. Returns will be squeezed by the competitive forces impacting both term sheets and retail shelves.

Acquirers also appear less willing to make mega acquisitions, instead trending towards earlier stage investments and buyouts. “The large Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies, which are consistently losing market share to their early stage competitors, continue to actively acquire rapidly growing early stage food and beverage companies that can serve as new avenues of growth,” notes Nebari Ventures Managing Partner Alex Malamatinas. Nearly every publicly traded CPG has an incubator or venture capital group. These VC divisions provide early support and a clearer path to exit but often with a call option caveat that allows them to acquire allied brands at a discount to their fair-market value. From an investment perspective, it may be that consistent singles and doubles outperform a spate of strikeouts offset by a periodic grand slam.

The big CPGs also find value beyond the bottom line of their targets. Some recent acquisitions seem to be driven more for their educational potential than their immediate earnings impact. For example, Unilever bought Dollar Shave Club for $1 billion when its sales were under $200 million and Walmart acquired Jet.com for $3.3 billion and over 6x its trailing 12 month sales. E-commerce, cultured protein, and better-for-you brands generally remain knowledge gaps for most of the large CPGs.

The above notwithstanding, the notable startup acquisitions of 2018 – Core Nutrition, Tate’s Cookies, Bare Snacks, and Primal Kitchen – went for about $1.4 billion combined. Set against the $1.2 billion in disclosed early-stage investment, the troubling economics become clear. The allure of exits such as Bai ($1.7 billion) may endure, but they are unicorn deals. Although CPG VCs are not as home run dependent as their tech counterparts – meaning they don’t rely on a single exit or two to return their funds – the recent paucity of even nine-figure exists and absence of 10 figure deals should be worrying.

The high price tags commanded by the brightest startups encourages conglomerates to develop brands internally. For example, in January 2018, Unilever was close to buying better-for-you ice cream maker Halo Top for roughly $2 billion. It balked and ultimately launched a competing brand, Culture Republick. While the misspelled name is as want-to-be-hip cringeworthy as Pepsi’s bubly, it also prevents Halo Top’s backers from realizing a return. La Colombe similarly floated a $1 billion dollar price tag, which seems to have fallen on deaf ears. On top of this, many retailers have launched successful private label offerings.

The margin impact of innovation also poses challenges. Apart from platforms like Bulletproof that can leverage their brand awareness to expand into higher margin categories such as supplements, many startups seemingly lack a pathway to sustainable gross margins which buyers can transform into positive EBITDA. There is an old refrain that “40 is 20” meaning 40 percent gross margins in startup phase enable 20 percent EBITDA margins at scale; there is a reality that many startups, fueled by VC dollars, are operating well below that threshold.

Startups and investors can respond to emerging challenges in a few ways.

Startups would be wise to focus on true differentiation, especially by developing seemingly onerous core competencies. Notable examples include Daily Harvest’s frozen shipping logistics and Dirty Lemon’s text-based ordering. Bang Energy, which has built an in-your-face, far-from-Whole Foods brand also deserves credit for its contrarian path. The ability to become a platform, as Primal Kitchen did for condiments or Core Nutrition has accomplished in beverage, should also remain front of mind. Care/of, Bulletproof and Hippeas deserve praise for creating “lifestyle brands” as opposed to defining themselves by the products themselves.

Contrarily, an abstention from the high-flying, growth-at-all costs mentality can setup longer-term potential. There are profitable, digitally native, under-the-radar brands hawking everything from matcha to keto cookies to overnight oats pulling in nearly seven figures a month. Cash flow allows them to chart their own destiny unencumbered by the pressure of investor expectations.

Investors ought to prize differentiation, platform potential and scientific innovation. The first can be as simple as owning a unique twist on a category, such as nitro as opposed to regular cold brew. The second, as mentioned above, appears when the brand’s values positively outshine its products’ ingredients. The third is most prominent in the growing cellular based meats and seafood category. Between Beyond Meat’s upcoming IPO and the buzz around Impossible Foods, the intersection of biotech and food appears to have the greatest upside potential.

If there is a downturn, conglomerates stand to benefit. They know they need to modernize their brand portfolios and may be able to acquire solid concepts at low prices. This period may also give rise to the birth of Hain Celestial 2.0 holding companies, which understand both the operations component and how to market to millennial consumers. Dunn River Brands, Sonoma Brands, New Age Beverage and others are leading the charge here. There have even been rumors VMG is in the process of raising a distressed fund to acquire flailing brands on the cheap.

Of course, none of this should overshadow all the reasons food and beverage startups have taken off. As Jordan Gaspar, Managing Partner of New York City based venture fund AccelFoods recently noted, “It’s an exciting and unprecedented time to be investing in the food and beverage space. There is a convergence of highly skilled entrepreneurs entering the space, retailer willingness to make shelf space, and innovative products coming to market that is fueling the disruption we see today. This disruption is compounded by strong consumer demand and interest in smaller challenger brands that meet the better-for-you eating and drinking habits that consumers are adopting.”

Indeed, the United States packaged food and beverage industry alone was most recently estimated at $806.3 billion. Considering that nearly every area remains ripe for innovation, roughly $1 billion in annual investment begins to feel more reasonable. Investors will, however, need to see how the cookies crumble before knowing if they’re buying lemons or the cream of the crop.

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Notable Exits

Patron

• Products: Tequila
• Acquirer: Bacardi
• Date: January 22, 2018
• Price: $5,100,000,000
• Why it matters: The acquisition of Patron solidifies Bacardi’s position as a preeminent player across the entire spirits category. In addition to Patron, Bacardi owns Grey Goose vodka, Bombay Sapphire gin and Dewar’s scotch, among others. As overall domestic alcoholic consumption slows, one possibility is consumers will shift their preferences to more premium options – a possibility Bacardi is now even better primed to capitalize on.

Dr Pepper Snapple

• Products: Tea and other beverages
• Acquirer: Keurig Green Mountain
• Date: January 29, 2018
• Price: $25,251,480,000
• Why it matters: Because JAB Holdings, the holding company behind Keurig controlled by the reclusive Reimann family, has established itself as a true threat to the duopoly of Coke and Pepsi. In particular, the acquisition of DPSG expands the coffee concentrated empire of JAB (Keurig, Peet’s, Caribou,Stumptown, Panera and more) to adjacent markets in tea, soda and bottled water.

TCHO

• Products: Chocolate
• Acquirer: Ezaki Glico
• Date: February 20, 2018
• Price: Undisclosed
• Why it matters: Founded in 2005, TCHO was one of the pioneers of the bean-to-bar movement and preceded the broader trend which continues today of consumers prizing traceability and ethical wages for all participants in the supply chain. It’s Japan based acquirer, Ezaki Glico, is best known as the maker of Pocky, which makes us wonder if we’ll even see a TCHO + Pocky collab. We can only hope!

Tate’s

• Products: Cookies
• Acquirer: Mondelez
• Date: May 6, 2018
• Price: $500,000,000
• Why it matters: For all the advice and lessons given by successful entrepreneurs, most great brands chart their own, unreplicable path and the same applies to Tate’s. Founded as a single retail store in South Hampton, New York, Tate’s channeled its unique brand and uniquely crispy cookies into a higher margin yet nationally scalable brand. As one friend commented, “there was something very special about Tate’s. Even though it’s a premium brand with a premium price, the brand seems to hold its own whether in a Whole Foods or a gas station.” Evidently, Mondelez agreed and acquired the brand for nearly half-a-billion dollars.

Bare Snacks

• Products: Baked fruit and vegetable snacks
• Acquirer: PepsiCo
• Date: May 25, 2018
• Price: ~$200,000,000
• Why it matters: Pepsi has made good on its promise to focus on better for you snacking options and this acquisition is no exception. The first of departing CEO Indra Nooyi’s three pillars was, “helping to improve health and wellbeing.” This mission has been quite successful, as Pepsi now derives nearly 50 percent of its sales from “Guilt Free Products.” For such a large company with historical concentrations in sugary sodas and high-fat salty snacks like Cheetos, Pepsi deserves credit for adapting to consumer preferences faster than the vast majority of its publicly traded peers.

RUNA

• Products: Guayusa tea
• Acquirer: Vita Coco
• Date: June 20, 2018
• Price: Undisclosed
• Why it matters: Runa has a storied history. Early to recognize the growing demand for better-for-you energy drinks, the company struck a chord with forward thinking east coasters looking for something healthier than high sugar, chemical laden alternatives. On the other hand, it struggled to hit the escape velocity needed for a mega acquisition. Nonetheless, Runa has found a great home at Vita Coco.

SodaStream

• Products: Home carbonation device and syrups
• Acquirer: PepsiCo
• Date: August 20, 2018
• Price: $3,221,700,000
• Why it matters: As with most success stories, SodaStream began by addressing pain points that later became major consumer values. First, its environmentally friendly solution eliminates the need for single use plastic bottles or cans. And second, its expansive array of concentrates and syrups are able to be dosed to each person’s preference. Finally, the deal is a reminder of the challenges faced by the industry’s largest players to find non-cannibalizing growth. One way to protect the health of their existing brands (Pepsi has 22 with $1 billion + in annual sales) is to explore other categories, use occasions, channels of distribution, or in this case, form factors.

Core Nutrition

• Products: Water and flavored water
• Acquirer: Keurig Dr Pepper
• Date: September 27, 2018
• Price: $525,000,000
• Why it matters: With its overlapping product line, it’ll be interesting to see how Core overlaps with KDP’s major acquisition of 2017, Bai. Also worth noting, Core’s estimated 12 month trailing sales were approximately $200 million when the deal was announced, implying a 2.6x revenue multiple. Bai, on the other hand, went for $1.7 billion while doing approximately $230 million in net sales, implying a revenue multiple of about 7.3x – nearly three times that of Core. Bai’s underperformance relative to post-acquisition expectations may have hammered the willingness for acquirers award outsize multiples for some time.

Primal Kitchen

• Products: Sauces, condiments and dressings.
• Acquirer: Kraft
• Date: November 29, 2018
• Price: $200,000,000
• Why it matters: A rebuttal to Unilever’s 2017 acquisition of Sir Kensington’s, Primal Kitchen will help Kraft modernize its condiments business. Whereas Sir Kensington’s differentiated with its whimsical brand, innovative ingredients like aquafaba and clean ingredient lists, Primal Kitchen has been especially adept at identifying and appealing to diet trends ranging from Whole30 to Paleo.

Revive Kombucha

• Products: Kombucha
• Acquirer: Peet’s (Subsidiary of KDP)
• Date: December 20, 2018
• Price: Undisclosed
• Why it matters: Despite the category as a whole being on fire (estimated to reach $5.45 billion by 2025), there have yet to be any headline acquisitions. Category originator GT Dave’s has evolved in a thriving but privately owned business and leading startup Health-Ade, while still private, has received investment from Coca Cola but likewise remains independently operated. That said, the Peet’s acquisition of Revive may be a clever way for JAB Holdings (which owns both Keurig Dr. Pepper and Peet’s, among others) to dip its toes into kombucha before other conglomerates have a chance to make their bets.

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2018 Food & Beverage Investments

Please note the following list of investments covers only U.S based food and beverage companies that received investment in 2018.

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8 Myles

• Founder: Myles Powell
• Product(s): Mac n’ cheese.
• 2018 Funding Date: March 1, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $20,000
• Total Funding: $20,000
• Disclosed Investors: Union Kitchen

Alpha Foods

• Founders: Cole Orobetz, Loren Wallis
• Product(s): Plant based burritos
• 2018 Funding Date: March 12, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: $4,750,000
• Disclosed Investors: GlassWall Syndicate, New Crop Capital, VegInvest, Arbel Growth Partners, Clear Current Capital, AccelFoods

American Ostrich Company

• Founder: Alexander McCoy
• Product(s): Ostrich
• 2018 Funding Date: February 21, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: $2,050,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Ample Foods

• Founder: Connor Young
• Product(s): Bottled natural meal replacements
• 2018 Funding Date: May 8, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $2,000,000
• Total Funding: $4,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Slow Ventures, LivWell Ventures

Ancient Nutrition

• Founders: Jordan Rubin, Dr. Josh Axe
• Product(s): Bone broth, collagen, and supplements
• 2018 Funding Date: March 8, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $108,000,000
• Total Funding: $108,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: VMG Partners, ICONIQ Capital, FounderMade Fund
• Comments: Over 100 investors poured over $100 million into Ancient Nutrition in March. Only two years old and playing in the still nascent categorizes of bone broth and collagen supplements, the company’s experienced leadership team is now well positioned to capitalize on a fast growing sector.

Apres

• Founders: Darby Jackson, Sonny McCracken
• Product(s): Plant protein beverages
• 2018 Funding Date: April 25, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,100,000
• Total Funding: $1,100,000
• Disclosed Investors: Cambridge SPG, Rocana Venture Partners

Arctic Distillery

• Founder: Jon Maxwell
• Product(s): Craft spirits
• 2018 Funding Date: March 9, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $337,000
• Total Funding: $337,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Athletic Brewing

• Founder: Bill Shufelt
• Product(s): Non-alcoholic craft beer
• 2018 Funding Date: September 21, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $500,000
• Total Funding: $750,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Atlanta Bourbon Company

• Founder: Caroline Porsiel
• Product(s): Craft spirits.
• 2018 Funding Date: July 1, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $488,500
• Total Funding: $738,500
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Austin Cocktails

• Founders: Kelly Gasink, Jill Burns
• Product(s): Alcoholic cider
• 2018 Funding Date: October 9, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $4,387,626
• Total Funding: $4,387,626
• Disclosed Investors: Constellation Ventures

Austin Eastciders

• Founder: Ed Gibson
• Product(s): Alcoholic cider
• 2018 Funding Date: June 27, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $4,499,993
• Total Funding: $19,246,098
• Disclosed Investors: CAVU Ventures, Fort Ventures, Mark VC

Ayoba-Yo

• Founder: Wian van Blommestein
• Product(s): South African jerky
• 2018 Funding Date: May 14, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: Springboard

B4

• Founder: John Mansour
• Product(s): Vitamin infused beverage.
• 2018 Funding Date: March 28, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $400,000
• Total Funding: $1,162,500
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Back to the Roots

• Founders: Alejandro Velez, Nikhil Arora
• Product(s): Sustainable grow-at-home mushroom kits
• 2018 Funding Date: May 17, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $2,600,000
• Total Funding: $17,600,000
• Disclosed Investors: M13 Company, S2G Ventures, SWTLF Ventures, Echo Capital Group, Blue Scorpion Investments

Beanfields

• Founder: Liza Braude-Glidden
• Product(s): Bean based chips and salty snacks
• 2018 Funding Date: June 29, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $2,500,000
• Total Funding: $7,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Ridgeline Ventures, Powerplant Ventures, New Richmond Ventures (NRV)

Bear Squeeze

• Founder: Max Baumann
• Product(s): Keto meal shake
• 2018 Funding Date: February 23, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $879,000
• Total Funding: $879,000
• Disclosed Investors: AccelFoods, Indigogo

Belsazar

• Founder: Maximillian Wagner
• Product(s): Vermouth
• 2018 Funding Date: March 15, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: Distill Ventures

Better Bites Bakery

• Founder: Leah Lopez
• Product(s): Allergan free baked goods and sweets
• 2018 Funding Date: August 23, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $900,000
• Total Funding: $1,250,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Beyond Meat

• Founder: Ethan Brown
• Product(s): Plant based meat
• 2018 Funding Date: October 5, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $50,000,000
• Total Funding: $122,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: 301 Inc., DNS Capital, GlassWall Syndicate, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, New Crop Capital, Obvious Ventures, S2G Ventures, Stray Dog Capital, Tyson New Ventures, Cleveland Avenue, Collaborative Fund, Ambrosia Investments, Blue Horizon
• Comments: Beyond Meat is a fascinating player among the truly believable meat replacement startups. Unlike Impossible Foods, whose go to market strategy has been to partner with premium branded on-premise chains where they guide distribution and preparation standards, Beyond Meat has been faster to mass market and is already in 30,000 stores and had a phenomenal IPO in 2019. It’ll be interesting to see if they can lock in brand loyalty from most customers before Impossible Foods, Memphis Meats and others can achieve similar scale.

Bhakti Chai

• Founder: Brook Eddy
• Product(s): Chai beverages
• 2018 Funding Date: August 15, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $2,184,028
• Total Funding: $11,312,965
• Disclosed Investors: CircleUp, Colorado Impact Fund, Red Idea Partners, The R Group, Cleveland Avenue, TAP Ventures

Biena

• Founder: Poorvi Patodia
• Product(s): Chickpea snacks
• 2018 Funding Date: April 19, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $2,350,000
• Total Funding: $4,450,000
• Disclosed Investors: Blueberry Ventures, Centerman Capital, New Ground Ventures, Tastemaker Capital

Birch Benders

• Founders: Matt LaCasse, Lizzi Ackerman
• Product(s): Pancake and waffle mixes
• 2018 Funding Date: June 7, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $5,050,000
• Total Funding: $5,050,000
• Disclosed Investors: Boulder Food Group (BFG)

Blue Crate

• Founder: Kristy Halderman
• Product(s): Oat milk
• 2018 Funding Date: March 1, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $20,000
• Total Funding: $20,000
• Disclosed Investors: Union Kitchen

BlueNalu

• Founder: Lou Cooperhouse
• Product(s): Cell-cultured seafood
• 2018 Funding Date: August 15, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $4,500,000
• Total Funding: $4,500,000
• Disclosed Investors: Clear Current Capital, New Crop Capital

Blume Honey Water

• Founders: Carla Frank, Michele Meloy Burchfield
• Product(s): Honey water
• 2018 Funding Date: August 30, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $425,000
• Total Funding: $600,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Bobo’s Oat Bars

• Founder: Beryl Stafford
• Product(s): Bars
• 2018 Funding Date: September 6, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $8,000,000
• Total Funding: $16,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Ridgeline Ventures, Boulder Investment Group Reprise (BIGR Ventures)

Bodega Luigi Bosca

• Founder: Leoncio Arizu
• Product(s): Wine
• 2018 Funding Date: December 18, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: L Catterton

Bonafide Provisions

• Founder: Sharon Brown
• Product(s): Bone broth
• 2018 Funding Date: July 27, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $2,250,000
• Total Funding: $6,750,000
• Disclosed Investors: AccelFoods, Boulder Investment Group Reprise (BIGR Ventures), Ridgeline Ventures, Blueberry Ventures

BOU

• Founder: Robert Jakobi
• Product(s): Bouillon cubes and soup cups
• 2018 Funding Date: November 14, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $4,000,000
• Total Funding: $7,800,000
• Disclosed Investors: AccelFoods, Nebari Ventures, Torch Capital, FounderMade Fund, 25Madison
• Comments: Just when it seems every category has been disrupted, it turns out there are still battles just beginning. Case in point: bouillon cubes, which most consumers consider a mainstay of their grandma’s soup recipe. Nonetheless, the elevated branding and better-for-you ingredient profile of BOU should help them battle incumbents like Knorr.

Braven Brewing

• Founders: Marshall Thompson, Eric Feldman
• Product(s): Craft beer.
• 2018 Funding Date: July 11, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $124,900
• Total Funding: $1,009,900
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Brew Dr. Kombucha

• Founder: Matt Thomas
• Product(s): Kombucha
• 2018 Funding Date: February 6, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: $1,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Castanea Partners

Brooklyn Gin

• Founders: Emil Jättne, Joe Santos
• Product(s): Gin
• 2018 Funding Date: January 1, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: $1,550,000
• Disclosed Investors: QC Ventures

Buff Bake

• Founders: Ashley Boeckle, Brittany Boeckle
• Product(s): High protein cookies and spreads
• 2018 Funding Date: February 28, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: AccelFoods

Bulletproof

• Founder: Dave Asprey
• Product(s): Keto coffee and supplements
• 2018 Funding Date: August 1, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $40,000,000
• Total Funding: $68,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: CAVU Ventures, Trinity Ventures, _able
• Comments: Stemming from Dave Asprey’s audaciously titled 2014 book, “The Bulletproof Diet: Lose up to a Pound a Day, Reclaim Energy and Focus, Upgrade Your Life,” the brand offers, “high performance food, drinks & supplements to power your life.” It remains to be seen whether its current fanatical following will translate into long-term success, with one potential pitfall being that “Diets Do Not Make Good Investments.” Bulletproof’s core coffee line will also be competing with the other darling child of cold brew, nitro, which offers a latte like experience without calories, fat or other additives. Which do you prefer?

Caledonia Spirits

• Founder: Todd Hardie
• Product(s): Craft spirits
• 2018 Funding Date: February 21, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,250,000
• Total Funding: $1,250,000
• Disclosed Investors: FreshTracks Capital

Califia Farms

• Founder: Greg Steltenpohl
• Product(s): Plant based  milks, juice and coffee
• 2018 Funding Date: July 2, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $50,000,000
• Total Funding: $100,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Stripes Group, Ambrosia Investments

California Dreamin’

• Founder: Amy Ludlum
• Product(s): Cannabis infused soda
• 2018 Funding Date: July 30, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $2,300,000
• Total Funding: $2,300,000
• Disclosed Investors: Babel Ventures

Cardinal Spirits

• Founder: Adam Quirk
• Product(s): Craft spirits.
• 2018 Funding Date: September 28, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $126,000
• Total Funding: $126,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Caulipower

• Founder: Gail Becker
• Product(s): vegetable-based pizzas and pizza crusts
• 2018 Funding Date: December 20, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $8,200,000
• Total Funding: $10,200,000
• Disclosed Investors: Boulder Food Group (BFG)

Cave Shake

• Founders: Holly Heath, Billie Cavallaro
• Product(s): Keto, vegan, ready-to-drink shake
• 2018 Funding Date: August 31, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: L.A. Libations

Cece’s Veggie Noodle Co.

