In This Issue:
- Food Venture Financing Trends
- CPG Corporate Venture and Private Equity Funds
- Links to Relevant Content and Events
Food Venture Financing Trends
- Olipop, a functional prebiotic soda brand (and DWT client), raised $50 million at a $1.85 billion valuation in its latest funding round. The round was led by JP Morgan Private Capital's Growth Equity Partners.
- Acres Farms, a plant genetics agritech startup, closed $115 million in its recent fundraise.
- Edacious, a data analytic startup that measures nutrient density in food and beverage products, raised $8.1 million in a seed round. The round was led by Patagonia's venture fund, Tin Shed Ventures.
- Avisomo, a Norwegian-based vertical farmed startup, announced that it raised 5 million Euros.
CPG Corporate Venture and Private Equity Fund
This week's featured corporate venture and private equity fund is Pascual Innoventures.
- Pascual Innoventures is an innovation arm of Pascual, one of the largest Spanish food and beverage corporations.
- Pascual Innoventures launched "MYLKCUBATOR", the first global incubation program for cellular agriculture technologies in the dairy industry.
- The Mylkcubator 2.0 Program aims to support highly innovative startups specializing in the transformation of the food value chain for the production of dairy alternatives using cellular agriculture.
- Each year, startups are chosen to join a 6-month hybrid incubation program. Once selected, the participants will be able to test their products. The program details are available at https://mylkcubator.com/
- Five startups from four continents working on the milk of the future that participated in the Mylkcubator program are Ergo Bioscience, PEX Biotech, MAOLAC, Nutropy, and Miruku.
Links to Relevant Content and Events
ARTICLES
- Olipop Valued at $1.85 Billion Following Latest Funding Round
- Kiki Milk Maker Raises $4 Million to Launch New Dairy-Free Products for Kids
- Edacious Raises $8.1 Million to Measure Nutrient Density in Whole Foods
- Solina Expands US Portfolio with Sokol Acquisition
- Hain Celestial Growing Distribution with Georgia Location
- Ingredion Invests $100 Million in Indianapolis Plant to Grow Texture Business
- JM Smucker to Divest Some Sweets Brands for $40 Million as it Focuses on Hostess
- Manulife's Forest Climate Fund Surpasses $480 Million as Investors Flock to Natural Climate Solutions
- Burcon Investor Strikes Deal to Scale Plant Protein Production
UPCOMING EVENTS
Every Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday from 11:00 am - 12:15 pm PT
A series of in-depth conversations exploring the financing and mindset journeys of CPG companies, featuring CPG founders and industry experts. This event is FREE for all who register, allowing access to both the live events and the recordings through to May 31, 2025.
OSC/JEDI Peer Mentoring Circles for Women in Leadership in Natural Products
Applications are open for OSC's Women's Circles, a year-long peer mentoring circle designed to accelerate the advancement of female and/or women-identifying intersectional leaders through connection, shared experience, development, and peer to peer mentoring. For more information, visit their website.
Nominate someone amazing: Know a woman leader (Director-level+, excluding CEOs) who would thrive in this space? Nominate her here.
Naturally New York
Social Media For The Now: Q1 2025
Wednesday, February 19 | 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. ET
Join Sircle Media for an up to date POV on social media and how to best leverage social platforms in the current environment. You can expect a short presentation followed by an in-depth Q&A session, so come prepared with all of your burning questions about social media for brands.
Speakers:
- Adam Brown, Founder & President, Sircle Media
- Molly O'Donnell, Senior Social Strategist, Sircle Media
Naturally Seattle
Volunteer with Naturally Seattle at Food Lifeline
Wednesday, February 19 | 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. PT
Location: 815 S 96th Street, Seattle, WA
Join the Naturally Seattle community for a meaningful volunteer session at Food Lifeline! We'll be sorting and repacking nutritious food at the Food Lifeline warehouse to help feed thousands of people facing hunger across Western Washington. Through the dedication of volunteers like you, Food Lifeline provides essential meals to our neighbors in need every day. Come make a significant impact in just two hours - it's a fun and rewarding way to give back to our community!
Naturally Colorado
Streamlining Success: Why do some brands have all the fun?
