Best Startup
At Best Startup US we track over 1,000,000 US startups and over 3 million people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top California based Founder operating in the Food and Beverage space. If you think a Founder is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.us.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Larry Marcus
Co-Founder & Managing Director of Marcy Venture Partners
Actively making new investments in consumer and culture with Marcy Venture Partners, a VC firm co-founded with JAY-Z and Jay Brown. Managing Director at Walden Venture Capital Investments include: Savage X Fenty, Pela, Hungry, Wheels, Hipcamp, Partake Foods, Pandora (founding investor – IPO, exit to Sirius XM) , SoundHound, Aarki, goTenna, Hatch Baby, TouchBistro (exit), Robust Wealth (acquired by Principal Financial Group), Terayon (acquired by Motorola). Angel investments: include Netflix (IPO), BandPage (acquired by Google), Maestro, Jukely, LyricFind. Prior to Walden, Larry was a digital media sell-side Equity Research Analyst at Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown. Led IPOs of Terayon, CBS MarketWatch, Netflix (initial S-1 IPO filing), Maxis (acquired by Electronic Arts), Edmark (acquired by IBM) and among other equity and debt financings (Broderbund, Sierra On-line, Excite@Home, Spectrum Holobyte, CBS Sportsline). Prior experience includes Robertson Stephens & Company, Education: Larry received a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Business Administration from the University of California at Berkeley. See the music he loves at www.pandora.com/people/larry. He was named to the Billboard Power 100 in music and the Twitter 140 to follow.
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About Marcy Venture Partners, Scientific Revenue, TouchBistro, Walden Venture Capital: Marcy Venture Partners is a venture capital firm investing on consumer, culture, and mass-market brands.
Lisa Stelly
Founder of Fancy Sprinkles
Lisa Stelly Reality TV star, Businesswoman, and Media personality. She was born on March 4, 1987, in Los Angeles, California. Lisa is the Ex-wife of Jack Osbourne and the Mother of three beautiful daughters. Lisa is also the founder of Fancy Sprinkles, a woman-owned, women-run company which she started in 2016 that strives to make the very best in confectionery sprinkles as a direct-to-consumer, e-commerce-based business. In late 2018, Fancy Sprinkles raised an undisclosed Series A funding with Sterling Partners.
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About Fancy Sprinkles: Fancy Sprinkles is a woman-owned, women-run company.
Helena Price Hambrecht
Founder of Haus
Helena Price Hambrecht is the Co-founder and Co-CEO of Haus. Prior to Haus, Helena was a Silicon Valley creative who helped shape brands like Facebook, Fitbit, Google, Instagram, Microsoft, Nike, Pinterest, Slack, Square, Twitter and Uber. Her work has been featured on ABC, CNN, The New York Times, Fast Company, Fortune, Glamour, The Guardian, and Inc.
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About Haus: Haus is a beverage brand creating better products for the modern drinker.
Joshua Nixon
CTO and Co-Founder of Prime Roots
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About Prime Roots: Prime Roots is celebrating the culture of meat by reimagining protein itself.
Kimberlie Le
CEO and Co-Founder of Prime Roots
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About Prime Roots: Prime Roots is celebrating the culture of meat by reimagining protein itself.
Na’ama Moran
Co-Founder & CEO of Cheetah
Na’ama Moran is Co-Founder and CEO at Cheetah. Growing up in Israel with a family of farmers and small business owners, she’s seen first-hand the imminent need for a more efficient, accessible food supply. She came to the US to study economics, math, and political science at Cornell University, and started her career with Greylock Capital Management as an analyst. She soon left finance and moved to Silicon Valley to pursue her dream of building products that make people’s lives better with technology. She’s founded several companies including Zappedy and Sourcery, where she encountered many restaurant owners and food entrepreneurs, and discovered the hardships of running a restaurant, including the lack of transparency and ease-of-use in such an important industry. Remaining committed to building products that help food businesses thrive, she saw an opportunity to solve the very real problem that legacy distributors created for independent restaurants with Cheetah. Today, Na’ama is scaling Cheetah at an unprecedented pace. Since its inception in 2015, Cheetah has served over 2,000 independent restaurants with a mission to improve their supply chain. In early 2020, Cheetah turned their fleet of refrigerated trucks into mobile fulfillment centers, to provide the safest option for grocery pickup without contact and away from crowds. Consumers and restaurant owners simply place their order through the Cheetah mobile app and drive to one of multiple designated locations in the Bay Area, where products are placed in the trunk of customer’s cars without leaving the driver’s seat.