• Founder: Mason Arnold
• Product(s): Veggie noodles
• 2018 Funding Date: December 10, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: $14,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Encore Consumer Capital

Cheating Gourmet

• Founders: Jon Demers, Scott Demers
• Product(s): Premium seafood appetizers
• 2018 Funding Date: April 11, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,300,000
• Total Funding: $2,100,000
• Disclosed Investors: Arbel Growth Partners

Chef’s Cut

• Founders: Blair Swiler, Dennis Riedel
• Product(s): Jerky
• 2018 Funding Date: March 31, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $8,000,000
• Total Funding: $14,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: CAVU Ventures, Clearlake Capital, Halen Brands, Rocana Venture Partners, Fort Ventures, Grays Peak Capital

Cherryvale Farms

• Founder: Lindsey Rosenberg
• Product(s): Baked muffin bars
• 2018 Funding Date: June 1, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Chirps Chips

• Founders: Laura D’Asaro, Meryl Natow, Rose Wang
• Product(s): Cricket flour tortilla chips
• 2018 Funding Date: June 13, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $25,000
• Total Funding: $75,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Chloe’s Fruit

• Founder: Michael Sloan
• Product(s): Fruit pops
• 2018 Funding Date: August 4, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $9,000,000
• Total Funding: $13,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Chobani Food Incubator

Clio

• Founder: Sergey Konchakovskiy
• Product(s): Chocolate covered Greek yogurt‎
• 2018 Funding Date: June 1, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $5,000,000
• Total Funding: $5,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Alliance Consumer Growth

COCO5

• Founder: Scott Sandler
• Product(s): Coconut water
• 2018 Funding Date: March 12, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,500,000
• Total Funding: $1,500,000
• Disclosed Investors: Spiral Sun Ventures

Coolhaus

• Founders: Natasha Case, Freya Estrelle
• Product(s): Ice cream sandwiches
• 2018 Funding Date: August 29, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $7,000,000
• Total Funding: $13,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Sunrise Strategic Partners

Copper Cow

• Founder: Debbie Mullin
• Product(s): Portable pour over Vietnamese coffee‎
• 2018 Funding Date: December 4, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $3,000,000
• Total Funding: $3,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Victress Capital

Country Archer Jerky Co.

• Founder: Eugene Kang
• Product(s): Jerky
• 2018 Funding Date: September 19, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $10,000,000
• Total Funding: $21,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Monogram Capital Partners

Crunchsters

• Founder: Frank Lambert
• Product(s): Mung bean snacks
• 2018 Funding Date: June 19, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $2,581,829
• Total Funding: $2,581,829
• Disclosed Investors: AccelFoods, VG Growth Partners

Cure Hydration

• Founders: Alex Sarkissian, Lauren Picasso
• Product(s): Hydration powders
• 2018 Funding Date: August 31, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Dahlicious

• Founder: JD Sethi
• Product(s): Indian style yogurt and lassi
• 2018 Funding Date: March 8, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $4,000,000
• Total Funding: $4,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Fresh Source Capital, Keen Growth Capital

Dirty Lemon

• Founder: Zak Normandin
• Product(s): Beverages and elixirs
• 2018 Funding Date: December 20, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $15,000,000
• Total Funding: $19,500,000
• Disclosed Investors: Burch Creative Capital, MLC Brands, The Coca-Cola Company: Venture Emerging Brands (VEB), Nebari Ventures, The DTX Company, Mark VC
• Comments: New York City-based Dirty Lemon has been creatively contrarian across multiple fronts. From it’s unique flavors ranging from matcha to charcoal to (briefly) CBD, to its proprietary text-message based ordering system, to its new SoHo based retail outlet, it’s no wonder Coke decided to invest. Dirty Lemon offers a window into the future of products, distribution and retail.

Disruptive Enterprises

• Founder: Mike Hockenberry
• Product(s): Food, beverages, and dietary supplements
• 2018 Funding Date: March 20, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: $7,800,000
• Disclosed Investors: One Better Ventures

Dixie Brands

• Founders: Chuck Smith, Tripp Keber
• Product(s): Cannabis products.
• 2018 Funding Date: October 1, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $29,000,000
• Total Funding: $37,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Irving Investors

Don’t Go Nuts

• Founders: Grey Pinto, Lily Pinto, Jane Pinto, Doug Pinto
• Product(s): Nut free snacks for kids
• 2018 Funding Date: April 10, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $8,440,772
• Total Funding: $8,440,772
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Eat Me

• Founders: Amber Odhner, Catelyn Augustine
• Product(s): Plant-based ice cream
• 2018 Funding Date: November 1, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $50,000
• Total Funding: $60,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Edenworks

• Founder: Jason Green
• Product(s): Fish in aquaponic ecosystems
• 2018 Funding Date: May 31, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $5,000,000
• Total Funding: $5,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Myca Partners

Ellenos

• Founders: Bob Klein, Yvonne Klein, Con Apostolopoulos, Alex Apostolopoulos
• Product(s): Greek yogurt
• 2018 Funding Date: April 17, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $18,000,000
• Total Funding: $18,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Monogram Capital Partners

Endless West

• Founder: Alec Lee
• Product(s): Molecular spirits
• 2018 Funding Date: May 31, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $7,020,000
• Total Funding: $9,720,000
• Disclosed Investors: Collaborative Fund, Indie.Bio, Horizons Ventures
• Comments: More than meat-makers can play with molecules. Enter Endless West, which has developed a process to shorten the aging process for spirits from years to days. While it has yet to release a commercial product, the fact that it counts Horizon Investors (also an investor in Impossible Foods) among its biggest backers suggests a bright future for the brand and the category as a whole.

Enduraphin

• Founder: Daniel Drake
• Product(s): Supplements
• 2018 Funding Date: June 7, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Fancy Sprinkles

• Founder: Lisa Stelly
• Product(s): Sprinkles
• 2018 Funding Date: September 26, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: Sterling Partners

Farmer’s Fridge

• Founder: Luke Saunders
• Product(s): Vending machine meals
• 2018 Funding Date: September 5, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $30,000,000
• Total Funding: $10,600,000
• Disclosed Investors: Danone Manifesto Ventures, Cleveland Avenue, Maywic Select, Spiral Sun Ventures, Powerplant Ventures, DNS Capital, DomCapital Group

Farmwise Foods

• Founders: Dave Peters, Cristina Peters
• Product(s): Frozen veggie snacks
• 2018 Funding Date: April 10, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $4,500,000
• Total Funding: $6,043,097
• Disclosed Investors: Cleveland Avenue, Centerman Capital

FAWEN

• Founders: Amanda Bowen, Fabio Fossati
• Product(s): Ready to drink soup
• 2018 Funding Date: March 1, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,500,000
• Total Funding: $1,500,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Feast & Fettle

• Founders: Carlos Ventura, Maggie Mulvena, Nicole Oliveira
• Product(s): Premium meal delivery service
• 2018 Funding Date: October 1, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $221,000
• Total Funding: $249,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Feel Good Foods

• Founders: Tryg Siverson, Vanessa Phillips
• Product(s): Asian inspired appetizers and meals
• 2018 Funding Date: June 28, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: $355,000
• Disclosed Investors: Crimson Seed Capital, City Capital Ventures

Finless Foods

• Founder: Mike Selden
• Product(s): Fish meat from stem cells
• 2018 Funding Date: June 20, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $3,500,000
• Total Funding: $3,500,000
• Disclosed Investors: Draper Associates, Babel Ventures, Blue Horizon

FitJoy

• Founder: Manish Patel
• Product(s): Bars.
• 2018 Funding Date: January 26, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $5,000,000
• Total Funding: $5,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: LivWell Ventures

Flying Embers

• Founder: Bill Moses
• Product(s): Hard kombucha
• 2018 Funding Date: November 15, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: Ecosystem Integrity Fund
• Comments: Anyone that’s ever spiked their kombucha can see the potential for Bill Moses’s latest venture. The founder of Kevita (acquired by Pepsi) is bringing innovation to the alcohol space, which so often feels years behind the broader natural products industry.

Fora

• Founders: Aidan Altman, Andrew McClure
• Product(s): Aquafaba based butter
• 2018 Funding Date: July 26, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,400,000
• Total Funding: $1,400,000
• Disclosed Investors: New Crop Capital, Baleine & Bjorn Capital, EverHope Capital, Blue Horizon, Myca Partners, Katjesgreenfood

Fort Point

• Founder: Justin Catalana
• Product(s): Beer
• 2018 Funding Date: July 16, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $7,743,616
• Total Funding: $11,262,616
• Disclosed Investors: CircleUp,Saltwater Capital

Four Sigmatic

• Founders: Tero Isokauppila, Mikko Revonniemi
• Product(s): Mushroom coffee
• 2018 Funding Date: December 11, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $5,377,053
• Total Funding: $5,577,053
• Disclosed Investors: AccelFoods, _able, Eighteen94 Capital

Freeland Spirits

• Founder: Jill Kuehler
• Product(s): Craft spirits.
• 2018 Funding Date: June 15, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $540,000
• Total Funding: $540,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Fresh Bellies

• Founders: Saskia Sorrosa, Nick Kennedy, Virgi Schiffino
• Product(s): Vegetable based baby food
• 2018 Funding Date: March 9, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $25,000
• Total Funding: $25,000
• Disclosed Investors: Chobani Food Incubator

GIVN Water

• Founders: John Houseal, Liz Skalla
• Product(s): Water
• 2018 Funding Date: October 19, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: $700,000
• Disclosed Investors: Wolfpack Brands

Good Catch

• Founders: Chad Sarno, Eric Schnell, Marci Zaroff
• Product(s): Plant based seafood
• 2018 Funding Date: August 7, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $8,700,000
• Total Funding: $8,700,000
• Disclosed Investors: Baleine & Bjorn Capital, New Crop Capital, Stray Dog Capital, M13 Company, MetaBrand Capital, Rocana Venture Partners, EverHope Capital, Clear Current Capital, Blue Horizon
• Comments: While cell based animal products began with meat, companies like Good Catch are also targeting seafood. In light continued worrying reports surrounding over fishing, Good Catch is helping chart a sustainable, delicious future.

Good Day Chocolate

• Founders: Andrew Goldman, Simeon Margolis
• Product(s): Caffeinated chocolate
• 2018 Funding Date: March 1, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: $3,120,000
• Disclosed Investors: AccelFoods, Boulder Food Group (BFG), Echo Capital Group

GoodBelly

• Founders: Steve Demos, Todd Beckman
• Product(s): Probiotic juice
• 2018 Funding Date: June 20, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $12,000,000
• Total Funding: $39,200,000
• Disclosed Investors: Emil Capital Partners, Maveron, 301 Inc.

Green Blender

• Founders: Amir Cohen, Jenna Tanenbaum
• Product(s): Smoothie subscription service
• 2018 Funding Date: January 11, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: $1,900,000
• Disclosed Investors: Food-X

Grillo’s Pickles

• Founder: Travis Grillo
• Product(s): Pickles
• 2018 Funding Date: March 6, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $3,600,000
• Total Funding: $3,600,000
• Disclosed Investors: Centerman Capital, Breakaway Ventures

Hail Merry

• Founder:  Susan O’Brien
• Product(s): Better for you sweet snacks
• 2018 Funding Date: May 15, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $787,200
• Total Funding: $6,800,000
• Disclosed Investors: Evale Holdings, Powerplant Ventures, Blue Horizon, CircleUp

Hangnever

• Founder: Mario Mare
• Product(s): Carbonated anti-hangover drink
• 2018 Funding Date: February 20, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: Black Dog Venture Partners

Happy Day Brands

• Founders: Mark Priddy, Jeanette Priddy
• Product(s): Organic coffee, chocolate, superfoods.
• 2018 Funding Date: November 6, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $750,000
• Total Funding: $750,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Harmless Harvest

• Founders: Justin Guilbert, Douglas Riboud
• Product(s): Coconut water
• 2018 Funding Date: February 1, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $30,000,000
• Total Funding: $30,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Danone Manifesto Ventures, AccelFoods

Haven’s Kitchen Sauce

• Founder: Alison Kayne
• Product(s): Sauces and condiments
• 2018 Funding Date: September 18, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $25,000
• Total Funding: $25,000
• Disclosed Investors: Chobani Food Incubator

HERE

• Founders: Megan Klein, Nate Laurell
• Product(s): Juices
• 2018 Funding Date: April 13, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $4,000,000
• Total Funding: $4,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Listen Ventures, Pallasite Ventures

Heritage Distilling

• Founder: Justin Stiefel
• Product(s): Craft spirits.
• 2018 Funding Date: April 17, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $387,200
• Total Funding: $387,200
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

High Brew

• Founder: David Smith
• Product(s): Coffee
• 2018 Funding Date: May 18, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $20,000,000
• Total Funding: $48,400,000
• Disclosed Investors: Boulder Investment Group Reprise (BIGR Ventures), CAVU Ventures, Tasty Ventures, Charles Street Partners
• Comments: High Brew has seen some high growth as the cold brew category continues to explode. They’ve also dipped their toes into the protein and coffee subset, which brands such as Kitu Life are focusing on full time. It’ll be fascinating to see which areas under the cold brew umbrella, from butter to protein to alternative dairy, perform best.

Hippeas

• Founder: Livio Bisterzo
• Product(s): Chickpea puffs
• 2018 Funding Date: December 21, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $12,000,000
• Total Funding: $22,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: CAVU Ventures, Green Park Brands, Strand Equity Partners
• Comments: Hippeas has a visionary founder who has created one of the most successful launches in industry history. From starting in mid-2016, Hippeas has closed two rounds from top tier firms and with participation from the likes of Leo DiCaprio, presciently built its snacks using the deservedly on-trend chickpea and was generating monthly revenue of nearly $1,000,000 barely a year post launch. Part of their success has been understanding The ROI of Surprise and Delight.

Hu Products

• Founders: Jason Karp, Jordan Brown, Jessica Karp
• Product(s): Chocolate, nuts and coffee
• 2018 Funding Date: May 15, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $10,000,000
• Total Funding: $10,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Sonoma Brands, Vanterra Accelerator Fund

Humm Kombucha

• Founder: Jamie Danek
• Product(s): Kombucha
• 2018 Funding Date: March 15, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $10,000,000
• Total Funding: $27,600,000
• Disclosed Investors: VMG Partners

Hungryroot

• Founders: Franklin Becker, Gregory Struck, Benjamin McKean
• Product(s): Plant based delivered meals
• 2018 Funding Date: March 22, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $22,000,000
• Total Funding: $35,900,000
• Disclosed Investors: Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital, jab Brands, KarpReilly, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners

Icelandic Provisions

• Founders: Polaris Founders Capital, Mjólkursamsalan
• Product(s): Icelandic yogurt
• 2018 Funding Date: May 16, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $5,000,000
• Total Funding: $29,100,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

ICONIC

• Founder: Billy Bosch
• Product(s): Protein drinks
• 2018 Funding Date: September 10, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $4,000,000
• Total Funding: $13,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: AccelFoods, KarpReilly

Impossible Foods

• Founder: Patrick Brown
• Product(s): Plant based meat
• 2018 Funding Date: April 4, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $114,000,000
• Total Funding: $427,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Collaborative Fund, Horizons Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Blue Horizon
• Comments:  As an avowed carnivore, my first bite of the Impossible Burger was the most memorable food experience of my life. Beyond multi-star Michelin hauts or the fantastic pizza of Brooklyn, the likeliness of Bareburger’s rendition to the real deal cannot be overstated. Goldman Sachs recently declared “meatless meats” as one of “8 Huge Trends That Are About to Change the World” and companies like Impossible are turning the future into reality.

IQ Bar

• Founder: Will Nitze
• Product(s): Bars
• 2018 Funding Date: June 8, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $400,000
• Total Funding: $400,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Ithaca Cold Crafted

• Founder: Chris Kirby
• Product(s): Hummus
• 2018 Funding Date: September 18, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $25,000
• Total Funding: $2,725,000
• Disclosed Investors: Chobani Food Incubator

JJ’s Sweets

• Founder: JJ Rademaekers
• Product(s): Coconut milk caramels
• 2018 Funding Date: February 1, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: $1,170,000
• Disclosed Investors: AccelFoods

Joechocolates

• Founders: Sam Tanner, Peter Keckemet
• Product(s): High caffeine chocolate
• 2018 Funding Date: July 10, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $705,000
• Total Funding: $705,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Jos. A. Magnus & Co.

• Founder: Joseph Magnus
• Product(s): Craft spirits
• 2018 Funding Date: December 5, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $2,850,000
• Total Funding: $2,850,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Keen Bean Organics

• Founder: Johnny Kien
• Product(s): Kid food pouches
• 2018 Funding Date: September 14, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: Capital Innovators, Food Evolutions, Yara Ventures

Kettle and Fire

• Founders: Nick Mares, Justin Mares
• Product(s): Bone broth
• 2018 Funding Date: August 28, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $8,000,000
• Total Funding: $9,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Chobani Food Incubator, Hedgewood, Encore Consumer Capital, Rocana Venture Partners, CAVU Ventures

Kettlebell Kitchen

• Founders: Andrew Lopez-Gallego, Andy Lopez-Gallego, Gregory Grossman, Joseph Lopez-Gallego
• Product(s): Gym focused meal delivery service
• 2018 Funding Date: October 9, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $26,700,000
• Total Funding: $30,400,000
• Disclosed Investors: North Castle Partners, Spring Bay Ventures

Kite Hill

• Founders: Tal Ronnen, Monte Casino, Patrick Brown
• Product(s): Almond based yogurt and cheese
• 2018 Funding Date: October 19, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $40,000,000
• Total Funding: $74,900,000
• Disclosed Investors: 301 Inc., CAVU Ventures, Stray Dog Capital, Khosla Ventures, M13 Company, New Crop Capital, Whole Foods
• Comments: The massive funding round corresponds to the growth of plant-based cheese and plant-based yogurt overall, which topped $280 million in combined sales as of June 2018 according to data from Nielsen. Nonetheless, Kite Hill faces stiff competition from brands like Califia and Miyoko’s Kitchen.

Kitu Life

• Founders: Jim DeCicco, Jake DeCicco, Jordan DeCicco
• Product(s): Keto coffee
• 2018 Funding Date: December 5, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $13,500,000
• Total Funding: $15,411,000
• Disclosed Investors: Echo Capital Group, Anthos Capital, Skyview Capital

Kiva Confections

• Founder: Scott Palmer and Kristi Knoblich.
• Product(s): Cannabis gummies and bars
• 2018 Funding Date: August 1, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $8,560,000
• Total Funding: $15,059,999
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Kumana

• Founder: Francisco Pavan
• Product(s): Avocado sauces
• 2018 Funding Date: May 14, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: Springboard

Kyoku

• Founders: Harrison Valner, Ryan Roddy
• Product(s): Plant based supplements
• 2018 Funding Date: November 14, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $100,000
• Total Funding: $100,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Lavva

• Founder: Liz Fisher
• Product(s): Plant-based yogurt
• 2018 Funding Date: November 1, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $2,300,000
• Total Funding: $5,800,000
• Disclosed Investors: ASW Ventures, S2G Ventures, Collaborative Fund

Laws Whiskey House

• Founder: Al Laws
• Product(s): Whiskey
• 2018 Funding Date: June 27, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: First Beverage Group

Lazy Gator’s Hemp Farm

• Founder: Dennis Williams
• Product(s): Hemp oil.
• 2018 Funding Date: December 12, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $165,000
• Total Funding: $165,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

LesserEvil

• Founder: Charles Coristine
• Product(s): Popcorn and potato chips
• 2018 Funding Date: November 19, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,800,000
• Total Funding: $1,800,000
• Disclosed Investors: InvestEco

Lily’s Sweets

• Founders: Cynthia Tice, Chuck Genuardi
• Product(s): Chocolate
• 2018 Funding Date: March 13, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: VMG Partners

Liquid I.V.