Thursday, February 20 | 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. MT
This presentation is about how brands that offer elevated nutrition/ functional benefits can tap into fundamental human emotion (including humor) to better connect with consumers. Many of these brands currently lean into the functional attributes they offer and may be missing an opportunity for deeper affiliation with consumers by tapping into fundamental human emotions including release, humor, rebellion, belonging, joy, etc. Cindy Judge, President & CEO of SRG, and Andy Nathan, Founder & CEO of Fortnight Collective, will share examples of brands that do this well and those who don't. We'll then open it up into a panel discussion including Eric Friedman, Manager Director & Partner at SRG and Sam Emrich, Senior Director, Strategy & Insights at Fortnight Collective, all of whom will discuss this topic and how YOU can start to build FUN into your branding.
Don't miss this opportunity to learn alongside other CPG founders, marketers and agencies so you can evaluate your own branding and make improvements to better connect with consumers in 2025.
Naturally San Diego
Guided Tour: Jimbo's
Friday, February 21 | 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. PT
Location: Jimbo's Carmel Valley, 12841 El Camino Real Suite 100, San Diego, CA
Join Naturally San Diego for an exclusive, behind-the-scenes tour of Jimbo's, guided by none other than Jimbo's COO, Justin Jackson, and lead grocery buyer, Jason Murrell. Known for their unwavering commitment to organic and high-quality products, Jimbo's has been a cornerstone of the local natural food community.
This interactive tour will dive deep into Jimbo's approach to sourcing, merchandising, and maintaining their exceptional standards. You'll gain insider insights into what it takes to bring the best natural and organic products to customers, from evaluating new brands to building strong relationships with local producers.
This event is designed for emerging brands, and capacity is limited to just 20 attendees. If you are not an emerging brand, please wait to purchase a ticket until closer to the event, once it's confirmed whether any spots remain available. Thank you for your understanding!
Naturally New England
The Substation Mixer & Showcase
Saturday, February 22 | 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. ET
Location: The Substation, 2448 Washington St, Roslindale, MA
Join Naturally New England at The Substation for an exclusive evening of networking and discovery! This mixer and showcase is designed for Naturally New England members to connect, share ideas, and explore new opportunities.
What to Expect:
- Brand Showcase: Member brands will have the opportunity to showcase their products and highlight what makes them unique.
- Substation Collaboration: The Substation team is seeking CPG products to feature in bar offerings. They'll be sampling products and looking for brands to onboard.
- Community Networking: Meet and mingle with fellow members in a dynamic, collaborative space.
Naturally NorCal
Sales & Marketing Forum: Unlocking Data for Smarter Growth
Tuesday, February 25 | 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. PT
Getting ready for Expo West? Don't miss this session with Patrick Dougherty and Colleen McGinnis from NIQ, featuring a live walkthrough of Byzzer and how to access your 3 free reports as a Naturally NorCal member. Afterward, we'll break into Sales and Marketing discussions to explore how to use data for success.
Who Should Attend?
This session is for paid members of Naturally NorCal (formerly Naturally Bay Area & Naturally North Bay) who are CPG-focused Sales and Marketing professionals, as well as CEOs & Founders working in these areas.
Naturally New England
Members Exclusive Online Workshop: Why Aren't Your Meta Ads Working?
Thursday, February 27 | 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. ET
Third-party cookie deprecation and iOS changes have slashed audience tracking by 40%, leaving many ad campaigns underperforming. Meta and Google ads rely on a strong data feedback loop to train algorithms and reach the right audiences. Without quality data, even the most creative and compelling ads can fall short.
Join Yiqi, Founder & CEO of Aimerce, for an insightful session exploring the critical role of quality data in ad success. Yiqi will break down what "quality data" truly means, why it's essential for high-performing campaigns, and how to overcome data tracking challenges in today's cookieless world.
Here's what you'll learn in this free training:
- Why changes to tracking technology are impacting your ad performance
- How to identify and leverage first-party data to improve Meta ads
- Practical strategies to build stronger data feedback loops for better campaign results
- Insights on staying competitive in an era of reduced third-party tracking