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About Cheetah: Cheetah is an e-commerce platform offering contactless pickup and delivery of food and supplies.
Christopher Elliott
Co-Founder & COO of Cheetah
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About Cheetah, Cheetah Technologies: Cheetah is an e-commerce platform offering contactless pickup and delivery of food and supplies.
Aimee Yang
Founder, CEO of Better Brand
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About Better Brand: Better Brand is a food tech startup marking a new era of nutrition by driving innovation in the multi-trillion-dollar refined carb industry.
Bay McLaughlin
Co-Founder of Brinc
I’ve supported technology startups for the last 13 years. Half of this time was spent at Apple as a founding team member of their global SMB channel and as the founder of their first Entrepreneurship Evangelism channel. To support startups at Apple, I partnered with the world’s best founders, venture capitalists, incubators and accelerators to identify and solve their most pressing strategic issues. My team at Apple grossed more than $350M USD in sales and is still the #1 team globally in Apple SMB’s division. The other half of my career has been spent inside of or founding startups, two of which failed, one of which exited successfully. Currently, I have equity positions in 143 companies across 35 countries, ranging from B2B SaaS platforms to the number one website in surfing and medical and drone technologies that improve lives and our world every day (plus two Unicorns ;-). Most recently, I’ve co-founded Brinc.io, a global venture accelerator platform. We have 9 accelerator programs, offices in 6 countries, and 2 venture capital funds. We are also one of the top 10 largest early-stage venture capital firms globally. I also serve on the Boards of Brinc, Soundbrenner, SilentMode (combined worth more than $100M and growing fast) and the not for profit entrepreneurship society called EYES. I create content from the heart and only want to do one thing well… provide value to everyone that interacts with me and help everyone out just like others have done for me.
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About Brinc: Brinc is a leader in global venture acceleration, operating 18 multidisciplinary accelerator programs in 7 countries.
David Agus
Co-Founder of SENSEI Holdings
David Agus is an American physician and a New York Times bestselling author. He is a Professor of Medicine and Engineering at the University of Southern California. He is co-founder of Navigenics, a personalized medicine company and Applied Proteomics, as well as a CBS News contributor.
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About Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine of USC, SENSEI Holdings, University of Southern California: Guiding you towards greater wellbeing.
Ashton Braun
Co-Founder & CEO of Silo
Ashton Braun is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Silo.
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About Silo: Silo is a wholesale food marketplace that enables customers to buy and sell produce, protein, dairy, and shelf-stable food quickly.
Antonio Bustamante
Co-Founder and Head of Product & Design of Silo
Antonio Bustamante is the Co-Founder and Head of Product and Design at Silo.
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About Silo: Silo is a wholesale food marketplace that enables customers to buy and sell produce, protein, dairy, and shelf-stable food quickly.
David Renteln
Co-Founder of Soylent
David brings broad experience in operations and sales to Soylent where he sets up strategic business partnerships and drives the sales channels. Prior to this, he was the first employee at a biotech devices start up and co-founded an education technology company. David graduated from Harvard with a degree in Human Evolutionary Biology, where he also served as President of the Harvard Rugby Team.
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About Lucy Goods, Rosa Labs, Soylent: Soylent is a pioneer in food tech, producing delicious, functional foods, w/ complete nutrition that are good for the body & the planet
Matt Schwartz
CEO & Co-Founder of Afresh Technologies
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About Afresh Technologies: Afresh is an AI-powered company selling software to track demand and manage orders for fresh produce in grocery stores.
Andy Zhang
Founder of Caviar
Andy Zhang is the founder at Caviar.
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About Caviar, Munch On Me: Caviar is a delivery solution for consumers to order food from local eateries with the ability to live-track the order on a map.
Loren Wallis
Co-Founder & CEO of Alpha Foods
Loren Wallis is the CEO and co-founder of Good Karma Foods and Alpha Foods.
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About Alpha Foods: Alpha Foods produces plant-based foods focused on taste, texture, and sustainability.
Geoff McFarlane
Co-Founder and CEO of Winc
Geoff McFarlane is the Co-Founder and CEO of Winc. He is an entrepreneur incorporating over seven years experience in project management and finance. Proven track record in building highly customized projects and successful businesses. Has successfully acquired unsuccessful businesses and made them profitable, while creating an effective business model. His specialties: Skills include budgeting, financial analysis, and management of construction process.