• Founders: Brandin Cohen, Hayden Fulstone, Cameron Killeen
• Product(s): Anti hangover drink
• 2018 Funding Date: August 28, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $5,000,000
• Total Funding: $5,325,000
• Disclosed Investors: CircleUp, TQ Ventures

Little Secrets

• Founder: Chris Mears
• Product(s): Chocolate candies and wafers
• 2018 Funding Date: July 19, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: $1,250,000
• Disclosed Investors: Centerman Capital, Revelry Brands, Sunrise Strategic Partners

Livewell Collective

• Founder: David Colina
• Product(s): Anti-hangover beverage
• 2018 Funding Date: June 29, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $215,000
• Total Funding: $215,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Love Corn

• Founder: Jamie McCloskey
• Product(s): Roasted corn snacks
• 2018 Funding Date: July 3, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Love Good Fats

• Founder: Suzie Yorke
• Product(s): Keto snack bars
• 2018 Funding Date: December 11, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $5,000,000
• Total Funding: $9,400,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Love Grown Foods

• Founders: Alexander Hasulak, Madeleine Hasulak
• Product(s): Breakfast foods
• 2018 Funding Date: December 3, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $600,000
• Total Funding: $9,400,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Maivino

• Founder: Mai Vu
• Product(s): Wine subscription service
• 2018 Funding Date: June 11, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $100,000
• Total Funding: $100,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

MamaSezz

• Founders: Lisa Lorimer, Meg Donahue
• Product(s): Plant-based meal delivery service
• 2018 Funding Date: September 13, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $750,000
• Total Funding: $860,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

MANSI

• Founder: Charles Medenilla
• Product(s): Calamansi juice
• 2018 Funding Date: February 15, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $190,000
• Total Funding: $190,000
• Disclosed Investors: AccelFoods

Maplemama Beverages

• Founders: Joe Laur, Sara Schley
• Product(s): Maple water
• 2018 Funding Date: April 25, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $550,000
• Total Funding: $550,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Masienda

• Founder: Jorge Gaviria
• Product(s): Corn tortillas
• 2018 Funding Date: March 9, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $25,000
• Total Funding: $25,000
• Disclosed Investors: Chobani Food Incubator, Village Capital

MatchaBar

• Founders: Max Fortgang, Graham Fortgang
• Product(s): Matcha beverages
• 2018 Funding Date: July 17, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $8,000,000
• Total Funding: $10,275,000
• Disclosed Investors: Bullish, Cambridge SPG, Torch Capital, Chobani Food Incubator, Nebari Ventures

MATI

• Founder: Tatiana Birgisson
• Product(s): Energy drink
• 2018 Funding Date: November 2, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $2,000,000
• Total Funding: $7,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Metabrew

• Founders: Natalie Neumann, Romy Raad
• Product(s): Cold brew coffee
• 2018 Funding Date: January 1, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: FoodFutureCo

Mighty Squirrel

• Founders: Henry Manice, Naveen Pawar
• Product(s): Beer
• 2018 Funding Date: July 11, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,500,000
• Total Funding: $5,015,500
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Mighty Swell

• Founders: Clayton Christopher, Daniel Barnes, Sean Cusack, Jason Bronstad
• Product(s): Alcoholic spitzer
• 2018 Funding Date: June 7, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,700,000
• Total Funding: $14,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: CAVU Ventures, Fort Ventures

Mikaila The Bees

• Founder: Mikaila Ulmer
• Product(s): Lemonade
• 2018 Funding Date: June 14, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,160,000
• Total Funding: $1,160,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Milkful

• Founder: Dina Carey
• Product(s): Lactation support bars
• 2018 Funding Date: January 1, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: Techstars

Mirth Provisions

• Founder: Adam Stites
• Product(s): Cannabis-infused edibles and drinkables
• 2018 Funding Date: June 26, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,300,000
• Total Funding: $3,300,000
• Disclosed Investors: Privateer Holdings

Modern Pop

• Founder: Julie Podolec
• Product(s): Frozen fruit pops
• 2018 Funding Date: May 14, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $721,000
• Total Funding: $1,361,000
• Disclosed Investors: Cambridge SPG, Rocana Venture Partners, Steelpoint Capital

Mooala

• Founder: Jeff Richards
• Product(s): Banana milk and almond milk
• 2018 Funding Date: February 6, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $5,000,000
• Total Funding: $5,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: M3 Ventures, Sweat Equities, Fort Ventures

Morning Recovery

• Founder: Sisun Lee
• Product(s): Anti hangover drink
• 2018 Funding Date: April 2, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $8,200,000
• Total Funding: $8,625,000
• Disclosed Investors: Slow Ventures

MUD/WTR

• Founder: Shane Heath
• Product(s): Superfood powder blend
• 2018 Funding Date: December 12, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,000,000
• Total Funding: $1,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: _able, M13 Company, 25Madison

Native State Foods

• Founders: Angela Palmieri, Claudio Roumain Ochoa
• Product(s): Breakfast foods and snacks
• 2018 Funding Date: December 4, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $50,000
• Total Funding: $650,000
• Disclosed Investors: AccelFoods, M13 Company, Terra

Naughty Noah S

• Founder: JimmyTay Trinh
• Product(s): Instant Vietnamese noodles
• 2018 Funding Date: November 27, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: Food-X

NEOH

• Founder: Bernhard Klee
• Product(s): Keto bars
• 2018 Funding Date: June 6, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $46,000
• Total Funding: $46,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

New Age Meats

• Founder: Brian Spears
• Product(s): Cultured meat
• 2018 Funding Date: July 6, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $250,000
• Total Funding: $250,000
• Disclosed Investors: Food-X, Indie.Bio

New Barn

• Founders: Ted Robb, Billie Thein
• Product(s): Almond milk
• 2018 Funding Date: October 9, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $18,750,000
• Total Funding: $18,750,000
• Disclosed Investors: Almanac Insights

NOKA

• Founders: Ryan Werner, Adam Steiner
• Product(s): Plant protein smoothies
• 2018 Funding Date: March 9, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $25,000
• Total Funding: $25,000
• Disclosed Investors: Ridgeline Ventures, Chobani Food Incubator

Nomi

• Founder: Will Handke
• Product(s): Refrigerated bar
• 2018 Funding Date: February 1, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $925,000
• Total Funding: $925,000
• Disclosed Investors: AccelFoods

nona lim

• Founder: Nona Lim
• Product(s): Asian inspired broths, soups and noodles
• 2018 Funding Date: January 1, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,525,000
• Total Funding: $4,525,000
• Disclosed Investors: AccelFoods, Cambridge SPG, CircleUp, Echo Capital Group, Harbinger Ventures, Almanac Insights, Chobani Food Incubator

NUGGS

• Founder: Christie Lagally
• Product(s): Plant based chicken nuggets
• 2018 Funding Date: January 13, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,750,000
• Total Funding: $1,750,000
• Disclosed Investors: Fifty Years, Blue Horizon

Nurture Life

• Founders: Steve Minisini, Jennifer Chow
• Product(s): DTC baby food
• 2018 Funding Date: November 30, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $6,200,000
• Total Funding: $6,200,000
• Disclosed Investors: Nebari Ventures, Atlas Capital, G-Bar Ventures

Once Upon a Farm

• Founders: Cassandra Curtis, Ari Raz, John Foraker, Jennifer Garner
• Product(s): Baby food
• 2018 Funding Date: October 9, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $20,000,000
• Total Funding: $23,100,000
• Disclosed Investors: Cambridge SPG, Harbinger Ventures, S2G Ventures, CAVU Ventures, Beechwood Capital, Everplus Capital
• Comments: If anyone can muscle their way into the crowded baby food category (e.g. Kidfresh, NuturMe, etc.) it’s a dream team including John Foraker, who sold Annie’s to General Mills for in excess of $800 million and grounded A-lister Jennifer Garner. The brand also deserves bonus points for its supply chain transparency and excellent e-commerce design, the later an increasingly vital channel in the Age of Amazon.

One Kombucha

• Founder: Danny Mancini
• Product(s): Kombucha
• 2018 Funding Date: October 9, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,200,000
• Total Funding: $1,200,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Ono Food Co

• Founders: Daniel Fukuba, Stephen Klein
• Product(s): Premium meal delivery service
• 2018 Funding Date: July 23, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: Lemnos VC, Pathbreaker Ventures, Compound

Outstanding Foods

• Founders: Bill Glaser, Dave Anderson
• Product(s): Plant based chicharrones
• 2018 Funding Date: April 20, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,500,000
• Total Funding: $1,500,000
• Disclosed Investors: Blue Horizon, New Crop Capital

Owen’s Craft Mixers

• Founders: Josh Miller, Tyler Holland
• Product(s): Cocktail mixers
• 2018 Funding Date: August 7, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,532,500
• Total Funding: $1,532,500
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Owluma

• Founders: Chris Williamson, Vladimir Herrera
• Product(s): Kombucha
• 2018 Funding Date: July 1, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $20,000
• Total Funding: $20,000
• Disclosed Investors: Union Kitchen

Partake Foods

• Founder: Denise Woodard
• Product(s): Vegan cookies
• 2018 Funding Date: September 18, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $25,000
• Total Funding: $25,000
• Disclosed Investors: Chobani Food Incubator

Pasturebird Inc

• Founders: Paul Greive, Jeff McDaniel, Robert McDaniel
• Product(s): Sustainable chicken
• 2018 Funding Date: April 1, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Perfect Day

• Founder: Perumal Gandhi
• Product(s): Cell based milk
• 2018 Funding Date: February 27, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $24,700,000
• Total Funding: $74,700,000
• Disclosed Investors: Horizons Ventures, ICONIQ Capital

Persona

• Founder: Jason Brown
• Product(s): Personalized supplements
• 2018 Funding Date: December 3, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $4,500,000
• Total Funding: $4,500,000
• Disclosed Investors: Emil Capital Partners, L Catterton, Mindset Venture Group

PICNIK

• Founder: Naomi Seifter
• Product(s): Keto coffee
• 2018 Funding Date: August 30, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $7,500,000
• Total Funding: $7,500,000
• Disclosed Investors: KarpReilly, Noroc Naturals

Planetarians

• Founders: Aleh Manchuliantsau, Anastasia Tkacheva
• Product(s): Upcycled protein chips
• 2018 Funding Date: September 25, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $110,000
• Total Funding: $860,000
• Disclosed Investors: Food-X, Techstars, Blu1877

Plus Products

• Founder: Jake Heimark
• Product(s): THC and CBD enhanced chews
• 2018 Funding Date: April 10, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $6,000,000
• Total Funding: $7,840,000
• Disclosed Investors: Serruya Private Equity

Poppilu

• Founder: Melanie Kahn
• Product(s): Antioxidant lemonade
• 2018 Funding Date: May 14, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: Springboard

Porchjam

• Founder: Gordon Stewart
• Product(s): Craft spirits
• 2018 Funding Date: August 21, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $338,000
• Total Funding: $338,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Primizie

• Founders: Founder(s) :Lisa Marshall Spedale, Mark Spedale
• Product(s): Crispbread chips
• 2018 Funding Date: July 31, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $3,700,000
• Total Funding: $7,200,000
• Disclosed Investors: SKU, Tasty Ventures, Boulder Brands, CircleUp

Puffworks

• Founder: Greg Murphy
• Product(s): Peanut butter puffs
• 2018 Funding Date: March 9, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $25,000
• Total Funding: $25,000
• Disclosed Investors: Chobani Food Incubator

Quevos

• Founders: Nick Hamburger, Zack Schreier
• Product(s): Egg white chips
• 2018 Funding Date: May 14, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: Springboard
• Comments: Founded by two University of Chicago students, Quevos is making savory crisps from egg whites that are high in protein and devoid of carbs. The product fits perfectly into the still growing keto trend and is one of the few recent offerings in the chip category to truly differentiate itself.

Raised Real

• Founders: Michelle Davenport, Santiago Merea, Steven Kontz
• Product(s): Kid focused meal delivery service
• 2018 Funding Date: November 2, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $2,000,000
• Total Funding: $7,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Schwan’s Shared Services

REBBL

• Founder: Sheryl O’Loughlin
• Product(s): Superfood drinks and elixirs
• 2018 Funding Date: May 18, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $20,000,000
• Total Funding: $37,100,000
• Disclosed Investors: Blueberry Ventures, Boulder Investment Group Reprise (BIGR Ventures), CircleUp, Powerplant Ventures, Just Business, CAVU Ventures

Recess

• Founder: Benjamin Witte
• Product(s): CBD sparkling water
• 2018 Funding Date: June 30, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $5,000,000
• Total Funding: $5,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Torch Capital, Life Capital, M3 Ventures

Regrained

• Founders: Dan Kurzrock, Jordan Schwartz
• Product(s): Upcycled grain bars
• 2018 Funding Date: September 26, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $2,500,000
• Total Funding: $2,500,000
• Disclosed Investors: Blu1877

Remedy Organics

• Founders: Henry Kasindorf, Cindy Kasindorf
• Product(s): Plant based wellness drinks
• 2018 Funding Date: March 9, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $25,000
• Total Funding: $25,000
• Disclosed Investors: Chobani Food Incubator

RETHINK Water

• Founders: Matthew Swanson, Chris Donovan
• Product(s): Water
• 2018 Funding Date: July 23, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $6,700,000
• Total Funding: $8,700,000
• Disclosed Investors: AccelFoods

Riff Cold Brew

• Founders: Paul Evers, Nate Armbrust, Bobby Evers, Kevin Smyth, Steve Barham
• Product(s): Cold brew coffee
• 2018 Funding Date: October 17, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,000,000
• Total Funding: $1,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Ripe Gelato

• Founder: Gregory Reck
• Product(s): Avocado gelato
• 2018 Funding Date: March 1, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $20,000
• Total Funding: $20,000
• Disclosed Investors: Union Kitchen

Ripple Foods

• Founders: Neil Renninger, Adam Lowry
• Product(s): Pea milk
• 2018 Funding Date: January 29, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $65,000,000
• Total Funding: $108,600,000
• Disclosed Investors: Blueberry Ventures, Collaborative Fund, Finn Capital Partners, GV, Powerplant Ventures, Prelude Ventures, Radicle Impact Partners, S2G Ventures, TAO Capital, Khosla Ventures

RISE Brewing Co.

• Founders: Grant Gyesky, Jarrett McGovern, Justin Weinstein, Hudson Gaines-Ross, Melissa Kalimov
• Product(s): Organic nitro cold brew coffee
• 2018 Funding Date: July 10, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $2,310,866
• Total Funding: $4,860,614
• Disclosed Investors: Winklevoss Capital, Elizabeth Street

Risen Labs

• Founder: Jacob Jones
• Product(s): Cannabis products
• 2018 Funding Date: October 3, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

ROAR Organic

• Founder: Roly Nesi
• Product(s): Electrolyte beverages
• 2018 Funding Date: December 13, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $5,600,000
• Total Funding: $10,600,000
• Disclosed Investors: L.A. Libations, AccelFoods

RollinGreens

• Founders: Lindsey Cunningham, Ryan Cunningham
• Product(s): Millet tots
• 2018 Funding Date: November 15, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $100,000
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Rustic Crust

• Founder: Brad Sterl
• Product(s): Pizza crust
• 2018 Funding Date: June 28, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $8,000,000
• Total Funding: $16,620,000
• Disclosed Investors: Renewal Funds, SJF Ventures, Advantage Capital Partners

SafeCatch

• Founders: Sean Wittenberg, Bryan Boches
• Product(s): Canned tuna
• 2018 Funding Date: February 8, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $5,000,000
• Total Funding: $5,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Echo Capital Group

Seal the Seasons

• Founder: Patrick Mateer
• Product(s): Frozen produce
• 2018 Funding Date: July 10, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,800,000
• Total Funding: $2,800,000
• Disclosed Investors: Myca Partners, Chobani Food Incubator

Sfoglini

• Founders: Steve Gonzalez, Scott Ketchum
• Product(s): Pasta
• 2018 Funding Date: June 14, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $2,500,000
• Total Funding: $2,500,000
• Disclosed Investors: Fresh Source Capital, Almanac Insights

Siren Snacks

• Founder: Elizabeth Giannuzzi
• Product(s): Plant-based protein bites
• 2018 Funding Date: February 26, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,000,000
• Total Funding: $1,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Pear Ventures

Skinny Dipped Almonds

• Founders: Valerie Griffith, Breezy Griffith
• Product(s): Chocolate covered almonds
• 2018 Funding Date: July 31, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $3,750,000
• Total Funding: $9,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: CAVU Ventures, AccelFoods

SmartSweets

• Founder: Tara Bosch
• Product(s): Sugar free candy
• 2018 Funding Date: March 27, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $3,000,000
• Total Funding: $3,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

SmashMallow

• Founder: Jonathan Sebastiani
• Product(s): Marshmallow snacks
• 2018 Funding Date: January 9, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $10,000,000
• Total Funding: $10,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Sonoma Brands, VMG Partners
• Comments: SmashMallow is the first spin-off from Sonoma Brands, the investor and incubator founded by Jonathan Sebastiani of Krave Jerky fame. The brand was on pace to do nearly $30 million in revenue for 2018, which affirms the potential of brands that, while not subscribing to every diet and health trend, offer consumers something new, exciting and different.

Smpl

• Founder: Ellis Fried
• Product(s): Superfood bites
• 2018 Funding Date: September 18, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $100,000
• Total Funding: $100,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Sonder

• Founders: Faun Chapin, M. Paradise
• Product(s): Cannabis products
• 2018 Funding Date: May 15, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $250,000
• Total Funding: $250,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Soozy’s

• Founders: Mason Sexton, Susan Chen
• Product(s): Muffins
• 2018 Funding Date: June 6, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $2,500,000
• Total Funding: $2,500,000
• Disclosed Investors: Boulder Investment Group Reprise (BIGR Ventures), AccelFoods

Spero Foods

• Founder: Phaedra Randolph
• Product(s): Plant-based products
• 2018 Funding Date: August 4, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $120,000
• Total Funding: $120,000
• Disclosed Investors: Outbound Ventures

Spiceologist

• Founders: Heather Scholten, Pete Taylor
• Product(s): Spices
• 2018 Funding Date: October 18, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $942,700
• Total Funding: $1,312,700
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Spindrift

• Founder: Bill Creelman
• Product(s): Fruit flavored sparkling water
• 2018 Funding Date: March 15, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $20,000,000
• Total Funding: $43,500,000
• Disclosed Investors: KarpReilly, New Ground Ventures, Prolog Ventures, Revelry Brands, RiverPark Ventures, VMG Partners, Warbos Venture Partners, Almanac Insights
• Comments: No commentary needed other than declaring Spindrift (apart from RISE Brewing Co., of course!) is my favorite beverage on the market today. The branding, nutrition and taste are all exceptionally well executed and I’m proud to count myself as a loyal supporter.

