In This Issue:
- Food Venture Financing Trends
- CPG Corporate Venture and Private Equity Funds
- Links to Relevant Content and Events
Food Venture Financing Trends
- PepsiCo announced that is plans to acquire Poppi, a prebiotic soda brand, for $1.95 billion, which includes $300 million in tax benefits.
- BeatBox Beverages, an emerging RTD cocktails brand, announced that it received an investment from Shaquille O'Neal.
- Re:meat, an emerging food brand startup that develops cultivated meat, raised 1 million Euros in its latest funding round.
CPG Corporate Venture and Private Equity Fund
This week's featured corporate venture and private equity fund is Rutger's Food Innovation Center
- The Food Innovation Center at Rutgers University is a unique food business incubator and accelerator that is a unit of the Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station (NJAES). The Center supports established early stage entrepreneurs and existing food companies from concept to commercialization.
- Rutger's Food Innovation Center provides business, marketing, food safety, product design, and scale up expertise within FDA and USDA certified facilities to help companies successfully build and grow their business.
- Some of its clients include the following:
- Impossible
- Pure Indian Foods
- Angel Planet
- Jalma Farms
- Sundial Foods
Links to Relevant Content and Events
ARTICLES
- Google Invests $1.5M Into Indigo Ag for Oklahoma Project
- Woodland Gourmet Acquires Sevillo Fine Foods
- Quercus Biosolutions Disrupts Crop Protection with Designer Proteins
- GigaCrop Secures $4.5 Million Pre-Seed Funding
- Ohalo Forms Strawberry Consortium to Advance Hybrid Breeding
- PepsiCo Fund Backs Online Marketplace for Farmers
UPCOMING EVENTS
Naturally Colorado
Naturally Colorado & Just Be Kitchen Networking Collision
Wednesday, March 26 | 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. MT
Location: Just Be Kitchen, 2364 15th Street, Denver, CO 80202
Join Naturally Colorado's Collision Series of Networking Events – a low-key, relaxed series of no-registration-required connection opportunities where you'll run into old friends and connect with new contacts. Want a chance to meet more folks in the natural and organic products industry? Wear green if you can to help spot each other. This is a free event; pre-registration is available but not required. Keep an eye out for Naturally Colorado's board host, Rob!
Naturally Seattle
March CPG Connect: Celebrate Spring w/Naturally Seattle
Wednesday, March 26 | 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. PT
Location: Fast Penny Spirits, West Ewing Street 1138, Seattle, WA
Join Naturally Seattle to celebrate the arrival of spring, the success of their first three months as a chapter, and the final countdown to Naturally Rising applications!
Your ticket includes an exclusive VIP tasting experience of Fast Penny's unique Amaro collection!
Naturally Minnesota
March Founders Forum | Grant Writing Master Class
Thursday, March 27 | 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. CT
Location: MidCity Kitchen, Raymond Avenue 693, Saint Paul
Join this Grant Writing Master Course for an in-depth exploration into securing funding designed for For-Profit and Non-Profit organizations. This course is tailored for novices and those with intermediate experience in grant seeking, delivering practical insights and actionable strategies to enhance your success rate.
Embark on a transformative journey through this two-part master class. Each segment is crafted to equip you with the tools and knowledge to write compelling grant proposals that effectively communicate your business's mission and objectives for requesting funding. Gain insider knowledge from a panel of successful grant recipients and seasoned funders who will share their experiences, funding trends, and best practices for securing business grants.
Naturally NorCal
Sales Forum: March Meeting
*Members Only*
Thursday, March 27 | 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. PT
Connect, collaborate, and grow with our Forums—peer networking groups designed to bring together professionals in similar roles for meaningful connections, fresh insights, and actionable solutions to shared challenges.
This session will be a roundtable discussion to debrief on Expo West and dive into any other pressing concerns or new learnings that you want to share with the group.
The Sales Forum lead is Adam Biggs, CO-Founder of C2O Coconut Water and Vice President of Sales at Nova Naturals.
Naturally Chicago
Building a Partnership with a Broker
*Members Only*
Wednesday, April 2 | 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. CT
Location: C.A. Fortune, 651 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, IL
The meeting will have two components: a panel discussion on brokers, as well as a social and networking finale to thank all of the Mentors and Mentees who have participated in the 2nd cohort of our Mentorship program.
Topics we will be discussing are:
- When is the right time to hire a broker?
- What is the role of the brokers vs. sales managers?
- How can brokers help the manufacturer AND the retailer?
There will be time for questions, as well as opportunities to meet with Naturally Network brokers who attend the event.
Speakers:
- Milt Zimmerman – Presence Sales & Marketing, Executive Vice President
- Ali Shouman – C.A. Fortune, Chief Commercial Officer
- Tracy Pernatozzi – Fresh Thyme Market, Category Manager Dairy
Naturally Colorado
20th Annual Pitch Slam
Wednesday, April 2 | 4:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. MT
Location: Social Capitol, 6543 Wadsworth Blvd., Arvada, CO
Welcome to Naturally Colorado's 20th Annual Pitch Slam, now called Naturally Rising "The Conscious Business Pitch Competition"! Come cheer on your favorite brands as they compete for a generous prize package and title of Pitch Competition winner! Sample the latest and greatest new innovative products from the local community.