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About Winc: Winc is a winery company with a direct connection to the consumer, building a portfolio of brands for the next generation of wine drinkers.
Xander Oxman
Chairman & Co-Founder of Winc
Xander Oxman is a Co-Founder of Winc.
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About Winc: Winc is a winery company with a direct connection to the consumer, building a portfolio of brands for the next generation of wine drinkers.
Brian Smith
Co-Founder, Chief Wine Officer of Winc
Brian is President, COO and Co-Founder of Winc.
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About Winc: Winc is a winery company with a direct connection to the consumer, building a portfolio of brands for the next generation of wine drinkers.
Benjamin Chesler
Co-Founder & Chief Innovation Officer of Imperfect Foods
Co Founder of Imperfect Produce, a company that started out with a simple vision: to reduce the amount of fruits and vegetables going to waste while providing affordable, healthy produce to consumers.
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About Imperfect Foods: Imperfect Foods delivers groceries with a mission to eliminate food waste and build a better food system for everyone.
Shane Heath
Founder and CEO of MUD\WTR
He is designer of ishBowl.
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About MUD\WTR: MUD\WTR is a food & beverage company that provides natural organic ingredients for health benefits.
Neil Renninger
Co-Founder of Ripple Foods
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About Ripple Foods: Ripple Foods specializes in making non-dairy milk with just as much protein as milk and half the sugar.
Adam Lowry
Co-Founder & Co-Chief Executive Officer of Ripple Foods
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About Ripple Foods: Ripple Foods specializes in making non-dairy milk with just as much protein as milk and half the sugar.
Kirk Haney
Founder & Managing Partner of Radicle Growth
Kirk Haney is President and Chief Executive Officer of SGB, Inc. Mr. Haney has a successful track record developing sustainable, for-profit projects, and extensive experience in both established and start-up companies. As President of Green Millennium, he raised over $100M in private equity and successfully built and scaled a sustainable forestry company from start-up to over 100 employees. His role consisted of managing all aspects of the business including strategy, operations, and finance. Green Millennium’s mission is to initiate and manage precious wood reforestation programs in Central America. Thousands of hectares of land that were devastated by years of deforestation have been reclaimed by Green Millennium and returned to their original forested state. Mr. Haney has held senior and executive management positions for 3Com Corporation, ArrowPoint Communications (acquired by Cisco Systems), Cisco Systems and Green Millennium, Ltd. At ArrowPoint, he held general management responsibility for the Western area. In this role, he built and led an organization that grew revenue from $0 to an $80 million run-rate. This was critical for ArrowPoint’s ability to go public in March of 2000 and Cisco’s $5.9 billion acquisition. In addition to leading several of Cisco’s enterprise and advanced technology organizations, he was instrumental in creating Cisco’s global security sales strategy, which resulted in Cisco surpassing $1 billion in security sales. He was also an advisor to Cisco’s Corporate Business Development team on various investment and acquisition candidates. Mr. Haney serves on the board of SGB, is Chairman of the Board of Cloud Break Advisors, Inc., a Latin American investment firm and he is Chairman of the Board of Green Millennium, Ltd., a sustainable forestry company. He is a member of the board of advisors for the Inter-American Dialogue and serves on the Dean’s Leadership Council for the Division of Biological Sciences at the University of California, San Diego. He was named one of the Top 50 People in Bioenergy by Biofuels Digest and is a member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO).
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About 3Com, ArrowPoint Communications, Cisco, Green Millennium, Radicle Growth, SG Biofuels: Radicle Growth is a San Diego, California based accelerator and venture capital firm focused early-stage ag and food tech startups.
Jon-Ryan Riggins
Co-Founder & COO/CFO of Liquid Death
JR Riggins is a Co-Founder at Liquid Death.
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About Liquid Death: Liquid Death is a non-alcoholic beverage brand that is focused on health and sustainability.
Mike Cessario
CEO / Co-Founder of Liquid Death
Mike Cessario is the CEO & Co-Founder at Liquid Death.
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About Liquid Death: Liquid Death is a non-alcoholic beverage brand that is focused on health and sustainability.
James Freeman
Founder & CEO of Blue Bottle Coffee
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About Blue Bottle Coffee: Blue Bottle Coffee is a coffee roaster and retailer platform that delivers coffee subscriptions to doorsteps nationwide.