Splendid Spoon

• Founders: Founder(s) : Nicole Centeno, Sathish Naadimuthu
• Product(s): Direct to consumer smoothies and soups
• 2018 Funding Date: May 1, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: $3,300,000
• Disclosed Investors: Torch Capital

Sportwater Beverages

• Founders: Albert Lian, Peter DiMartino
• Product(s): Electrolyte beverages
• 2018 Funding Date: May 25, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $840,800
• Total Funding: $4,956,559
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Square Organics

• Founders: Sarah Gordon, Andrew Gordon
• Product(s): Protein bars
• 2018 Funding Date: March 18, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $500,000
• Total Funding: $500,000
• Disclosed Investors: Thrive Market Ventures, M13 Company, Just Business

Star Vodka

• Founder: Charles Ferri
• Product(s): Craft vodka
• 2018 Funding Date: July 17, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $70,000
• Total Funding: $120,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Stryve

• Founders: Gabe Carimi, Ted Casey, Joe Oblas
• Product(s): Jerky
• 2018 Funding Date: September 13, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $10,000,000
• Total Funding: $10,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Meaningful Partners

Suckerpunch Gourmet

• Founder: David van Alphen
• Product(s): Bloody mary mix and condiments
• 2018 Funding Date: July 3, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $727,000
• Total Funding: $727,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Sun Basket

• Founders: Adam Zbar, Braxton Woodham
• Product(s): Organic meal kit delivery
• 2018 Funding Date: January 25, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $59,300,000
• Total Funding: $113,100,000
• Disclosed Investors: Sapphire Ventures, PivotNorth Capital, Relevance Capital, August Capital, Correlation Ventures, Unilever Ventures, Accolade Partners, Founders Circle Capital, Baseline Ventures, Trinity Capital Investment

Sunrhize Foods

• Founders: Stem Kent, Lawrence Johnson
• Product(s): Tempeh
• 2018 Funding Date: October 11, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $230,000
• Total Funding: $230,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Sunsoil

• Founders: Alejandro Bergad, Jacob Goldstein
• Product(s): CBD oils and hemp products.
• 2018 Funding Date: November 18, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $7,000,000
• Total Funding: $7,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: One Better Ventures

Supernatural

• Founder: Carmel Hagen
• Product(s): Baking products
• 2018 Funding Date: September 18, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $25,000
• Total Funding: $25,000
• Disclosed Investors: Chobani Food Incubator

Sweet A Little

• Founder: Connie Cong Xu
• Product(s): Tea delivery service
• 2018 Funding Date: May 1, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: UpHonest Capital

Swish Beverages

• Founders: Josh Ostrovsky, Tanner Cohen, David Cohen, Alexander Ferzan
• Product(s): Canned wine
• 2018 Funding Date: March 13, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: ZX Ventures

Synapse

• Founders: Daniel Porada, Charles Lankau, Shouvik Ganguly
• Product(s): Energy drinks
• 2018 Funding Date: November 28, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,000,000
• Total Funding: $1,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

tea drops

• Founder: Sashee Chandran
• Product(s): Teas that dissolve
• 2018 Funding Date: June 26, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,900,000
• Total Funding: $1,900,000
• Disclosed Investors: AccelFoods

teaRIOT

• Founder: Laura Jakobsen
• Product(s): Bottled tea
• 2018 Funding Date: October 30, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,255,000
• Total Funding: $5,715,000
• Disclosed Investors: Chobani Food Incubator

TeaSquares

• Founder: Jordan Buckner
• Product(s): Caffeinated energy bites
• 2018 Funding Date: September 4, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $350,000
• Total Funding: $375,000
• Disclosed Investors: Spiral Sun Ventures, Chobani Food Incubator

Tender Belly

• Founders: Shannon Duffy, Erik Duffy
• Product(s): Bacon, Ham, Pork, Sausage and other proteins
• 2018 Funding Date: May 30, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: Encore Consumer Capital

Terramino Foods

• Founder: Kimberlie Le
• Product(s): Plant based seafood
• 2018 Funding Date: July 25, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $4,250,000
• Total Funding: $4,250,000
• Disclosed Investors: True Ventures, Collaborative Fund

The Buttermilk Company

• Founder: Mitra Raman
• Product(s): Plant-based frozen indian meals
• 2018 Funding Date: August 20, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $120,000
• Total Funding: $120,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

The Honest Stand

• Founders: Jeremy Day, Alexandra Carone
• Product(s): Plant based cheese and nacho dips
• 2018 Funding Date: November 2, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,000,000
• Total Funding: $1,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

The Industrious Spirit Company

• Founder: Manya Rubinstein
• Product(s): Craft spirits
• 2018 Funding Date: November 30, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,315,000
• Total Funding: $1,315,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

The Living Apothecary

• Founder: Shari Stein Curry
• Product(s): Probiotic water kefir
• 2018 Funding Date: October 24, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,400,000
• Total Funding: $1,400,000
• Disclosed Investors: L.A. Libations, Venice Brands, LivWell Ventures

The Toasted Oat Bakehouse

• Founder: Erika Boll
• Product(s): Gluten-free granola
• 2018 Funding Date: October 5, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,120,000
• Total Funding: $1,492,000
• Disclosed Investors: AccelFoods, Rev1

Theo Chocolate

• Founders: Jeff Fairhall, Joe Whinney
• Product(s): Bean to bar chocolate
• 2018 Funding Date: September 19, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $2,025,000
• Total Funding: $2,025,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Torie Howard

• Founders: Torie Burke, Howard Slatkin
• Product(s): Premium candies
• 2018 Funding Date: August 22, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $400,000
• Total Funding: $1,400,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Tosi Health

• Founders: Stefanie Hults, Bahar Sedarati
• Product(s): Bites and bars
• 2018 Funding Date: August 16, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,250,000
• Total Funding: $1,250,000
• Disclosed Investors: Cambridge SPG, Stage 1 Fund

Trifecta 5C2C

• Founders: Elizabeth Connolly, Greg Connolly, Tyler Thomas
• Product(s): Organic and community focused meal delivery service
• 2018 Funding Date: January 15, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $2,600,000
• Total Funding: $2,600,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Trimino

• Founders: Robert Leary, Peter Dacey, Casey Hoban
• Product(s): Protein infused water
• 2018 Funding Date: June 5, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $6,000,000
• Total Funding: $8,500,000
• Disclosed Investors: L.A. Libations, Vineyard Point Associates

UCAN

• Founder: Shoba Murali
• Product(s): Supplements
• 2018 Funding Date: June 12, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $5,750,000
• Total Funding: $10,100,000
• Disclosed Investors: Eighteen94 Capital, S2G Ventures

Uplift Food

• Founder: Kara Landau
• Product(s): Gut health supplements
• 2018 Funding Date: March 1, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: SnackFutures, Food-X

Uptime

• Founder: Benjamin Kim
• Product(s): Energy drinks and supplements
• 2018 Funding Date: April 27, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $8,018,885
• Total Funding: $9,518,885
• Disclosed Investors: TSG Consumer Partners

Urban Remedy

• Founder: Neka Pasquale
• Product(s): Delivered ready-to-eat meals, juices, cleanses & snacks
• 2018 Funding Date: January 17, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $17,000,000
• Total Funding: $17,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: 301 Inc., Obvious Ventures, The Builders Fund

Van Leeuwen Ice Cream

• Founders: Ben Van Leeuwen, Laura O’Neill, Peter Van Leeuwen
• Product(s): Vegan and milk based ice cream
• 2018 Funding Date: August 6, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: M3 Ventures, Blue Scorpion Investments, Strand Equity Partners

Vegy Vida

• Founder: Josh Young
• Product(s): Veggie dips for kids
• 2018 Funding Date: March 5, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,800,000
• Total Funding: $1,800,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Vera Roasting Company

• Founder: Glen Miller
• Product(s): Resveratrol infused coffee
• 2018 Funding Date: November 2, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Verb Energy

• Founders: Andre Monteiro, Bennett Byerley, Isaac Morrier, Matt Czarnecki
• Product(s): Energy bars
• 2018 Funding Date: March 2, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,000,000
• Total Funding: $1,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Great Oaks Venture Capital, Vast Ventures

Vintage Wine Estates

• Founder: Pat Roney
• Product(s): Wine
• 2018 Funding Date: August 22, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $75,000,000
• Total Funding: $75,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Sonoma Brands, AGR Partners

VitaCup

• Founder: Brandon Fishman
• Product(s): Vitamin infused k-cup coffee
• 2018 Funding Date: October 10, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: First Beverage Group, North Castle Partners

Vitox Drinking Vinegar

• Founders: Iris Kim, Josh Kim
• Product(s): Drinking vinegar
• 2018 Funding Date: August 23, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: Food-X

Vive Organic

• Founders: JR Simich, Kyle Withycombe, Wyatt Taubman
• Product(s): Wellness shots
• 2018 Funding Date: January 1, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $7,000,000
• Total Funding: $7,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Cambridge SPG, Blueberry Ventures, Powerplant Ventures, Stage 1 Fund, Döhler Ventures

Vivify Beverages

• Founder: Bob Walkenhorst
• Product(s): Alcoholic Italian sodas
• 2018 Funding Date: December 7, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: Constellation Ventures

Wahi Nutrition

• Founders: Peter Blankenship, Sam Blankenship
• Product(s): Water
• 2018 Funding Date: November 9, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $100,000
• Total Funding: $100,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Walden Local Meat

• Founder: Charley Cummings
• Product(s): Sustainable meats
• 2018 Funding Date: May 31, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,400,000
• Total Funding: $1,400,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Wandering Bear Coffee

• Founders: Ben Gordon, Matthew Bachmann
• Product(s): Cold brew coffee
• 2018 Funding Date: February 5, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $8,000,000
• Total Funding: $10,450,000
• Disclosed Investors: AccelFoods, Eminence Capital, M3 Ventures, RCV Partners

Waterloo

• Founders: Brandon Cason, Sean Cusack, Daniel Barnes
• Product(s): Sparkling water
• 2018 Funding Date: May 1, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $4,000,000
• Total Funding: $7,200,000
• Disclosed Investors: CAVU Ventures

Weller

• Founders: John Simmon, Matt Oscamou
• Product(s): CBD coconut snacks
• 2018 Funding Date: March 5, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,250,000
• Total Funding: $1,250,000
• Disclosed Investors: Harrison Metal

Wicked Lekker

• Founders: Mylan Janoplis, Pamela Stahl
• Product(s): Rooibos tea beverages
• 2018 Funding Date: March 7, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: Wavemaker Partners

Wild Alaskan

• Founder: Arron Kallenberg
• Product(s): Direct to consumer sustainable seafood
• 2018 Funding Date: April 27, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $500,000
• Total Funding: $500,000
• Disclosed Investors: Unknown

Wild Friend Foods

• Founders: Keeley Tillotson, Erika Welsh
• Product(s): Nut butters and oatmeal
• 2018 Funding Date: November 20, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $4,000,000
• Total Funding: $5,290,000
• Disclosed Investors: CircleUp, Cambridge SPG, Echo Capital Group, Katjesgreenfood

Wild Type

• Founder: Justin Kolbeck
• Product(s): Cell based meat
• 2018 Funding Date: March 6, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $3,444,999
• Total Funding: $3,444,999
• Disclosed Investors: Spark Capital

Wilde Brands

• Founder: Jason Wright
• Product(s): Chicken chips
• 2018 Funding Date: August 30, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $1,300,000
• Total Funding: $2,890,000
• Disclosed Investors: CircleUp, Echo Capital Group, Finn Capital Partners, M13 Company, Clover Capital Partners

wildkind

• Founder: Zoe Lloyd
• Product(s): Plant-based frozen meals
• 2018 Funding Date: January 1, 2018
• 2018 Funding: Unknown
• Total Funding: Unknown
• Disclosed Investors: FoodFutureCo

Willie’s Superbrew

• Founder: Nico Enriquez
• Product(s): Ginger beer
• 2018 Funding Date: February 7, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $2,300,000
• Total Funding: $3,100,000
• Disclosed Investors: Chobani Food Incubator

Yerbae

• Founder: Todd Gibson
• Product(s): Energy, sparkling water beverages
• 2018 Funding Date: December 3, 2018
• 2018 Funding: $5,000,000
• Total Funding: $5,000,000
• Disclosed Investors: Zenfinity Capital

The post 2018 U.S. Food & Beverage Startup Investment Report appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

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Editors Note: Please note this database relies on a variety of public sources of information such as industry publications, newsletters, social media mentions, and SEC filings to track investors and investments. While a best effort is made, no guarantee is given regarding its comprehensiveness or accuracy. The database covers the U.S. branded food and beverage category, which includes in-market products sold to consumers through e-commerce or traditional retail channels. Please see our 2018 report for updated 2017 data. 

$1.08B in Venture Capital Invested Across 99 Food & Beverage Deals

With acquisitions on the rise and more capital flowing into the industry, 2017 was a great year for U.S.-based food and beverage startups. The year saw $1.08 billion in venture capital invested across 99 deals, according to our research. This is an 87.8% increase from the 66 deals reported by Dow Jones Venture Source in 2016. There were 124 reported VC financings in 2017, however only 99 reported the amount of capital invested. The largest check size of the year was for $190 million to Brewdog, with a median check size of $4.25 million and average check size of $10.9 million. Despite a slight decline from 142 deals in 2016, M&A remained strong with 136 food and beverage deals closed in 2017, according to SDR Ventures.

Please see our 2018 report for updated data, available to us

Notable Trends Driving 2017 Food & Beverage Investment

1. Food is Hot: More people than ever are paying attention to, creating, and investing in food brands. What was once an overlooked, stodgy industry now has a “cool” factor the natural food pioneers of yesteryear could only have dreamed of. As food choices have become a manner of self-expression, categories ranging from craft beer to salty snacks have exploded to fulfill consumer demands, and celebrities and tech investors are taking notice. This is reflected everywhere from the growing number of investors and funds in the space (450+ last year alone), to the record number of attendees at events like Expo West (85,000 attendees), to the mainstream media coverage of food businesses.

2. E-Commerce is Here: For many, Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods validated food’s e-commerce future. While meal kit companies like Blue Apron have struggled, nascent digitally-native food brands like Daily Harvest and Soylent have shown great promise. The U.S. e-commerce food and beverage category is expected to grow from just $4 billion and 0.8% of e-comm market share in 2015 to $31 billion and 5.5% of e-commerce market share by 2022 and the events of 2017 are important markers on that trajectory.

3. Plant Power: The most innovative food and beverage startups, by and large, have focused on supplanting traditionally animal-based products with plant, nut and other alternative nutrition sources. Startups such as Ripple, which makes milk from peas, and Impossible Foods, which creates impossibly realistic plant-based “burgers,” are leading the charge in products that do not sacrifice taste for their environmental and ethical benefits.

4. Incumbents Try to Regain Market Share: As big CPG companies continued losing market share, there was again significant M&A activity in 2017 with 136 deals compared to 142 in 2016. As such, corporations continue to adjust their size expectations for targets, acquiring startups with lower EBITDAs as a strategic, defensive move to rebalance eroding market share.

Investor Trends

Increased participation of traditionally tech focused investors, a greater emphasis on data driven investing, celebrity participation, and a lopsided funneling of dollars towards the hottest deals and categories defined the major trends of the year.

Many deals reflected the increased sector interest from traditionally tech focused VCs, such as Greycroft (investor in Penrose Hill), GV (investor in Soylent, Blue Bottle and Ripple Foods), and Lightspeed Venture Partners (investor in Daily Harvest). Horizons Ventures, which primarily invests in bleeding-edge tech, helped lead both JUST’s $150 million round and the $75 million Series E for Impossible Foods. As CircleUp CEO Ryan Caldbeck argued in a TechCrunch article, “The uptick in tech VC dollars going to the CPG market is partly because tech investing is brutally competitive and saturated, and largely because these VCs are awakening to the strong historical returns in CPG, especially with the trend leaning towards small brands stealing market share.”

Traditional F&B investors focused on emerging trends and categories like cleaner labels, higher protein, better-for-you snacks and cold brew. Tech-first investors seemed to favor new models of distribution from startups like ALOHA and Daily Harvest, as well as startups with a heavy food science focus like  Impossible Foods, Beyond Meat, and Perfect Day.

CircleUp brought data science to CPG investing in 2017 with the release of Helio, a proprietary machine learning platform that collects billions of data points on over 1.2 million consumer and retail companies in the U.S. to analyze the relative strength and likelihood of success of companies. Helio is designed to help investors make better bets and to inform investment decisions for its newly launched $125 million fund CirlceUp Growth Partners. Notably, CircleUp also launched CircleUp Credit Advisors, a credit platform that provides approved startup CPG businesses with revolving lines of credit to help businesses finance business growth.

The trendiness of food startups has garnered celebrity involvement and investment. Leonardo DiCaprio invested in Hippeas and Beyond Meat, Drake invested in MatchaBar, Serena Williams and Gwyneth Paltrow bought into Daily Harvest, and Olivia Munn took a stake in Chef’s Cut. Celebrities are also getting their hands dirty, with Jennifer Garner joining baby food startup Once Upon a Farm and Ayesha Curry debuting her meal kit startup Homemade. Expect to see more of this in 2018 as celebrities embrace the sales driving potential of their influence.

Notable Exits

As big CPG companies continued losing market share, there was again significant M&A activity in 2017 with 136 deals compared to 142 in 2016. Starting with Mars’s minority investment in KIND at a $4 billion valuation and continuing with the announced $1.6 billion SkinnyPop acquisition by Hershey’s and the $4.9 billion Snyder’s-Lance acquisition by Campbell’s Soup, the mega CPGs may be prioritizing stability and needle moving, immediate top line impact over lofty growth projections. Perhaps, some big companies fare best acquiring medium size companies, as there remains a more navigable cultural and operational philosophy between organizations of comparable size.

Still, incumbents are also acquiring earlier stage startups that are on-trend, clean label, and aligned to consumer demand. Unilever, for example, acquired Sir Kensington’s, a maker of “condiments with character,” for $140 million. Kellogg’s purchased RXBAR, a producer of clean label protein bars, for $600 million. Additionally, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. acquired plant-based cheese manufacturer Daiya for $325 million driven by its desire to capitalize on the growth of the plant based market.

In 2017, tech backed food had headline grabbing successful exits, like Blue Bottle’s $425 million majority acquisition by Nestle, as well as  flops like Juicero shutting down after raising $120 million. This begs the question of whether the additional capital entering the ecosystem will find its ROI from CPG incumbents who have essentially outsourced innovation to startup M&A or if valuations will need to decrease.

Investment Categories & Trends

2017 saw $1.08 billion invested in food and beverage startups. The majority of the funding went towards alternative protein focused brands, although other categories and characteristics, such as e-commerce and RTD coffee, also drew investor attention.

Top 20 Food & Beverage VC Investments

There were some mega deals in 2017. Occupying the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 7th spots were plant-based protein brands. The Top 20 deals (of 99 disclosed financings) accounted for over 72% of total VC funding.

 Food & Beverage VC Investments by Quarter

While there does appear to be significant quarter over quarter changes in deal activity, it’s usually the result of outlier investments skewing the trend in an upward direction. For instance, Q2, the largest quarter of the year, saw over $418,000,000 worth of checks went out in that period. Nearly half of those dollars, however, went towards just two companies: JUST ($150,000,000) and Soylent ($50,000,000). That said, investors and founders seem relatively likely to close a deal before year end but if not, are in no rush judging by January and February.

VC Funding For Alternative Protein Brands

VC’s invested $179.5 million in alternative protein brands developing everything from meat to milk. The top funders in this category include Horizons Ventures, Collaborative Fund, and Khosla Ventures. Tyson doubled down on its investment in Beyond Meat, which it already owned a 5 percent stake in. Consumer demand for plant-based food and investor activism are driving growth in this sector. A Nielsen study commissioned the Plant Based Foods Association and The Good Food Institute  the leading retail sales research company, found that the total market for the plant-based food sector tops $3.1 billion in sales in 2017, up 8.1 percent from the previous year. The Plant Based Foods Association also released new SPINS data indicating that the total market for the plant-based sector (excluding data from Whole Foods Market) tops $5 billion in sales.

Funding For Digitally Native Food & Beverage Brands

Offsetting what The Atlantic dubbed The Great Retail Apocalypse of 2017 has been the meteoric rise of e-commerce across all categories, but especially food. According to Statista, the domestic Food & Personal Care e-commerce category will grow from roughly $47 billion in 2017 to $78 billion by 2022, a CAGR of ~10.7%. Riding this wave are numerous digitally native brands such as Soylent, Daily Harvest and Vital Proteins, who collected much of the $168 million in venture funding for e-commerce food and beverage brands in 2017.

VC Funding For RTD Coffee Brands

Cold brew has popped up in VC portfolios just as fast as it’s flown off store shelves.  The top four publicly disclosed financings brought in $41,000,000 million in 2017 alone. According to Euromonitor, cold brew, “is going to continue to be a double-digit value growth winner.” After growing by nearly 15 percent in 2017-2018 to over $3 billion, the category is expected to grow a further 10.3 percent in 2018-2019. By 2022, the category is expected to be over $4.8 billion.

2017 Food & Beverage M&A Deals

Bai

• Product(s): Antioxidant Infusion Drinks
• Acquirer: Dr. Pepper Snapple Group
• Date: 1/31/17 (closed)
• Price: $1,700,000,000
• Why It Matters: Because it was a big Bai that hasn’t quite panned out. Snapple quickly replaced founder Ben Weiss and downgraded its projections for the brand. Anyone familiar with Zico and Coke’s failed marriage would find this situation dejavu. A huge cult audience does not always translate into true, mass market appeal.

Blue Bottle Coffee

• Products: Retail Coffee Shops; RTD Cold Brew
• Acquirer: Nestle
• Date: 9/14/17 (announced)
• Price: $425,000,000 (for 68%)
• Why It Matters: Because it validates the retail first strategy. As La Colombe has done with its Draft Latte, the in person appeal of Blue Bottle’s beautifully designed retail stores, along with their loyal VC following, paved the way to launch one of the top performing ready-to-drinks on the market.

Casamigos Spirits

• Products: Tequila
• Acquirer: Diageo
• Date: 6/21/17 (announced)
• Price: $1,000,000,000 (including earnout)
• Why It Matters: Because it shows the power of influencer-led brands. From beauty with Michelle Phan’s IPSY to alcohol with George Clooney’s Casamigos, many successful brands are being built top down. Influencers can best turn their fame into fortune by monetizing their audience around packaged products.

Chameleon Cold Brew

• Products: Cold Brew Coffee
• Acquirer: Nestle
• Date: 11/3/17
• Price: Undisclosed
• Why It Matters: Because acquirers continue to adjust their size expectations for targets. Chameleon had approximately $18M in sales in 2016. These acquisitions are strategic and somewhat defensive in that they don’t move the needle but instead, rebalance eroding market share. Also, because the coconut water wars have given way to the cold brew battle and Nestle isn’t content to let JAB, who already owns Peet’s, Stumptown, Keurig, and Intelligentsia – and is rumored to be eyeing Dunkin – own the entire category.

Daiya

• Products: Alternative Dairy Food Products:
• Acquirer: Otsuka Pharmaceutical
• Date: 7/27/17 (announced)
• Price: $323,201,340 (converted from CAD)
• Why It Matters: Because it validates what many saw as the biggest trend of 2017: the adoption of plant based proteins. No longer limited to tasteless, hippy looking “fake” meats and cheeses, alternative proteins have rightly gained mainstream acceptance for their superior environmental, health and nutritional properties.

Hi-Ball / Alta Palla

• Products: Soft Drinks; Sparkling Water
• Acquirer: AB-InBev
• Date: 7/20/17 (announced)
• Price: Undisclosed
• Why It Matters: Because the world’s largest beer company, AB-InBev, clearly has non-alcohol aspirations. Coupled with what seems a better understanding of “craft” than its peers and its forward-thinking investments through ZX Ventures in Owl’s Brew, GoLive, and Canvas, Coke and Pepsi may have to fend off not just nimble startups but also, a massive third player.

