In This Issue:
- Food Venture Financing Trends
- CPG Corporate Venture and Private Equity Funds
- Links to Relevant Content and Events
Food Venture Financing Trends
- Key, a zero-sugar ketone-based energy drink founded by former PepsiCo and Coca-Cola executives, announced that it raised $4 million in seed funding.
- Cultimate Foods, a cell-cultivated fat ingredient emerging brand, announced that it raised 2.3 million Euros in its seed round.
- Edonia, a microalgae-based protein ingredient startup, announced that it raised 2 million Euros in a seed round.
CPG Corporate Venture and Private Equity Fund
This week's featured corporate venture and private equity fund is Better Food Ventures.
- Better Food Ventures is a venture capital firm that was founded in 2013 and is based in Menlo Park, CA.
- The firm seeks to invest in early-stage, scalable, game-changing technologies across the food and agriculture sectors.
- Portfolio companies include:
- Milk Moovement
- Four Growers
- Edifice Health
- Afresh Technologies
- DecisionNext
- Byte Technology
- Better Food Ventures is affiliated with The Mixing Bowl, a forum for thought leadership and information exchange.
Links to Relevant Content and Events
ARTICLES
- Moolec Becomes First Molecular Farming Company to Achieve USDA Approval for Plant-Grown Animal Proteins
- Leanpath and Galley Solutions Announce Integration to Drive Faster, More Precise Food Waste Reduction
- KEY Unlocks Potential of Ketones I Energy Drink Category With Help of $4 Million In-vestment
- SOSV Closes $306 Million Deep Tech Fund for Human and Planetary Health
- Impossible Foods Secures ‘Highly Anticipated’ Retail Deal With Whole Foods
- Simply Good Foods Acquiring RTD Beverage Maker
- The Simply Good Foods Co. to Acquire Protein Peer Only What You Need
UPCOMING EVENTS
Naturally Bay Area
6th Annual Pitch Slam + Community Celebration
Thursday, May 9 | 3:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. PT
Location: Cowell Theater at Fort Mason, 2 Marina Boulevard Suite 260, San Francisco, CA
Let's celebrate the Bay Area's up-and-coming Natural Products Industry brands with a community celebration and pitch competition. A select group of entrepreneurs will pitch to the industry's premier investors, retailers, advisors, and industry peers for a chance to win prizes worth $50K+, including $5,000 cash, and the opportunity to pitch on the national stage!
Whether it's to showcase your talents or to keep your finger on the pulse of the hottest industry trends, Pitch Slam is the place you want to be.
Naturally Austin
Pitch Slam
Wednesday, May 15 | 5:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. CT
Location: Capital Factory, 701 Brazos St, Voltron (first floor), Austin, TX
Pitch Slam is Naturally Austin's annual celebrating the best of Austin's natural and consumer products industry! Austin is proud to be at the forefront of the most exciting and innovative brands that break genres and disrupt categories.
Naturally San Diego
Unveiling the Mysteries of Operational Accounting for CPG Companies
Monday, May 20 | 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. PT
Join Naturally San Diego for an introduction to CPG accounting, reporting, and auditing for start-up and small to mid-sized enterprises.
RSM will discuss the different basis of accounting (cash, tax, modified-cash, accrual, GAAP, etc.), dual entry system of debits and credits, journal entries/GL level accounting, and general types of audits (compilation, review, audit). There will be some time saved for Q&A at the end. Please send your questions prior to the event.
Naturally New York
How AI Can Streamline Operations, Finance, and more
Tuesday, May 21 | 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. ET
Join Naturally New York for a panel discussion on the latest AI trends and tools in the food and beverage industry, and how this technology is revolutionizing how CPG brands operate.
This event features Akash Raju as the Keynote Speaker and AI Technologist running the roundtable. Akash is the Co-founder and CEO of Glimpse, a Y Combinator Startup that received $6+ million in funding and has built the first-ever AI-powered deductions service.