Rao’s Speciality Foods

• Products: Tomato Sauce
• Acquirer: Savos Brands
• Date: 6/8/17 (announced)
• Price: Undisclosed
• Why It Matters: Because it shows strategic acquirers haven’t totally pushed out PE dollars. It’s also nice to see an iconic brand acquired by someone other than Metropoulos & Co. The strategics are buying fast growing, low-profit startups, leaving the legacy, stable cash flows of brands like Rao’s for PE.

RXBAR

• Products: Protein / Snack Bars
• Acquirer: Kellogg
• Date: 10/6/17 (announced)
• Price: $600,000,000
• Why It Matters: Because it does not always take massive amount of outside capital to build a brand. In a time where capital availability for food and beverage brands has skyrocketed, RXBAR hit a grand slam with just $10,000 raised. RXBAR also demonstrates how taking transparency to the extreme – their packaging is the nutrition label – resonates so strongly with Millennial consumers.

Sir Kensington’s

• Products: Condiments
• Acquirer: Unilever
• Date: 4/20/17 (announced)
• Price: $140,000,000
• Why It Matters: Because the brand epitomizes shifting consumer preferences and doing the opposite of the Heinz Ketchup playbook. This demonstrates how even the most iconic brands are not immune to disruption. Like new wave startup darling Hippeas, Sir Kensington’s managed to create both a differentiated brand and innovative products, especially it’s chickpea based mayo, Fabanaise. Read more about the acquisition here.

SkinnyPop (Amplify Brands)

• Product(s): Popcorn
• Acquirer: Hershey’s
• Date: 12/18/17 (announced)
• Price: $1,600,000,000
• Why It Matters: Because it’s personal. I attended the same high school as founder Pam Netsky and started my career in investment banking at Houlihan Lokey, which advised Amplify on its initial sale to TA Associates, a Chicago based private equity firm. This experience, along with witnessing the initial sale of Snack Factory to Snyder’s-Lance, is what drew me into the food industry and I couldn’t be happier!

Snyder’s-Lance

• Products: Salty Snacks
• Acquirer: Campbell’s Soup
• Date: 12/18/17 (announced)
• Price: $4,980,000,000
• Why It Matters: Because Millennials don’t eat, they snack. This trend has taken a bite out of Campbell’s core soup business and the Snyder’s acquisition enables Campbell’s not only to capitalize on this shift but also amass a portfolio of brands including Cape Cod, Snack Factory Pretzel Crisps and Late July with a hipper image than its iconic tomato soup.

Thanasi Foods

• Products: Jerky; Seeds Snacks
• Acquirer: Conagra
• Date: 3/16/17 (announced)
• Price: Undisclosed
• Why It Matters: Because protein is still in and because Conagra apparently sees a brighter future in branded CPG. In 2016, it acquired Frontera Foods, a Chicago based salsa and Mexican foods company while selling off its lower margin, high volume private label division sale to TreeHouse.

2017 Food & Beverage VC Deals

BANZA

• Founders: Brian Rudolph, Scott Rudolph
• Product(s): Chickpea Pasta
• Investment Date: 6/12/17
• 2017 Funding: $7,500,000
• Total Funding: $9,400,000
• Known Investors: Beechwood Capital, Chobani Food Incubator, Strand Equity Partners, SWAT Equity Partners, Vayner/RSE, Rosecliff Ventures, DGNL Ventures
• Comments: Behold the power of the humble chickpea. Beyond its direct explosion when Sabra revitalized hummus, chickpeas have silently become the quiet kale, powering three major brands in distinct categories – Sir Kensington’s Fabnaise, Hippeas salty extruded snacks, and BANZA pasta.

Barnana

• Founder: Caue Suplicy
• Product(s): Upcycled Banana Snack
• Investment Date: 1/18/17
• 2017 Funding: $5,300,000
• Total Funding: $10,300,000
• Known Investors: Blueberry Ventures, Boulder Food Group (BFG), CircleUp, Finn Capital Partners, Trently Advisors, V3 Capital Partners
• Comments: Barnana is one of a handful of companies harnessing the environmental and economic advantages of would-be-wasted food. As Bai did with the frequently scraped coffee cherry husk or brands like Imperfect Produce and Misfit Juicery are doing with unaesthetic fruit, Barnana is doing – deliciously – with bananas.

Beyond Meat

• Founder: Ethan Brown
• Product(s): Plant Based Meat
• Investment Date: 1/18/17
• 2017 Funding: $55,000,000
• Total Funding: $150,900,000
• Known Investors: 301 Inc., DNS Capital, GlassWall Syndicate, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, New Crop Capital, Obvious Ventures, S2G Ventures, Stray Dog Capital, Tyson New Ventures, Cleveland Avenue
• Comments: Beyond Meat is a fascinating player among the truly believable meat replacement startups. Unlike Impossible Foods, whose go to market strategy has been to partner with premium branded on-premise chains where they guide distribution and preparation standards, Beyond Meat has been faster to mass market and is already in 12,000 stores and have sold over 11 million Beyond Burgers to date. It’ll be interesting to see if they can lock in brand loyalty from most customers before Impossible Foods, Memphis Meats and others can achieve similar scale.

Bhakti Chai

• Founder: Brook Eddy
• Product(s): Chai Tea
• Investment Date: 9/11/17
• 2017 Funding: $5,278,397
• Total Funding: $9,128,937
• Known Investors: 301 Inc., DNS Capital, GlassWall Syndicate, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, New Crop Capital, Obvious Ventures, S2G Ventures, Stray Dog Capital, Tyson New Ventures, Cleveland Avenue
• Comments: In 2010, Spark Capital’s Andrew Parker wrote a now famous blog post examining the “Spawn of craigslist.” As tech startups from StubHub to AirBnB have nipped away various functions with their own standalone platforms, similarly, food and beverage startups have begun to transform subsets of the largest categories into standalone brands. In the case of the massive $5.8 billion domestic RTD tea category, the obvious leaders are chai and matcha.

Bobo’s Oat Bars

• Founder: Beryl Stafford
• Product(s): Bars
• Investment Date: 3/2/17
• 2017 Funding: $8,000,000
• Total Funding: $8,000,000
• Known Investors: Ridgeline Ventures, Boulder Investment Group Reprise (BIGR Ventures)
• Comments: In what is arguably the most competitive category in food and with brands like RXBAR already chosen as the acquisition worthy winners, it’ll be interesting to see just how many more, however delicious, can succeed.

Bonafide Provisions

• Founder: Sharon Brown
• Product(s): Bone Broth, Vegetable Smoothies
• Investment Date: 8/8/17
• 2017 Funding: $4,500,000
• Total Funding: $4,500,000
• Known Investors: AccelFoods, Boulder Investment Group Reprise (BIGR Ventures), Ridgeline Ventures
• Comments: A recent Washington Post expose noted, “acolytes say the resulting collagen-rich liquid reduces inflammation, cures leaky guts, nourishes the immune system, strengthens bones and promotes radiant hair and skin. Detractors think it’s a ridiculous rip-off.”  Will bone broth live up to its lofty expectations or will it bust like an over-hyped draft prospect? The verdict is out.

Bulletproof

• Founder: Dave Asprey
• Product(s): Butter Coffee; Fat Water; Snacks; Supplements
• Investment Date: 5/24/17
• 2017 Funding: $19,000,000
• Total Funding: $31,300,000
• Known Investors: CAVU Ventures, Trinity Ventures
• Comments: Stemming from Dave Asprey’s audaciously titled 2014 book, “The Bulletproof Diet: Lose up to a Pound a Day, Reclaim Energy and Focus, Upgrade Your Life,” the brand offers, “high performance food, drinks & supplements to power your life.” It remains to be seen whether its current fanatical following will translate into long-term success, with one potential pitfall being that “Diets Do Not Make Good Investments.” Bulletproof’s core coffee line will also be competing with the other darling child of cold brew, nitro, which offers a latte like experience without calories, fat or other additives. Which do you prefer?

Celsius

• Founder: Janice Haley
• Product(s): Energy Drinks
• Investment Date: 3/14/17
• 2017 Funding: $15,000,000
• Total Funding: $34,000,000
• Known Investors: Horizons Ventures
• Comments: Legions of startups have attempted to dethrone the long-reigning Red Bull, but only Monster has landed a market share blow. And yet, Celsius and others bravely continue to charge forward alongside brands in adjacent categories like cold-brew who are attempting to sway energy drink consumers their way as a healthier option. Consumer preferences continue to shift away from unnatural ingredients, however, and Celsius’s significant capital backing and superior health positioning may just give it a fighting chance.

Core Hydration

• Founders: Lance Collins, Lukasz Gottwald
• Product(s): Water; Flavored Beverages
• Investment Date: 5/24/17
• 2017 Funding: $16,200,000
• Total Funding: $43,100,000
• Known Investors: Halen Brands
• Comments: Founder Lance Collins is the Elon Musk of beverage, having also successfully founded FUZE and NOS Energy. This goes to show the value of connections and experience in such a competitive field and the power of a rockstar CEO. The ability to access capital, distributors and high profile supporters such as Katy Perry and Adam Levine has put Collins well on his way to a third successful exit.

Daily Harvest

• Founder: Rachel Drori
• Product(s): Smoothies, Soups
• Investment Date: 6/8/17
• 2017 Funding: $4,000,000
• Total Funding: $4,900,000
• Known Investors: VMG, Brand Project, M13 Company, Collaborative Fund, 14W
• Comments: Daily Harvest deserves a ton of credit. First, Rachel Dori and her team have created a scalable, direct-to-consumer frozen supply chain in a category seemingly ill suited to e-commerce. And second, they have one of the most impressively curated feeds on Instagram with 195,500 engaged followers and counting. The ability to build a loyal audience without sampling and engaging customers at a retail level is a remarkable accomplishment. It paves the way for Daily Harvest to enter brick and mortar with pre-existing demand and velocity as other consumer brands such as AWAY with luggage and Casper with mattresses have begun to do.

DrinkMAPLE

• Founders: Kate Weiler, Jeff Rose
• Product(s): Maple Water, Melon Water
• Investment Date: 2/28/17
• 2017 Funding: $3,880,000
• Total Funding: $5,340,000
• Known Investors: FreshTracks Capital, Centerman Capital, Cleveland Avenue
• Comments: A potential challenger to the coconut water category, DrinkMAPLE shares many similarities with the incumbent: single ingredient, hydrating, and a polarizing flavor profile. It arguably takes better to flavors than coconut water and it’s primary source – maple trees – are available domestically, making it more sustainable to boot.

Farmhouse Culture

• Founders: Kathryn Lukas
• Product(s): Gut Healthy Chips, Vegetables, and Beverages
• Investment Date: 3/13/17
• 2017 Funding: $7,750,000
• Total Funding: $12,80,000
• Known Investors: Renewal Funds, White Road Partners, 301 Inc, Advantage Capital
• Comments: Instead of building a company around a brand or product line, Farmhouse has built it around the body, creating a line of products unified by their claimed digestive benefits. This appears to be a successful and unique strategy, allowing them to extend across different areas of the store naturally.

Fishpeople Seafood

• Founders: Duncan Berry, Kipp Baratoff
• Product(s): Sustainable Seafood
• Investment Date: 6/6/17
• 2017 Funding: $12,000,000
• Total Funding: $18,400,000
• Known Investors: 3×5 Special Opportunity Partners, Advantage Capital Partners, Blueberry Ventures, Collaborative Fund, S2G Ventures
• Comments: The seafood industry has been noticeably resistant to innovation compared to the snack aisle and beverage cooler. Fishpeople has brought transparency to one of the most environmentally threatened categories while making consumer facing products that are approachable for modern consumers.

Foodstirs

• Founders: Galit Laibow, Greg Fleishman, Sarah Michelle Gellar
• Product(s): Baking Products
• Investment Date: 7/31/17
• 2017 Funding: $5,000,000
• Total Funding: $4,000,000
• Known Investors: Beechwood Capital, Cambridge SPG
• Comments: Convenience? Check. All natural, organic and non-GMO? Check. Celebrity founder? Check. Direct-to-Consumer? Check. Foodstirs has all the checks modern, informed shopper are looking for.

good culture

• Founders: Jesse Merrill
• Product(s): Cottage Cheese
• Investment Date: 9/12/17
• 2017 Funding: $6,000,000
• Total Funding: $9,800,000
• Known Investors: 301 Inc., CAVU Ventures
• Comments: Good Culture has reawakened a stale but high potential category. High protein, low in fat and snackable, the well executed branding alongside creative flavors has transformed staid cottage cheese into an appealing option.

Grainful

• Founders: Jeannine Sacco, Jan Pajersk
• Product(s): Oat Centric Frozen and Prepared Meals
• Investment Date: 6/13/17
• 2017 Funding: $3,300,000
• Total Funding: $6,010,000
• Known Investors: Advantage Capital Partners, CircleUp, Rand Capital
• Comments: Grainful has been a fantastic, differentiated addition to prepared meals. They demonstrate the eureka possible in food and beverage – the brand started when the founders wanted to make dinner but didn’t have traditional grains like rice and pasta on hand and still managed to make a delicious meal using steel cut oats.

High Brew

• Founders: David Smith, Elizabeth Smith
• Product(s): Cold Brew Coffee
• Investment Date: 5/30/17
• 2017 Funding: $17,100,000
• Total Funding: $28,400,000
• Known Investors: Boulder Investment Group Reprise (BIGR Ventures), CAVU Ventures, Tasty Ventures
• Comments: High Brew has seen some high growth as the cold brew category continues to explode. Its affordable, straightforward, right-sized cans have won over consumers from convenience to conventional and things show no sign of slowing. They’ve also dipped their toes into the protein and coffee subset, which brands such as Sunniva are focusing on full time. It’ll be fascinating to see which areas under the cold brew umbrella, from butter to protein to alternative dairy, perform best.

Hippeas

• Founder: Livio Bisterzo
• Product: Chickpea Puffs
• Investment Date: 10/10/17
• 2017 Funding: $10,000,000
• Total Funding: $10,000,000
• Known Investors: CAVU Ventures, Green Park Brands, Strand Equity Partners
• Comments: Hippeas has a visionary founder who has created one of the most successful launches in industry history. From starting in mid-2016, Hippeas has closed two rounds from top tier firms and with participation from the likes of Leo DiCaprio, presciently built its snacks using the deservedly on-trend chickpea and was generating monthly revenue of nearly $1,000,000 barely a year post launch. Part of their success has been understanding The ROI of Surprise and Delight.

Humm Kombucha

• Founders: Jaime Danek, Michelle Mitchell
• Product(s): Kombucha
• Investment Date: 6/5/17
• 2017 Funding: $10,000,000
• Total Funding: $17,600,000
• Known Investors: VMG
• Comments: Next to cold brew, kombucha remains one of the hottest areas of beverage and Humm is well positioned to meet the demand. The company announced it’s opening of a new plant at the end of 2016 capable of producing 36,000,000 bottles per year. Traditional CPG startups have looked to co-packers to handle production, but those at the forefront of innovation seem to be increasingly consider keeping production in house. This strategy, however operationally demanding, enables more rapid innovation, fuller control and a more compelling brand story than employing a third party producer allows.

ICONIC

• Founders: Billy Bosch
• Product(s): Protein Drinks
• Investment Date: 9/13/17
• 2017 Funding: $8,000,000
• Total Funding: $9,000,000
• Known Investors: AccelFoods, KarpReilly
• Comments: In keeping with the social issue zeitgeist of 2017, ICONIC’s success is due in large part to creating a healthy, high-protein drink void of the hyper masculine branding which characterizes Muscle Milk and others. Everyone needs food and ICONIC’s success serves as an important reminder for new products and innovations to not overlook the diversity of consumer wants and needs.

Impossible Foods

• Founders: Patrick Brown
• Product(s): Plant-Protein Meats
• Investment Date: 7/28/17
• 2017 Funding: $75,000,000
• Total Funding: $313,000,000
• Known Investors: Collaborative Fund, Horizons Ventures, Khosla Ventures
• Comments: As an avowed carnivore, my first bite of the Impossible Burger was the most memorable food experience of my life. Beyond multi-star Michelin hauts or the fantastic pizza of Brooklyn, the likeliness of Bareburger’s rendition to the real deal cannot be overstated. Goldman Sachs recently declared “meatless meats” as one of “8 Huge Trends That Are About to Change the World” and companies like Impossible are turning the future into reality.

Just, Inc. (formerly Hampton Creek)

• Founders: Josh Tetrick, Josh Balk
• Product(s): Vegan Cookies, Eggs and Sauces
• Investment Date: 5/26/17
• 2017 Funding: $150,000,000
• Total Funding: $373,000,000
• Known Investors: Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, Radicle Impact, Collaborative Fund, AME Cloud Ventures, Horizon Ventures, Ali Partovi, Hadi Partovi, Ashvin Patel, Scott Banister, Kat Taylor, Mustafa Salesman, Far East Ventures, Tao Capital Partners, Demis Cassabas, WP Global Partners, Jean Piggozzi, Eduardo Severin, Velos Partners, OS Fund, BlackPine Private Equity Partners, Marc Benioff, Brian Meehan, Uni-President Enterprises Corporation
• Comments: JUST has continued to push forward on its mission driven path, overcoming product and personnel hiccups along the way. Despite its board walking out, accusations of deceptive buy back practices and inappropriate work relationships, the company closed one of the largest financing rounds of the year and launched a new egg free ‘scramble’ product to glowing reviews.

JUST Goods

• Founders: Grace Jeon, Ira Laufer
• Product(s): Bottled Water
• Investment Date: 9/29/17
• 2017 Funding: $2,010,000
• Total Funding: $15,700,000
• Known Investors: Cranberry Capital, DGNL Ventures, HDS Capital, Raptor Consumer Partners
• Comments: Often, the intersection of two superior qualities creates disruptive mass appeal. In the case of JUST Goods, the maker of a sustainable bottled water, they are price and eco-friendliness. The specially designed Tetra Pak paper-based packaging allows the brand to stand out on a crowded shelf, is more economical at scale than plastic and is 82% recyclable. Given the threats of climate change, economically viable improvements to our global consumption of one million plastic bottles per minute ought to be applauded.

Kidfresh

• Founders: Matt Cohen, Gilles Deloux
• Product(s): Frozen Kids Meals
• Investment Date: 5/9/17
• 2017 Funding: $10,300,000
• Total Funding: $10,300,000
• Known Investors: AccelFoods, Emil Capital Partners, Monogram Capital Partners
• Comments: There are few areas where consumers are less price sensitive than the their children’s health. Despite this, frozen and refrigerated kids meals has been stagnant for some time and Kidfresh has placed itself at the nexus of a general shift towards healthier, all natural food preferences and modern, highly informed parents seeking to provide their kids with superior nutrition.

Kill Cliff

• Founders: Todd Ehrlich
• Product(s): Energy Drinks
• Investment Date: 8/10/17
• 2017 Funding: $13,500,000
• Total Funding: $24,700,000
• Known Investors: Sherbrooke Capital, Sunrise Strategic Partners
• Comments: In the notoriously competitive energy drink market, Kill Cliff has found its niche within the CrossFit community. The brand also donates a portion of its sales to a foundation benefitting Navy Seals, in which founder Todd Ehrlich previously served. By combining a loyal niche and a genuine mission, they are successfully attacking the well defended territory of Red Bull and Monster.

koia

• Founder: Chris Hunter
• Product(s): Plant Protein Beverages
• Investment Date: 7/13/17
• 2017 Funding: $7,500,000
• Total Funding: $8,180,000
• Known Investors: AccelFoods, KarpReilly
• Comments: In his second beverage startup act, Chris Hunter has demonstrated a remarkable degree of entrepreneurial versatility. Formerly of Four Loko fame, Hunter has since adopted a healthier lifestyle as reflected in his new company, koia, which makes fresh, plant protein based smoothies. They’ve come a long way since their initial MVP and in a short period, have earned national distribution at Whole Foods with no signs of slowing.

Kuli Kuli

• Founders: Lisa Curtis
• Product(s): Moringa Bars and Powders
• Investment Date: 7/13/17
• 2017 Funding: $4,250,000
• Total Funding: $5,350,000
• Known Investors: Eighteen94 Capital, InvestEco, Radicle Capital, S2G Ventures, Terra, Village Capital
• Comments: It’s always exciting when a new food is introduced domestically. From matcha to quinoa to, in Kuli Kuli’s case, moringa, a nutrient dense leaf common in parts of Africa, the Americanizing of ingredients popular in other cultures and countries can be a tricky balancing act between approachability and respect for the original. Kuli Kuli is doing a great job, especially in its impact efforts: to date, it has planted over 1,000,000 moringa trees and provided more than $1.5 million in income to women-led farming cooperatives and nonprofits in Ghana.

nona lim

• Founders: Nona Lim
• Product(s): Bone Broth; Soups; Noodles
• Investment Date: 6/5/17
• 2017 Funding: $1,950,000
• Total Funding: $2,100,000
• Known Investors: AccelFoods, Cambridge SPG, CircleUp, Echo Capital Group, Harbinger Ventures
• Comments: Originally founded as a meal kit company, nona lim successfully pivoted away from what’s proven a problematic business model even for public companies like Blue Apron to zeroing in on asian inspired broths and noodles. The willingness to adapt without losing the incipient brand flavor is an important lesson for all early stage startups, but particularly those, like nona lim, attempting to create new categorizes such as bone broth.

Once Upon a Farm

• Founders: Jennifer Garner, John Foraker, Cassandra Curtis, Ari Raz
• Product(s): Baby Food
• Investment Date: 2/8/17
• 2017 Funding: $3,100,000
• Total Funding: $3,100,000
• Known Investors: Cambridge SPG, Harbinger Ventures, S2G Ventures
• Comments: If anyone can muscle their way into the crowded baby food category (eg. Kidfresh, NuturMe, etc.) it’s a dream team including John Foraker, who sold Annie’s to General Mills for in excess of $800 million and grounded A-lister Jennifer Garner. The brand also deserves bonus points for its supply chain transparency and excellent e-commerce design, the later an increasingly vital channel in the Age of Amazon.

Owl’s Brew

• Founder: Jennie Ripps
• Product(s): Mixers, Alcoholic Beverages
• Investment Date: 1/4/17
• 2017 Funding: $4,080,000
• Total Funding: $4,520,000
• Known Investors: Cambridge SPG, ZX Ventures, Crimson Seed Capital
• Comments: Not only has Owl’s Brew been a leader of the mixers category, they also debuted one of the most creative offerings in beer – the Radler, a part beer, part tea combo which pairs perfectly with outdoor summer evenings. The brand has justifiably earned the attention of ZX Ventures, the investment arm of AB InBev and it will be exciting to see if they have a third creative, category defining creation in the pipeline for 2018.

peeled snacks

• Founder: Noha Waibsnaider
• Product(s): Dried Fruit Snacks
• Investment Date: 5/17/17
• 2017 Funding: $4,460,000
• Total Funding: $7,230,000
• Known Investors: Fireman Capital Partners, Hammerstone Capital, Seurat Group, Avondale Ventures, TFIC
• Comments: The company is attacking the snack aisle from two angles: healthy fruit snacks and, more recently, extruded, plant-protein rich puffs. Upon closing their latest round, Noha Waibsnaider remarked, “one thing I learned from the dried fruit category is that when we started we didn’t really have strong competitors and it made it really hard to disrupt a category alone.” This touches on a fascinating, broader debate within food and beverage circles: is it wiser to “create” a category (eg. coconut water) or “disrupt” an established one (eg. cold brew coffee)?

Penrose Hill

• Founders: Erik Steigler, Philip James
• Product(s): Wine
• Investment Date: 2/27/17
• 2017 Funding: $5,000,000
• Total Funding: $7,250,000
• Known Investors: Prehype, Greycroft
• Comments: There is a clear lack of innovation in alcohol compared to the overall food and beverage industry. Beyond Smirnoff Ice, Fireball, Spiked Seltzer and Underwood canned wine, precious few truly differentiated alcohol brands emerge. The three tier system and generally tight TTB regulations explain most of the industry’s conservativeness, yet innovative businesses like Penrose Hill have nonetheless emerged. Using structured data and customer feedback, they’ve adopted a decidedly modern approach to product development in a craft characterized by its long standing traditions. It’s a unique, Millennial minded approach that’s won over both investors and customers alike.

Perfect Day

• Founders: Ryan Pandya, Perumal Gandhi
• Product(s): Alternative Dairy
• Investment Date: 5/3/17
• 2017 Funding: $20,500,000
• Total Funding: $26,700,000
• Known Investors: Horizons Ventures
• Comments: The majority of science focused food startups have come from Silicon Valley and Perfect Day is no exception. A self described “cellular agriculture company making milk from cell culture,” the company underwent a rebrand from Muufri to Perfect Day in August 2016, marrying their high growth worthy technology with a high growth worthy brand identity. Perfect Day is also among a growing number of startups backed by Hong Kong based billionaire Li Ka-shing, whose portfolio also includes Impossible Foods, JUST and Celsius.

Powerful

• Founders: Carlos Ramirez
• Product(s): Protein Enhanced Yogurt and Oatmeal
• Investment Date: 11/7/17
• 2017 Funding: $4,000,000
• Total Funding: $7,500,000
• Known Investors: CircleUp, River Hollow Partners, Reason Venture Partners, SWAT Equity Partners
• Comments: Powerful gained initial traction by launching a well covered irreverent marketing campaign targeting male consumers. Since then, they’ve toned down the bravado and expanded their product line while growing to $11 million in annual sales. Clearly the protein trend has enough capacity to support both female focused brands like Iconic and, albeit less than at its outset, male geared companies like Powerful.

PRE Brands

• Founder: Lenny Lebovich
• Product(s): Beef
• Investment Date: 2/24/17
• 2017 Funding: $1,120,000
• Total Funding: $2,120,000
• Known Investors: BRJ Ventures
• Comments: PRE Brands continues what has been a more and more common trope – food companies describing themselves as technology startups. From Sweetgreen to JUST, the technology startup image presumably connotes open-minded innovation and helps justify a tech company valuation multiple. Unlike some other meat suppliers, PRE Brands outsources production to partner farms, allowing it to focus on the brand experience. That said, essentially using a co-packer does not a tech startup make. Apart from that, their introduction of high quality beef and well designed packaging to a generally staid category deserves plenty of praise.

Protein2o

• Founders: Bob Kral
• Product(s): Protein Enhanced Water
• Investment Date: 11/16/17
• 2017 Funding: $4,00,000
• Total Funding: $11,480,000
• Known Investors: CK Capital Management Corporation
• Comments: Capitalizing on the ongoing protein trend, Protein2o has created a unique concept in the enhanced waters space. One potential pitfall may be the name, Protein2o, which could hamper line extension possibilities and comes across a bit unnatural and scientific. Founded and run by a team of CPG veterans, however, they have both experience and differentiation working in their favor and saw sales grow 300% in the first half of 2017 alone.

Purely Elizabeth

• Founders: Elizabeth Stein
• Product(s): Granola, Snacks and Grains
• Investment Date: 4/3/17
• 2017 Funding: $3,00,000
• Total Funding: $3,000,000
• Known Investors: 301 Inc.
• Comments: Like RXBAR, Purely Elizabeth has successfully taken the approach of avoiding dependency on venture capital. Only after generating $12 million in sales did they decide to accept outside funding, further proving the best brands attract outside capital but are not built on it.

Rhythm Superfoods

• Founders: Scott Jensen, Keith Wahrer
• Product(s): Vegetable Snacks
• Investment Date: 1/1/17
• 2017 Funding: $6,00,000
• Total Funding: $17,200,000
• Known Investors: 301 Inc., Blueberry Ventures, CircleUp, M13 Company, Tasty Ventures
• Comments: Founded in 2009, Rhythm seems to have really hit its stride nearly a decade in with its proprietary, all natural, crispy yet unfried vegetable chips, Following in the footsteps of successes like Popchips who offered crunch with less calories and timing their growth with rising consumer adoption of plant centric and vegan diets, Rhythm has a great future ahead.

SAFE + FAIR

• Founders: Dave Leyrer, Pete Najarian
• Product(s): Grains, Snacks and Deserts
• Investment Date: 5/3/17
• 2017 Funding: $10,00,000
• Total Funding: $14,000,000
• Known Investors: Acre Venture Partners
• Comments: Allergy friendly foods is a formula that’s had success in the past. Enjoy Life Foods, also founded in Chicago, went on to be acquired by Mondelez in 2015 and clearly Acre, the V.C. arm of Campbell’s, sees an equally bright future for SAFE + Fair.

Sipp

• Founder: Beth Wilson-Parentice
• Product(s): Flavored Beverages and Mixers
• Investment Date: 3/21/17
• 2017 Funding: $1,250,000
• Total Funding: $2,650,000
• Known Investors: Emil Capital Partners
• Comments: Considering its seemingly widespread distribution, Sipp has expanded remarkably well on relatively little disclosed funding. From upscale independents throughout the metro NYC area to, more recently, expansion into Costco and Safeway, the high margin, high class line has national appeal and potential. There have even been rumors of a potential Coca Cola acquisition in recent months and it wouldn’t be shocking to see Sipp in the M&A section of next year’s report.

SomruS

• Founder: Pankaj Garg
• Product(s): Liqueur
• Investment Date: 10/16/17
• 2017 Funding: $3,600,000
• Total Funding: $3,600,000
• Known Investors: Cleveland Avenue
• Comments: SomruS, an Indian liqueur similar to Baileys, is entering the surprisingly large global liqueurs and cordials market, estimated at $111 billion as of 2016. As the “craft” movement slows down, the smart VC money seems to be flowing to “weird” concepts with a true chance of disrupting large, established categories.

Soylent

• Founder: Rob Rhinehart
• Product(s): Meal Replacement Shakes
• Investment Date: 5/4/17
• 2017 Funding: $50,000,000
• Total Funding: $71,500,000
• Known Investors: Andreessen Horowitz, GV, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, TAO Capital
• Comments: Soylent has many of the markings of a brand set for success: true differentiation, support from an A list roster of VCs and some to be expected hiccups along the way – in particular, multiple product recalls this year. Nonetheless, Soylent is selling close to two million bottles per month despite extremely limited retail presence. The company is yet another example of how matching a creative go-to-market distribution strategy to a product weird enough to stand out can be a recipe for success.

Spindrift

• Founder: David Kimmell
• Product(s): Fruit Juice Beverages
• Investment Date: 5/12/17
• 2017 Funding: $13,100,000
• Total Funding: $23,500,000
• Known Investors: KarpReilly, New Ground Ventures, Prolog Ventures, Revelry Brands, RiverPark Ventures, VMG Partners, Warbos Venture Partners
• Comments: No commentary needed other than declaring Spindrift (apart from RISE Brewing Co., of course!) my favorite beverage on the market today. The branding, nutrition and taste are all exceptionally well executed and I’m proud to count myself as a loyal supporter.

Temple Turmeric

• Founder: Daniel Sullivan
• Product(s): Turmeric Beverages
• Investment Date: 2/28/17
• 2017 Funding: $2,400,000
• Total Funding: $5,680,000
• Known Investors: Boulder Investment Group Reprise (BIGR Ventures)
• Comments: The latest two editions Google’s Beverage Trends report identified turmeric as something to, “keep an eye on.” Undermining its great health benefits, turmeric’s insolubility and color degradation under heat make it technically challenging to work with. It may turn out that brands like REBBL, which also raised a large funding round from BIGR, have the wisest approach – deploying certain superfoods and spices in supporting roles rather than as standalone stars.

Vital Proteins

• Founder: Kurt Seidensticker
• Product(s): Collagen Products
• Investment Date: 11/1/17
• 2017 Funding: $19,000,000
• Total Funding: $19,000,000
• Known Investors: CAVU Ventures
• Comments: Mansome, a collagen focused beverage, is popular throughout Southeast Asia, so why can’t a collagen forward brand do well here? That’s at least part of the calculus behind CAVU’s decision to lead its latest round. If Vital can continue its rapid, category creating ascent – the four-year-old brand has achieved 240%+ consecutive year-over-year-growth for the past three years and has grown its retail presence into over 8,000 retail stores – it’ll be nearly $20 million well spent.

Wandering Bear Coffee

• Founders: Matthew Bachmann, Ben Gordon
• Product(s): Cold Brew Coffee
• Investment Date: 4/6/17
• 2017 Funding: $2,400,000
• Total Funding: $2,450,000
• Known Investors: AccelFoods, M3 Ventures, RCV Partners
• Comments: Wandering Bear has built a spot for itself in the red hot cold brew category with a straightforward cold brew paired with innovative bag-in-box and Tetrapak serving options. The former is especially well suited to office environments where Millennial workers at top tier firms expect better offerings than K-cups and burnt, stale pots of day old coffee. As the cold brew category matures, the ability to offer both attractive flavors and serving mediums will help separate the pack .

Waterloo

• Founders: Daniel Barnes, Brandon Cason
• Product(s): Flavored Sparkling Water
• Investment Date: 8/7/17
• 2017 Funding: $3,200,000
• Total Funding: $3,200,000
• Known Investors: CAVU Ventures
• Comments: Most founders can only dream of being able to secure significant funding from a top tier investor pre launch. Waterloo’s team of seasoned execs was able to make that happen and is making a push into the zero cal sparkling water market, starting in Texas. It’ll have some catching up to do with Spindrift, but it’s on trend flavor and nutrition, well designed packaging, established network and capital backing should give it more than a fighting chance.

The post 2017 U.S. Food & Beverage Startup Investment Report appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Over the last year, I’ve spoken with legions of aspiring food and beverage entrepreneurs and noticed a painful pattern: many projects stall before ever hitting the shelves. I’d like to see that happen less often, which is why I’m sharing some of the lessons I’ve learned.

Here’s how the trajectory typically goes. The startup hires an independent food scientist or a product development firm to formulate their recipe. After thousands of dollars and months of iterations, they pick a winner. Then they begin the search for a co-packer. After Googling around, they fire off a barrage of emails and expect the plants to respond enthusiastically at the “great opportunity” they’ve been handed. Except, this isn’t what happens. Instead, the founder sends e-mail after e-mail, then voicemail after voicemail, and finally, desperately, InMail after InMail to co-packers nationwide before finally losing hope.

There are relatively few food contract manufacturers in the U.S., and each has its own unique setup. Co-packers trade flexibility for output capacity, earning the vast majority of their profits from large clients for whom they produce hundreds of thousands or even millions of units per year. An offer to make 500 gluten free granola bars is the least productive use of their time. While startups such as Foodworks are working to lower the barriers to entry, challenges towards commercial manufacturing will remain for many products, especially beverages.

Gaining some insight regarding co-packer minimum order quantities (MOQs), availability, tolling fees, equipment specs and production capabilities before investing in product development is a wise move. While co-packers are indeed busy, a few straightforward questions delivered with a note of appreciation can help you establish a positive rapport and set you on a positive path to a potential working relationship.

Of course, you can’t know exactly what specs your product will have or what types of machinery you’ll need to manufacture it on a commercial scale. You can, however, do some upfront thinking to at least arrive at broad parameters. In beverage, for example, you might consider:

• Cans or glass or plastic
• Dairy or non-dairy
• Carbonated or non-carbonated
• Perishable or shelf-stable via pasteurization, retort, aseptic, etc.

After outlining the technical requirements of a new product, you can more efficiently determine a list of manufacturing candidates. You can assess if they have availability, pricing and minimums that fall within your budget and workable economics. Another common problem: developing a product without understanding its short and long-term unit economics — you should know from day one if it can survive at its target MSRP given your ingredient, packaging and freight costs with the margin needed for both your distributor and retailer. I could go on, but I’ll save this topic for a future post.

Instead of spending thousands on prototypes, first define exactly what product you want to make. Limiting the permutations will help reduce costs and transform your vision to reality down a straighter, smoother road. Once you’ve decided what you want to make, you can then engage a food scientist or product developer to offer high level advice as to what’s needed to produce it at a commercial scale. It is far cheaper to pay for a few hours on the phone than a few trips to a lab or pilot plant!

Have the food development expert help you draft a detailed product memo that can be shared with the co-packer. Include as much product and business information as you can. While some may disagree, forcing NDAs at the earliest stages seems to have a low payoff — the truth is, like VCs, co-packers have little interest in stealing your idea and may find it a turnoff. Sign something once you’ve got a foot in the door, not still begging to be let inside.

Next, share the project overview with an accompanying brief email to a targeted list of co-packers. Learn what you can from their websites  — many of which admittedly look very 1993 —  to avoid asking questions you can answer yourself. LinkedIn is a great way to find the appropriate contact, and tools like Rapportive and SellHack make it easy to figure out anyone’s email. Tracking software such as Mixmax can help you remember to follow up as needed.

Only after gaining a sense of its viability should you begin to source ingredients and start making samples for tasting. Instead of relying on your own palette or those of your conciliatory colleagues, solicit the feedback of unbiased, candid third parties. Using surveys and a combination of qualitative and quantitative measurements can guide your decision making process. Note: value any certified sommelier’s opinion 10x.

With a vision in mind, prototype in hand and manufacturer in line, you will be well positioned to overcome the odds and launch a successful brand.

The post Start With Where: Steps to Food & Beverage Product Development appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

In this guest post, Sir Kensington’s co-founder and CEO of Mark Ramadan writes about his decision to sell the condiment startup to Unilever for $140 million.

_______________

When Scott Norton and I started Sir Kensington’s in 2010, we knew one thing to be true – we had a story to write about the changing world of food. When we first met Kees Kruythoff, Unilever’s President of North America, Sir Kensington’s was not for sale. Meeting him, however, re-affirmed two things for us: First, the world of food was indeed changing, fast enough that even companies the size of Unilever recognized it; Second, we still had a lot left to write of our own story.

Over the next few months, we learned more about Unilever. We learned that the company was founded by Victorian entrepreneurs, real-life Sir Kensingtons you might say, out to change the world themselves. We learned that Paul Polman, Unilever’s CEO, had implemented a far-reaching global sustainability plan called the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan in 2010. Since then, the company had taken enormous steps towards reducing its carbon footprint and improving product quality globally. We also learned about the other companies it had welcomed into its family, such as Ben & Jerry’s, that managed to retain both its independence and its activist spirit.

We soon realized we had an opportunity to partner with Unilever – not to finish our story early, but rather to write it more quickly. With its belief in us, its reach and resources, and its support of the Sir Kensington’s way of doing things, we’d be better positioned than ever to deliver on our mission: to bring integrity and charm to ordinary and overlooked food. For us, starting Sir Kensington’s has always been about a bigger purpose than simply the products we produce – we’ve have always felt seen our products as an opportunity to spread our perspective on good food. Ultimately, Scott and I both felt strongly that without scale, we couldn’t have an impact, and we felt that with Unilever’s help we could deliver on that potential. This is why we decided to join the Unilever family.

There are four core Sir Kensington’s values, and the first one reads: “our secret ingredient is people.” We take this to heart in all decisions we make, and in deciding the fate of the company, our team was top of our minds. They were a large part of the reason we decided to move forward with the partnership in the first place – by joining Unilever, we could nearly eliminate the risk any independent business faces of going under, while also retaining the upside and opportunity ahead of us. We felt we had stumbled upon the best of both worlds, and hoped our team saw it that way as well.

Kees joined us at our office in New York to announce the news to the team. The room exploded with positivity and energy! The shared sense of pride and potential, of accomplishment and awe permeated all 29 team members, and it was then that Kees delivered the most memorable line of the day: “Congratulations, you’ve acquired Unilever!” Pictured below is Kees in our office that day we announced to the team:

Now that the deal has closed, we’re back to business. Scott and I will continue to run Sir Kensington’s day-to-day, in our same office with our same team, same goals, and most importantly, the same mission and values. Unilever’s aspirations for us are exactly the same as our own – to grow quickly and spread condiments with character to more retailers and restaurants across the country, and eventually the world. As we grow, we’ll be able to piggy-back on Unilever’s scale and access, while retaining all that makes us unique, like our supplier relationships, specific ingredients, and packaging. In other words, the integration process will match the needs of the business, not the other way around.

Scott and I feel enormously lucky and incredibly humbled to have been granted this opportunity. We wouldn’t have been able to do this without our team. In fact, I believe that’s what led us here in the first place – a team that is absolutely fanatical about more than just what’s in the jar. What Kees and the Unilever team saw in Sir Kensington’s was not just a product, but an approach to food. They didn’t just buy our ketchup, they bought into why we made the ketchup in the first place. My best advice for anyone looking to grow a food business would be to make sure you, your team, your suppliers, and your customers all understand and live daily your mission and purpose. It’s easy to make food, but it’s hard to make change – for that, you need help from people who believe in the bigger picture.

We’re excited for the months and years to come, and look forward to continuing to write our story with Unilever’s help. Cheers to Condiments with Character!

____________

Mark Ramadan is the Co-Founder and CEO of Sir Kensington’s, creators of non-GMO, globally-inspired condiments.  Prior to Sir Kensington’s, Ramadan worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Company in New York City, specializing in the consumer goods and travel industries. He graduated in 2008 from Brown with a BA in Economics and International Relations.

The post We Sold Sir Kensington’s to Unilever to Increase Our Impact appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Pitch Execs, Investors, Media & Startups at FoodBytes! Europe

FoodBytes! is headed to The Netherlands on May 17 & 18! The pitch competition-meets-networking event will take place in Wageningen as part of F&A Next, the foremost food and ag innovation summit. FoodBytes! invites food, food tech and agtech startups from around the world to apply to pitch hundreds of executives, investors, media and entrepreneurs.

FoodBytes! will select 10 startups to give 3.5-minute pitches and 10 runner-up companies to give 60-second pitches. Since FoodBytes! launched in February 2015, more than 900 companies have applied to pitch to over 1,400 attendees.

Selected companies will have the opportunity to:

• Pitch to an audience of investors, industry leaders, media and entrepreneurs (past participants include investors and execs from Anterra Capital, S2G Ventures, Finistere, New Protein Capital, Syngenta, METRO, Innovation Endeavors, Danone, Nestle, Unilever and more)
• Have dedicated display space to showcase your product or service
• Be in the running to win the People’s Choice, Judges’ Choice or Highly Commended Award
• Take part in an invite-only session of networking and mentorship with industry experts and the FoodBytes! judges. Check out our highlight video of our FoodBytes! Boulder mentorship day

APPLICATION DEADLINE: 11:59 PM CET on Friday, April 7.

What FoodBytes! Alumni Are Saying

“Attending FoodBytes! Boulder was such a great experience for our team and brand; we received valuable feedback from the judges, mentors and fellow demo companies that will help us better establish our brand and achieve our goals of bringing plant-based convenient comfort foods to folks across the country!”

Alex Carone, Co-Founder, The Honest Stand – FoodBytes! Boulder 2016 People’s Choice Award Winner

“FoodBytes provided a high profile, high energy venue to put HarvestPort in front of industry professionals and investors. It is always great to be able to reach so many vested parties in one sitting. We generated several follow-up meetings with investors from the event, as well as a few very fruitful meetings with industry folks.”

Tim Koide, Co-Founder, HarvestPort – FoodBytes! San Francisco 2016 Pitch Finalist

“Where are you going to find 150-200 investors together in one place, ready to listen to your story and give you face to face feedback? It saves time, money and energy. So start pitching!”

Constantinos Patinios, Co-Founder & CEO, N-CHROMA – FoodBytes! Boulder 2016 Pitch Finalist

About F&A Next

F&A Next is food and agriculture’s foremost innovation summit of the year, taking place on the dynamic environment of the campus of one the world’s most renowned food and agriculture universities: Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands. In 2016, the summit gathered over 400 startups, corporates and investors in The Netherlands. The 2017 edition will be a two-day summit with cutting edge business opportunities for startups, corporates and investors from more than 30 countries. The summit will       address key themes such as the gradual shift to smart farming and the convergence of food and health.

The post FoodBytes! Heads to Europe – Apply to Pitch in the Netherlands at F&A Next! appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

From reservations and dynamically-priced food ordering, to staff training and invoice automation, startups are developing new technologies to help restaurants streamline operations and improve margins.

Join us for a deep dive into some these innovations at our February Restaurant Tech Meetup next Thursday, February 23 in NYC. You’ll get an inside look at the business models, products, challenges and lessons learned from five up-and-coming startups.

We’ll also have networking with the community and snacks and drinks from Açaí of America, Burlap and Barrel, Silly Chilly Hotsauce and more.

Details:

• When: 6:30 – 9:30 PM

• Where: Primary (25 Broadway, NY, NY)

• RSVP: Snag your spot now!

Sample Your Products!

Do you have an innovative food or beverage product you would like to showcase? We have a few openings for food partners to sample products.

Email nina[at]foodtechconnect[dot]com if you’re interested in any of these opportunities. 

Schedule:

6:30 – 7:15: Networking + Snacks

7:15 – 8:45: Presentations + Q&A

8:45 – 9:30: More Networking

Confirmed Presenters:

Joel Montaniel, CEO of SevenRooms – An enterprise technology platform for the dining, nightlife and hotel industry. We offer top operators intelligent front-of-house capabilities, powerful CRM to track and capture guest data, multi-channel inventory targeting and distribution, point-of-sale integration, predictive analytics, revenue optimization tools, marketing capabilities and an open API platform. Every capability places the guest front and center, both online and offline, to make better service easier, build loyalty, streamline operations and increase revenue.

Founded in New York in 2011, SevenRooms is present in over 100 cities, serving premier dining, hotel and nightlife operations including LDV Hospitality, Corbin & King, Morgans Hotel Group, sbe, Jumeirah, LiveNation, TAO Strategic Group, Zuma, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and many more.

Andy Schwartz, Founder of xtraCHEF – A cloud based software platform that streamlines and automates the invoicing process for restaurants and hotels. xtraCHEF then provides a layer of analytics and dashboards to allow a better understanding of the day to day costs. xtraCHEF is 100% mobile because chefs like to be in the kitchen and not behind a desk. With our product, you simply take a picture of a vendor invoice using your phone (or scan it) and xtraCHEF does the rest: Technology reads the entire invoice, line by line, digitizes, and imports directly into your Accounting or Inventory Management System.

Mohamed El Hassen Merzouk, Founder & CEO of Gebni – The stock market app for restaurant takeout. We are the first food ordering software to apply a real time demand-adjusted approach to meal prices ordered online. Our app connects users to local restaurants offering dynamically-priced meals for pickup or delivery to save them money and make sure they always pay the best available prices. Gebni has officially launched 2 months ago and counts more than 160+ restaurants on its network covering half Manhattan.

Brandon Barton, Head of Ops / Sales at Resy -A complete restaurant reservations and waitlist system. We offer cutting edge software, fair pricing and 24/7/365 customer service. ResyOS, our restaurant facing app, includes table management, ticketing, web booking, CRM, mobile app, POS integration and more.

Dana A. Koteen, Managing Partner of Restaurant Reason – An intuitive system specifically designed to address the hospitality industry’s to quickly and effectively train their staff. Operators can easily create and deliver effective, high-quality training to their staff to increase sales and enhance the guest experience. The tools are simple enough for a newly minted line-level manager to use while also being robust enough to manage larger companies with multiple units and/or concepts.

Supporting Sponsor:

The METRO Accelerator for Retail powered by Techstars is a global mentorship program that fast-tracks startup solutions disrupting the retail experience through technology innovation. Applications are now open – apply today. 

Host:

Primary is the workplace for entrepreneurs who appreciate the perks afforded by shared office space with a community built around personal and professional mindfulness. Named one of the top co-working spaces in the world by Inc. Magazine, Primary offers a robust menu of amenities: on-site fitness + yoga studio with shower facilities; practitioners offering massage therapy, facials, and more; a full-service espresso bar; a nap room; and a diverse, thriving community. Get a free work day by mentioning the Food+Tech Meetup.

The post Join Restaurant Tech Meetup with Resy, xtraCHEF, SevenRooms + More appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Photo by Rebecca Stumpf

Snag Your Early Bird Ticket to FoodBytes! San Francisco

Come mix and mingle with the most innovative people in food and ag at FoodBytes! SF on Thursday, March 16 from 2-8 PM at The Village. Attend the event Robyn O’Brien calls “an absolutely critical piece of solving the food problems that we are seeing in the world”.

Be one of the first 30 people to sign up and snag your ticket for just $119 (regular price $169). 

 Why Should You Attend?

• Executives / Media: Get an inside look at the up-and-coming trends and startups at the forefront of food and ag innovation
• Investors: Meet the most promising new food and ag startups
• Entrepreneurs: Connect with investors, potential partners and customers. Plus, have the chance to give a 60-second pitch during the open mic section.

Photo by Rebecca Stumpf

Last Chance to Apply to Pitch!

FoodBytes! pitch competition-meets-networking event invites food, food tech and agtech startups from around the world to apply to pitch hundreds of executives, investors media and entrepreneurs. 10 startups will be selected to give 5-minute pitches and 10 runner-up companies will be selected give 60-second pitches. Since FoodBytes! launched in February 2015, more than 750 companies from 19 countries have applied to pitch to over 1,000 attendees.

Selected Companies will have the Opportunity to:

• Pitch to an audience of investors, industry leaders, media and entrepreneurs
• Have dedicated display space to showcase your product or service
• Be in the running to win the People’s Choice, Judges’ Choice or Highly Commended Award
• Take part in an invite-only session of networking and mentorship with industry experts and the FoodBytes! judges. Check out our highlight video of our FoodBytes! Boulder mentorship day HERE

APPLICATIONS CLOSE THIS SUNDAY, January 22 at 11:59 PM PT.

Other Ways to Get Involved

Interested in discussing partnership or sponsorship opportunities? Get in touch with the FoodBytes! team!

The post Snag Early Bird Tickets to FoodBytes! SF + Last Chance to Apply to Pitch appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Apply to Pitch at FoodBytes! San Francisco in March!

After closing out 2016 with the biggest FoodBytes! yet in Boulder and our first international event in Sydney, we’re excited to work partner with Rabobank to continue that momentum into 2017. FoodBytes! will kick off in San Francisco in March, followed by New York in June, The Netherlands in May as part of F&A Next and Austin, Texas in October.

Part pitch competition, part networking event, FoodBytes! brings together the game-changing startups, investors and industry leaders pioneering the future of food and ag. Since launching in 2015, more than 700 companies have applied to pitch to over 1,000 attendees at FoodBytes! events around the world.

The exact date and location of FoodBytes! San Francisco in March is being finalized. The application deadline has been extended to Sunday, January 22  at 11:59 PM PT. Selected companies will be notified by Monday, February 1, 2017. 

Why Does Pitching Entail?

• Pitch to an audience of investors, industry leaders, media and entrepreneurs
• Have dedicated display space to showcase your product or service
• Be in the running to win the People’s Choice, Judges’ Choice or Highly Commended Award
• Take part in an invite-only session of networking and mentorship with industry experts and the FoodBytes! judges

Why Should You Apply to Pitch?

“FoodBytes! was an incredible opportunity to gain valuable exposure and connections while working alongside inspiring startups and receiving feedback from experts at Rabobank. From FoodBytes! we have secured a few new retail accounts in the USA and received valuable advice on to how tackle the U.K. market.”

– Eli Cadesky, Co-Founder & CEO, One Hop Kitchen – FoodBytes! Boulder 2016 Finalist

“FoodBytes! curated a fantastic community whose connections just keep growing stronger… long after the event. Through FoodBytes!, we met companies that we are partnering with to solve some challenges in our business and got media exposure that helped land us new retail accounts.”

– Jacqueline Claudia, Co-Founder & CEO, LoveTheWild – FoodBytes! Brooklyn 2016 Finalist

“FoodBytes! provided a high profile, high energy venue to put HarvestPort in front of industry professionals and investors. We generated several follow-up meetings with investors from the event, as well as a few very fruitful meetings with industry folks.”

– Tim Koide, Co-Founder, HarvestPort – FoodBytes! SF 2016 Finalist

Apply for the TERRA Food + Ag Tech Accelerator!

Looking for another way to take your food or ag business to the next level? Applications for the first cohort of Rabobank and RocketSpace‘s food and ag tech accelerator, TERRA, are now open! This first-of-its-kind accelerator brings the most disruptive food and ag startups together with progressive corporations to fuel cross-industry innovation. Food, food tech and agtech startups from around the world are encouraged to apply. Applications close on Wednesday, January 18.

Selected participants will take part in four month intensive program at RocketSpace’s campus in San Francisco designed to help you validate your products through pilot testing with collaborators, as well as meet corporate partners for potential investment opportunities. No financial equity is required to participate.

The post Apply to Pitch at FoodBytes! SF & Applications Open for TERRA Accelerator appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

It’s not easy being a food innovator. There’s no road map for reinventing an industry. So, in partnership with Force Brands: FoodForce | BevForce, we cooked up the Fail Friday series to celebrate failure in all its glory.

At our seventh installment of Fail Friday on THURSDAY, December 15 at 7 PM in NYC. We’ll hear from Green Seed Group, Heritage Radio, BRAMI, Be Mixed and Metcalfe’s Food Company. Startups will share their stories of failure and lessons learned from launching, growing and pivoting their businesses, followed by audience Q&A.

There will be holiday-themed snacks from Matt’s Kimchi, Brooklyn FoodWorks, Auria’s Malaysian Kitchen, Wangs and more, festive drinks from Swig + Swallow, Woodward Extracts and REBBL, plus lots of networking. Check out more info on our food and drink partners below.

Details

• Where: Force Brands – 6 Harrison Street – 6th Floor, New York, NY
• When: Thursday, December 15 – 7 -9:30 PM
• RSVP: Get tickets HERE.

Schedule

• 7:00 – 7:45: Networking, Snacks & Drinks
• 7:45 – 8:45: Failure Stories & Q&A
• 8:45 – 9:30: More Networking

Confirmed Speakers

David Wilson – Founder & Owner, Green Seed Group – David has nearly 30 years international marketing experience with global brands. He is a dynamic, board level, food industry, marketing leader with deep and extensive executive experience in marketing, general management and sales roles.

David has specialized with high-growth, private equity owned branded food companies targeting natural, health-oriented consumers. He currently holds three board seats with high growth food companies and also found and leads consulting business Green Seed Group. Green Seed provides seed capital and is a sales and marketing incubator for food start-ups. One company recently exited in a $800m plus deal, to an international strategic acquirer and another planning to exit for $400m plus in the near future.

Erin Fairbanks – Executive Director, Heritage Radio Network – In 2005, Erin left the Midwest and her post at Zingerman’s Deli to try her hand at being a line-cook in New York City. She walked into the kitchen of Savoy offering to peel carrots and didn’t leave for two years. Next, she spent time at Gramercy Tavern, initiating their in-house charcuterie program. Then following her passion for pigs she moved north where she spent a year at Flying Pigs Farm, where she directed “Farm Camp at Flying Pigs Farm”. In 2011, she launched “No Goat Left Behind,” a national project of Heritage Foods USA. After completing her graduate degree in Urban Policy Analysis at The New School for Public Engagement she joined the HeritageRadioNetwork.Org team as Executive Director in the Spring of 2012.

Aaron Gatti – Founder, BRAMI – From Bitcoin to Beans; after working as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Lerer Hippeau Ventures with a focus on Bitcoin blockchain startups, Aaron Gatti pivoted to the food space, founding BRAMI Snacks. The son of an Italian from Rome, Aaron grew up surrounded by the simple, quality-ingredient focused cuisine of Italy as a kid and had a stint as a sous chef at a Michelin star restaurant.

In 2014, Aaron introduced his now wife Alenna to a childhood favorite snack, lupini beans, and together they realized the potential for reinventing this ancient Mediterranean legume. BRAMI started selling in NYC in January of 2016 and is now in 5 regions of Whole Foods, ShopRite and Independents across the country.

Cristina Ros Blankfein & Jennifer Ross – Co-Founders, Be Mixed – An innovative, natural line of zero-calorie and zero-sugar cocktail mixers. Blankfein and Ross, who is Type 1 diabetic, met at Harvard Business School.

Blankfein is a graduate of Harvard University where she received her Bachelor of Arts as well as her JD/MBA.  While still an undergrad, Ros Blankfein founded Circle of Women, a student-run 501c3 that has raised over $600,000 to build secondary schools for girls in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Malawi. After college, Blankfein spent three years at Citi’s Microfinance Group, where she helped develop cross-company products and programs that she marketed as part of the bank’s social platform, including savings programs for entrepreneurs.

Prior to Ross receiving her Master of Business Administration, Ross worked on marketing and operations at Fanvision, a sports entertainment technology company, and previously served as an Analyst at Goldman Sachs in the Merchant Bank’s real estate private equity group. Ross has long been an advocate for the advancement of diabetes research and a supporter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). She was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the age of 6, and while still in high school, founded and organized Rock the Cure, a concert to benefit JDRF, which raised over $200,000.  Ross also serves as the secretary of Safefittings, a not-for-profit organization serving the parents of children with diabetes (since 2006). Ross holds a B.A. in Government from Dartmouth College.

Robert Jakobi – CEO & Co-Owner, Metcalfe’s Food Company – Robert is an entrepreneur in the health and wellness space. He is the current CEO and largest individual shareholder in Cyc Fitness and the former CEO and Co Owner of Metcalfe’s skinny and Metcalfe’s Food Company. He is also the Co-Founder of Bou and Beaux Fresh.

Robert is also the Co-Founder of two new businesses that will launch early next year called Bou and Beaux Fresh. Beaux Fresh is a revolutionary flower subscription service that involves the delivery (direct to home or office) of fresh cut stems that will be shipped directly from our farms in Colombia. Bou is a range of delicious bouillon cubes made with 100% natural ingredients. Bou will be the only brand in the market which is 100% all natural and gluten free and contain 30% less salt than all other bouillon brands.

Food & Drink Partners

Matt’s Kimchi is a new arrival to the burgeoning category of fermented probiotic foods made by a NYC-duo committed to making good food with culture. Matt found his love for kimchi while teaching English in South Korea, and since teaming up with his fiancé Fiona in March 2015, the duo has been handcrafting vegan kimchi at Hot Bread Kitchen’s Incubator. Matt’s Kimchi can be found at grocery stores and restaurants around Manhattan and Brooklyn. They’re on a mission to show the world how versatile and delicious kimchi is in everyday cuisines.

Brooklyn FoodWorks seeks to be the premier platform to prototype, launch and grow innovative food businesses. We aim to be a catalyst for economic development through holistic support of nascent food entrepreneurs.

Auria’s Malaysian Kitchen hand makes traditional Sambal and Kaya in Brooklyn. Staying faithful to family recipes, all products are made using only wholesome ingredients just as they were back home in Auria’s mum’s kitchen. Hot Chilli Sambal, Lime Leaf Sambal, Pandan Kaya and Salted Caramel Kaya – authentic Malaysian goodness and taste.

Wangs is a casual take out restaurant specializing in fried chicken, combining Southern soul food and east Asian flavor profiles to create a truly unique food experience. We use quality ingredients – from our spices to our produce, to our premium sourced organic birds from Paisano’s on Smith Street.  We use only earth friendly packaging and are committed to sustainability and our community.

The post Holiday Fail Friday with Heritage Radio, BRAMI, Be Mixed + More appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Guest post by Civil Eats. The opinions expressed are not necessarily the opinions of Food+Tech Connect. 

Like many of you, we feel heartbroken in the wake of this election, and our ideals as a country are being challenged. However, a new resolve has also emerged, like a phoenix rising from the ashes of this contentious campaign cycle. We see those around us pivoting and making personal commitments to new kinds of work to improve the lives of all Americans.

Journalism will play an important role over next four years and we believe that now more than ever we need to tell the stories of those who have been marginalized in our society, and those who are working to make change. We need to break down complex policy changes and shine a light on the people and elements of the natural world they impact the most. And with Trump’s transition team pledging to actively “fighting the so-called good food movement and undoing Obama-era agricultural and environmental policies,” now is the time to remember why this work matters.

When we founded Civil Eats in 2009, our idea was to support a growing community of people who were concerned about our food system. We wanted to profile people changing the food system from the ground up as well as covering Washington and the policy that has impacted what we eat.

We focused on individuals making change in their everyday lives because we believed that change truly happens on the ground. From sustainable agricultural practices, food justice, and nutrition, to state and federal policy, Civil Eats has reported on the most important food and agriculture stories of our time. And the site has become a trusted news source producing meaningful, nuanced content, which is overlooked in our current media landscape. It’s for these reasons that we were awarded the James Beard Foundation’s Publication of the Year in 2014.

Since then, Civil Eats has continued to break important food policy news and spark positive change. The site was the first to break the news that FDA will start testing for glyphosate in food. And it was the first national news site to report on the Navajo Nation’s new junk food tax (with media partner Mother Jones) and helped catalyze a conversation about dietitians rallying against Kraft’s new seal on its Singles.

The team has reported extensively on pesticide exposure and worker health, the move toward antibiotic-free meant and cage-free eggs, the impact of additives in food such as emulsifiers on human health, the fight for fair wages for food workers, and on the value of biodiversity on farms.

And unique in the food media space, Civil Eats has had an ongoing mission to cover issues of diversity and food justice in our reporting, and it has actively sought out reporters and commentators and leaders of color. We believe these very issues are at the very heart of the divide in our country today, and we will continue to create a platform for much-needed dialogue and discussion on race and food.

Like America, Civil Eats is now at a crossroads. As an independent media outlet, we’ve never taken outside funding or advertising. Instead, we rely on support from foundations and our readers, and raising money for good reporting is getting harder every day. Our current president-elect ran a campaign that consistently maligned the media, and some say social media and the misinformation spread there won him the presidency. Some smart people fear that good journalism is not long for this world.

We know that’s not true. We need good journalism now more than ever as many of the policies that have improved the food system over the past eight years will likely be challenged in new ways. We want to be there to hold this administration accountable, but we need your support in order to do that. Today, Americans need to be more creative than ever before when it comes building a better country for all, and the food movement holds so many shining examples. We hope that Civil Eats can continue to cover these and other important stories.

Please consider attending our first, in-person benefit in San Francisco on Tuesday, November 29, donating, and signing up for an annual subscription if you have not yet done so. We need your support now more than ever.

Together, we hope to continue to speak truth to power and fight for a better food system for all.

The post What Happens Next in the Food Movement is Why Civil Eats Matters appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Our Millennial Innovators Uprooting Our Food System series profiles the bright, creative and driven university students from around the world that make up Thought For Food (TFF), a next generation food innovation platform (check out last year’s series here). A global community as well as a summit and business competition, TFF empowers breakthrough solutions to feed nine billion people by 2050. Throughout this series, we will highlight the work of the finalist teams from the 2015/16 TFF Challenge who are working to transform our food system.

Biteback is an Indonesian startup that wants to disrupt the $60B+ global palm oil industry with insects. The company creates cooking oil using insects, a method that is more environmentally friendly than producing palm oil, and richer in nutrients, due to its high iron levels. We spoke to Biteback’s founder and CEO Mush’ab Nursantio about the key benefits of the insect oil, what the future looks like for Biteback, and his experience being the runner-up in the TFF Challenge.

Thought For Food: What inspired you to launch Biteback?

Biteback: As a person who is passionate about agriculture and nature, it just made sense for me to work on something that I love without contradicting my values. In 2014, I found this report from the FAO about how insects could be the future of food security. At that time, I knew what I was going to do, especially since I already had experience in eating insects while living in Sulawesi, Indonesia, where sago worm, a type of beetle, is a delicacy.

We got the idea for Biteback when I decided to join the global student competition Thought For Food in October 2015. At the time, I knew that I would focus on insects for the competition, as I already had been growing mealworms in my house. Unfortunately, during this same period there were massive forest fires to clear the land for palm oil plantations, resulting in a haze crisis in Southeast Asia that lasted for months. I asked my friend Ifdhol Syawkoni, who had R&D experience in creating palm oil replacements, to join the competition with me. He later asked our other teammates, Musyaroh and Anik haryanti, to join Biteback.

TFF: What problem does Biteback help solve and how?

Biteback: We are working to reduce our dependency on palm oil, which is the key ingredient in 50% of all packaged items in the supermarket. It is the most used vegetable oil on the planet, accounting for 65% of all vegetable oil traded internationally. Indonesia is the largest producer of palm oil and has been clearing enormous amounts of rainforest for palm plantations.

TFF: How can insects be used to replace palm oil? 

We are using Superworm (Zophobas morio) fats to produce the oil. I was interested in entomophagy since before starting this project, and have been farming insects myself. When we decided to create Biteback for TFF, we wanted to utilize insects to solve problems we face in Indonesia. We found that insects have healthy fatty acid properties, are rich in unsaturated fats and reproduce so rapidly that they outdo palm oil in both yield and efficiency — 150 tonnes/year can be produced in one hectare of land, compared to palm oil, which can only produce 4 tonnes/year  in the same area.

Insects are undeniably rich in iron — every 100g of superworms contains 3.93mg of iron. Their inclusion in the daily diet could improve iron levels and help prevent anaemia, which is the most prevalent nutrient deficiency in the world, according to WHO. Iron deficiency is affecting more than 2 billion people around the world. This is because there are only limited amount of iron source foods. Cooking oil is one of the most used food ingredients; it’s used to make food in home and is also in almost every packaged food. Creating an iron-rich cooking oil is an effective way to increase daily iron intake.

TFF: What is the biggest challenge you faced while developing Biteback, and how did you solve it?

Biteback: We thought the biggest challenge was consumer acceptance, but after demonstrating our products at some events and being featured on national TV programs and other media, we received a lot of much positive feedback from potential consumers. I think for now, the challenge is to produce enough insects, so we can deliver our product to market with a reasonable price.

We were recently selected to participate in the  Startupbootcamp FoodTech accelerator in Rome. This will allow us to shape and validate our business model, give us access to strategic partners, capital and the EU market. In the beginning, we are planning to sell our cooking oil as a premium product, since it’s still more expensive than other vegetable oil. Once we scale our production and reduce the cost significantly, we will try to reach the mass market in South East Asia, where insects are already consumed in daily basis.

TFF: What role do you see Biteback playing in global food security?

Biteback: Cooking oil is one of the most used ingredients on a daily basis, and ours is one that can be an additional source of iron. We are also developing insect oil applications beyond cooking oil.

Fats and oil are the main ingredients for preservatives in beverages, personal products, cosmetics, and biodiesel. Since palm oil is the most yield and cheapest vegetable oil in the market, it makes senses for these industries to use palm oil in their product. On the other hand, insect oil has 37x more yield than palm oil, so it can potentially become cheaper once it gets to an industrial scale. Fats in insects is only 20% of the total body mass. The other 80% still contains high amounts of protein that can be transformed into powder and used as ingredients in food or animal feed.

TFF: What was your experience like as a TFF Finalist, and how did that experience shape where Biteback is today?

Biteback: Being a TFF finalist was a life-changing experience. It allowed us to get exposed to a global audience and connect with impactful people in the Industry that we couldn’t get otherwise. For example, we met Steve Dauphin from the Kirchner Food Fellowship, who has been helping us develop our business model. The TFF community’s support and being surrounded by other innovators helped us to stay motivated to turn this idea into a reality.

TFF: What are your future plans for Biteback?

Biteback: For now our main focus is to scale our farming facility in order to get enough insects for production. We’ve been talking with some local government offices to possibly create a community empowerment program by selling farming kits to locals and then training them on how to grow the insects in a way that will fulfill our quality standard. By doing this, people can make additional income by growing insects and selling them back to us.

Sign up for the Thought For Food Challenge by October 31, 2016 – then finalize your teams and submit your bold business solution on feeding 9+ billion people by the year 2050. This year ten finalist teams have access to $25,000 in cash prizes + extensive in-kind support participate in the TFF Pre Accelerator and win a trip to the TFF Global Summit which will take place in Spring 2017.

The post Millennial Food Innovators: Biteback Disrupts $60B Palm Oil Industry with Bugs appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

This is a monthly guest post written by consulting firm Rosenheim Advisors; it highlights the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the Food Tech & Media ecosystem – digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics – to give you insights into the latest funding and growth trends.

The food tech ecosystem brought in over $665 million of capital in September, with a little over half attributed to the IPO of Dutch food delivery marketplace Takeaway.com. There were 17 private companies who announced funding during the month, raising close to $300 million in total private capital, half of which were U.S.-based. Within this, Fresh Direct’s private equity infusion of $189 million was the largest raise during the month.

With six relatively early stage deals announced in September, M&A activity was a bit light but notably international as nearly every acquisition announced took place outside the U.S. Among the larger strategics, Just Eat and Zomato were active acquirers during the month as well as iZettle, a fast-growing mobile payments and POS startup.

While meal delivery, meal kits and grocery continue to be well-represented categories, there was a lot of activity among SaaS-based restaurant ops players, both on the M&A front as well as funding. Top themes included business automation, reservations and point of sale solutions.

M&A

Zomato Acquires Sparse Labs. The Guragon, India-based delivery monitoring technology will allow Zomato to enhance its delivery technology.  Sparse Labs technology allows both the company and customer to view the location and progress of a delivery in real time via mobile app. Zomato will incorporate this technology into its meal delivery services, which rely on individual restaurant’s own delivery teams to complete their orders. With the acquisition, Sparse Labs will become Zomato Trace.

Announced: 09/26/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: July 2014

U-Feast Acquires Pass the Table. As a competitor to U-Feast which offers exclusive weekly “feasts” at different area restaurants, Pass the Table allows consumers to customize their menu and food experience at restaurants. Pass the Table will bring U-Feast 2,000 new customers. With the acquisition, the co-founders of Pass the Table will join U-Feast as a chief experience officer and a member of the board of directors. According to Betakit, in the coming year U-Feast plans to launch a new user interface focusing on “customization and building out its data analytics engine to better target customers”.

Announced: 09/23/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

1C Acquires Quick Resto. The Moscow-based SaaS solution for restaurant business automation sold a controlling stake to 1C, a Russian enterprise software giant. According to East-West Digital News, 1C intends to develop the company further with its founders.

Announced: 09/12/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2013

Eating with the Seasons Acquires Bay Area Operations of Farmigo. Farmigo announced this summer that they would sell their delivery operations and continue solely working to develop their software system. Eating with the Seasons has bought the Bay Area operations and will add Farmigo customers to its current local food delivery service under the name Farmhouse Foods. Farmigo is reportedly looking to sell its Seattle and New York operations as well.

Announced: 09/09/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed (Divestiture) Founded: 2009

iZettle Acquires intelligentpos. The Edinburgh, UK-based cloud-based point of sale system will enhance iZettle’s mobile point of sale system by integrating advanced features such as stock and table management. According to TechCrunch, intelligentpos, which has been a partner to iZettle for three years, will add another €500 million in processing volume to the €3 billion that iZettle already processes annually. TechCrunch also notes that this may be just the beginning of an acquisition spree for iZettle as the company is company is “looking to go beyond its original payment roots as a route to more recurring revenue and a wider customer base”.

Announced: 09/06/16  Terms: Not Disclosed (Cash and Equity) Previous Investment: $0.8m  Founded: 2013

Just Eat Acquires Partial Assets of Tok Tok Tok. The France-based shopping and delivery service, which operates similarly to Postmates, will provide Just Eat with logistics technology to further manage restaurant delivery drivers. According to TechCrunch, the company had been “on its last legs for a while now”, and with the sale of the assets will be shutting down.

Announced: 09/06/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $2.0m  Founded: February 2012

Revel Systems Acquires iqPOSitive. The Russian developer of cloud-based automation solutions for restaurant businesses offers tablet-based solutions for a range of process including checkout, employee schedule and inventory management. The transaction reportedly took place in May, with iqPOSitive now operating as a subsidiary of Revel Systems.

Announced: 08/15/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2014

FUNDING

Takeaway.com Raises $368m in IPO. The Amsterdam, Netherlands-based online meal delivery service allows consumers to order meals from restaurants for on-demand delivery. Takeaway provides restaurants with an online ordering platform, and the meals are delivered by restaurants’ own delivery services. Takeaway operates in Europe and parts of Asia. As TechCrunch notes, Takeaway.com priced its shares at €23 each ($25.82), giving the company an enterprise value of around €849 million ($952 million) and a market cap of around €993 million ($1.1 billion).

Announced: 09/30/16  Valuation (at IPO): $1.1 billion  Stage: IPO  Previous Investment: $118.0 million  Founded: 2000

Home Chef Raises $40m. The Chicago, IL-based meal kit delivery service offers a menu of recipe kits updated weekly. Kits include prepared ingredients and directions and can be customized with add-ons including breakfast and fruit baskets. Home Chef has distribution centers in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Atlanta and ships kits throughout the United States. The company delivers over 1.5 million meal kits per month, and has recently increased its team to 600. The investment will be used for growth.

Announced: 09/29/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: L Catterton  Previous Investment: $16.0 million  Founded: June 2013

VMO Raises Undisclosed Funding. The Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia-based platform for event scheduling allows customers to book venues for events for free. VMO offers over 650 venues and services, and 20% of those may be booked instantly online. Strategic investor, Rhombus Food, operates popular eateries in Malaysia and saw a stream of bookings to their restaurants from VMO, which led to the funding. VMO plans to use the investment to expand in Malaysia.

Announced: 09/27/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Rhombus Food Holdings  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: August 2014

Fresh Direct Raises $189m. The Long Island City, NY-based grocery delivery service has grown to $600 million in revenue and has been profitable since 2010. In addition to its core order-ahead service, Fresh Direct also operates FoodKick, which delivers food in an hour. Fresh Direct currently operates in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Delaware. The investment will be used for “manufacturing capacity” and expansion to “new geographies.” According to Reuters, the CEO has said it is ‘too early’ to comment on potential plans for either an initial public offering or a sale to a larger competitor.

Announced: 09/26/16  Stage: Private Equity  Participating Institutional Investors: J.P. Morgan Asset Management (lead), AARP, W Capital Partners  Previous Investment: $91.0 million  Founded: July 2002

Umi Kitchen Raises $1.4m. The New York, NY-based mobile app offers a home-cooked meal delivery marketplace. Home cooks apply to cook for the platform, and the app offers users 4 to 7 meal choices each night.  Meals are delivered to consumers by Postmates. Umi Kitchen currently operates in Brooklyn and Manhattan for dinners five days a week.

Announced: 09/26/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: BoxGroup, Version One Ventures, SWTLF Ventures, YEI Innovation Fund  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: March 2015

Chef’s Plate Raises $6m. The Toronto, Canada-based meal kit delivery service allows consumers to select recipes they want to cook and delivers pre-portioned ingredients and directions. Recipe offerings are changed weekly, and each meal takes about 30 minutes to prepare once delivered. Chef’s Plate currently has distribution centers in Ontario and Vancouver. An estimated 200,000 kits are delivered each month, with sales increasing 10 percent week to week.

Announced: 09/20/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Acton Capital Partners (lead), BrandProject, Emil Capital Partners, Linas Matkasse  Previous Investment: $2.0 million  Founded: December 2014

Brava Raises $12m. The Mountain View, CA-based domestic automation company specializing in food and kitchen experiences produces hardware and software to “simplify aspects of daily life”. Brava is currently working on a kitchen appliance, and according to TechCrunch, the product will be “for everyone” and “not a luxury item.” Brava plans to launch their first product sometime next year.

Announced: 09/20/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: True Ventures (lead), Aileen Lee, Chris Anderson, Robert H Reid  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2016

Allset Raises $2.35m. The San Francisco, CA-based mobile app allows restaurant patrons to book a table, order their meal, and pay in advance. The aim of the app is to decrease wait time and let consumers finish their restaurant experience in 30 minutes. Allset currently operates in San Francisco, Palo Alto, and Manhattan. It operates in over 180 restaurants and serves over 8,500 customers per month. The investment will be used for expansion to Los Angeles and Chicago, as well as product research, development, and marketing.

Announced: 09/20/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Compound (lead), Andreessen Horowitz, FJ Labs, SMRK VC Fund  Previous Investment: $1.5 million  Founded: April 2015

SmartBite Raises Undisclosed Funding. The Petaling Jaya, Malaysia-based food delivery service delivers lunches to working professionals. People who use the service get a text message each morning with a daily menu and reply with their choice of options to select their meal. Currently, SmartBite only offers lunch deliveries, but the company has plans to offer breakfast, snacks, and take-home dinners.

Announced: 09/19/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Marna Capital, Noodles, Rhombus  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2016

Swiggy Raises $15m. The Bangalore, India-based meal delivery service provides restaurant meals to consumers with on-demand delivery. Swiggy claims to have the fastest delivery rates in India, with an average time of 37 minutes. Swiggy currently operates in 8 cities, works with over 9000 restaurants, and processes over 40000 orders per day. The funding will be used to increase delivery efficiency, upgrade technology, and expand the number of restaurants.

Announced: 09/19/16  Stage: Series D  Participating Institutional Investors: Bessemer Venture Partners, Accel Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, SAIF Partners  Previous Investment: $60.5 million  Founded: August 2014

FoodChéri raises $6.7m. The Paris, France-based online restaurant offers healthy meals prepared by chefs for delivery. Orders are taken in advance and on-demand, and meals are delivered ready to reheat. FoodCheri currently serves over 1,000 meals per day and operates in Paris and surrounding suburbs. The company will use the funding to expand in France, to increase its staff, and to develop.

Announced: 09/19/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: 360 Capital Partners (lead), Breega Capital (lead), Samaipata Ventures  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: April 2015

Sourcery Raises $5m. The San Francisco, CA-based app allows restaurants to digitally manage orders, inventory, and costs. Restaurants can scan and upload invoices and receipts, and the Sourcery app will organize the information. Sourcery will use the funds to create an app feature that will allow vendors to send and track invoices and bill customers.

Announced: 09/13/16  Stage: Venture  Participating Institutional Investors: Marker (lead), Palantir Technologies, Steadfast Venture Capital  Previous Investment: $8.0 million  Founded: 2012

eBev raises $1.5m.  The Sydney, Australia-based online platform allows wholesale wine purchasers to manage their inventories and order directly from wine sellers. The platform includes 22,000 wines and is currently used by 700 venues. eBev aims to have 8,000 venues using the platform in the next year. The investment will be used to expand to Melbourne and other areas, as well as to expand services—including offering more wines and further developing customer relationship and payment tools.

Announced: 09/12/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Sydney Angels Sidecar Fund  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: September 2014

Idea Chakki Raises Undisclosed Funding. The New Delhi, India-based mobile app works with restaurants to provide digital video menus and allow customers to gift food and beverages across the world. Currently Idea Chakki operates in six restaurants, and the company aims to expand to 30 restaurants by the end of this year. The funding will be used to expand to new locations, build the team, and advance technology.

Announced: 09/12/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Investors: Ratan Tata  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2013

Salido Raises $2m. The New York, NY-based restaurant operating system lets restaurants manage workers, point of sale, inventories, and customer relations from one operating system. Having overall management of restaurants sets Salido apart from other operating systems which focus individually on single aspects of restaurant management, such as point of sale or orders. At present, Salido has processed $27 million in transactions for more than 1 million guests.

Announced: 09/08/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Investors: Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Phil Suarez  Previous Investment: $2.0 million  Founded: 2012

GoSpotCheck Raises $16.5m. The Denver, CO-based mobile data collection app helps companies collect and analyze inventory, display and price information.  The data analysis helps companies make better retail decisions, such as how best to display their products to increase business. Clients include The Dannon Company and Labatt Brewing Company. GoSpotCheck will use the funds to hire more employees and develop new app features.

Announced: 09/07/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Point Nine Capital, Insight Venture Partners  Previous Investment: $9.5 million  Founded: June 2011

VizEat Raises $4.3m. The Paris, France-based “social dining platform” allows travelers to eat a local, home-cooked meal in a home where they are visiting. In addition to meals, some VizEat hosts also offer cooking classes and food tours. To date, VizEat has over 20000 hosts in 110 countries. The funding will be used for growth, and VizEat plans to open offices in the UK and Germany, in addition to its current offices in France, Spain, and Italy.

Announced: 09/06/16  Stage: Venture  Participating Institutional Investors: Eurovestech  Previous Investment: $1.3 million  Founded: 2014

DayBox Raises $600k. The New Delhi, India-based platform for fresh produce sales connects farms with restaurants and retailers. At present, over 30 farms and 50 restaurants use the platform. The funding will be used to grow the team, develop technology, and to expand to Bangalore and Mumbai.

Announced: 09/01/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Investors: Ashutosh Lawania, Badal Malick, Rajul Jain, Rishi Gupta  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2016

PARTNERSHIPS

Edamam Partners with Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Tablespoon and QueRicaVida to provide nutrition information.

Fishbowl Partners with Groupon to help restaurants measure and analyze success of Groupon campaigns.

Revel Systems Partners with Punchh to enhance restaurant customer mobile engagement.

Hershey Partners with Chef’d to make dessert meal kits.

EatStreet Partners with Pingup to allow consumers to order food directly from Yahoo and YP searches.

INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE

As the Food Tech & Media ecosystem continues to see rapid change, Rosenheim Advisors created The Food Tech & Media Industry Map to help entrepreneurs, participants and investors understand this quickly evolving landscape. Let us know about your recent or upcoming funding, partnerships or acquisitions here.

Check out the 2015 Annual Report and the Summer 2016 round-up. 

The post Food Tech Media Startup Funding, M&A & Partnerships: September 2016 appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Every week we track the business, tech and investment trends in CPG, retail, restaurants, agriculture, cooking and health, so you don’t have to.

Last week’s top story was unsurprisingly in the meal delivery space. Munchery, the San Francisco-based prepared meal startup that’s raised $120M to date, is on the hunt for a new CEO after having trouble raising a new funding round. According to sources, the startup is losing millions of dollars a month, though investors say it is contribution margin positive.

Other major headlines include: an inside look at the sustainable food trends that will shape the future, including regenerative grazing and jackfruit, and how one Canadian farmer is making six figures per acre by growing fast-turning crops on his micro farm.

Check out our weekly round-up of last week’s top food startup, tech and innovation news below or peruse the full newsletter here.

Our newsletter is the absolute easiest way to stay on top of the emerging sector, so sign up for it today and never miss the latest food tech and innovation news and trends, Already signed up? Share the love with your friends and colleagues!

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1. The Next Hot Trends in Food – Wall Street Journal

From moringa and regenerative grazing to clean labels and the proliferation of jackfruit, these are the up-and-coming trends in food innovation.

2. How The Term ‘Clean Meat’ Could Undermine The Alternative Meat Movement – Forbes

Does the Good Food Institute’s emphasis on the ickiness of slaughter with the term ‘clean meat’ belong in a campaign that’s meant to bolster sustainable eating? Villanizing animal meat doesn’t solve our planet’s issues with sustainability.

3. How Meal Kit Maker Chef’d Plans To Get Inside Your Kitchen (And Maybe Already Has) – Fast Company

Unlike its competitors, Chef’d is a fulfillment company that turns anyone’s recipes into a meal kit. It aims to be the grocery store of the future, where recipes serve as ordering slips ad ingredients come in customized portions.

4. Delivering Farm-Fresh Produce, With a Side of Weed – Eater

California farmers are planning to offer America’s first crop of marijuana CSAs, stocked with seasonal produce and freshly harvested pot for medical marijuana users.

5. Money-Losing Meal Delivery Startup Munchery Seeks New CEO – Bloomberg

The meal delivery company is losing millions of dollars per month, though investors say it is contribution margin positive. It’s had trouble raising a new round of funding and hopes a new CEO will help.

6. Philadelphia’s Prison System is Fighting Food Waste and Recidivism with an Organic Farm – Civil Eats

The unique prison program diverts 685 tons of food waste a year into compost and is training inmates to farm without chemicals.

7. J.M. Fortier and the Rise of the High-Profit Micro Farm – Modern Farmer

How one veteran organic vegetable farmer in Quebec makes six figures per acre by focusing on fast-turning crops, and how he hopes to spread and scale micro farming.

8. Why We Need An Internet Of Food – Forbes

How the IoF will enable ag and food to be more traceable, transparent and trustworthy, empowering all of us with more precise and personalized food, diet and health choices.

The post High-Profit Micro Farm, Weed CSAs, Munchery Losing Millions of Dollars a Month + More appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.