Aayush Phumbhra
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Nectar
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About Nectar: Nectar develops an IoT solution for the hospitality and consumer packaged goods industries.
Atallah Atallah
CEO & Co-Founder of Club Feast
Atallah Atallah currently works as the CEO and Co-Founder for Club Feast. He previously worked at StartX as an Entrepreneur.
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About Club Feast, Seated: Club Feast is a restaurant delivery application that provides pre-scheduled food delivery.
Will Pacio
Co-Founder and CEO of Pared
A veteran in the restaurant industry. Will started as a cook at Per Se in New York and went on to run IT for Thomas Keller’s restaurants. He was founder and CEO of Spice Kit, a popular fast-casual concept. Studied at Stanford. Trained at the French Culinary Institute.
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About Pared: Pared is a market network for hospitality professionals.
Andrew Chau
Co-Founder & CEO of Boba Guys
Andrew Chau is a co-founder at Boba Guys.
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About Boba Guys: Boba Guys operates cafes that offer boba milk beverages.
Bin Chen
Co-Founder of Boba Guys
Bin Chen is a co-founder at Boba Guys.
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About Boba Guys: Boba Guys operates cafes that offer boba milk beverages.
Keith Belling
Founder & CEO of Right Rice
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About popchips, Right Rice: RightRice provides a tasty rice grain that’s made from vegetables.
Jon Binney
Co-Founder & CTO of Iron Ox
Jon Binney is a Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Iron Ox.
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About Iron Ox: Iron Ox operates autonomous robotic greenhouses that grow every plant at its best from seed to harvest.
Brandon Alexander
Co-Founder & CEO of Iron Ox
Brandon Alexander is the CEO and cofounder of Iron Ox, a company building robotic greenhouses to make premium produce accessible to everyone. Inspired by his family farm and his career in robotics, Brandon sought to find a sustainable approach to feeding the world’s growing population in an industry that’s challenged with a declining labor force and extreme weather conditions. With his cofounder Jon Binney, he traveled all across California to talk with local farmers about the challenges facing the industry and how robotics can provide modern solutions. Brandon has a track record of laying the groundwork for successful robotic deployment. He previously played a key role in Google[x]’s drone delivery program, Project Wing, where he developed the flight mission control software. He has also worked at the robotics think tank Willow Garage.
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About Iron Ox: Iron Ox operates autonomous robotic greenhouses that grow every plant at its best from seed to harvest.
Lucas Mann
Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Acre Venture Partners
Lucas Mann is the Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Acre Venture Partners.
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About Acre Venture Partners: Acre is a venture capital fund investing in the future of food and agriculture
Evelyn Rusli
Co-Founder, President/CMO of Yumi
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About Yumi: Yumi offers a science-based early childhood meal delivery program.
Angela Sutherland
CEO/ Co- Founder of Yumi
Angela Sutherland, Yumi CEO and Co-Founder, was previously a director at Sierra Constellation Partners, a private equity firm and formerly an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. Evelyn Rusli, President and Co-Founder, has spent more than a decade as a journalist, previously on staff at the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times covering startups and innovation.
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About Yumi: Yumi offers a science-based early childhood meal delivery program.
Kara Roell
Co-Founder and Managing Director of VMG Partners
Kara Roel is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at VMG Partners.
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About VMG Partners: VMG Partners is a private equity firm that specializes in buyouts and growth capital investments.
Arram Sabeti
Founder & Chairman of the Board of ZeroCater
Arram Sabeti is the founder of ZeroCater, a startup that makes it easy for companies to feed their employees. Arram became obsessed with tech startups when he was 20 years old and as an experiment, he decided to totally commit to the goal of building a successful technology company.
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About ZeroCater: ZeroCater is a provider of office meals and snacks, bringing employees together to build culture and foster community.
Alexander Gilkes
Co-Founder of Squared Circles
Alexander Gilkes is the Co-Founder of SQUARED CIRCLES.
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About Squared Circles: Squared Circles is a venture studio that focuses on operations, branding, capital, and talent.
Matt Sawchuk
Co-Founder of All Day Technologies Inc.
Matt Sawchuk is a co-founder at Virtual Kitchen.
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About All Day Technologies Inc.: Virtual Kitchen operates as a food tech and logistics company that focuses on building delivery-optimized kitchens.
Andro Radonich
Co-Founder of All Day Technologies Inc.
Andro Radonich is a co-founder at Virtual Kitchen.
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About All Day Technologies Inc.: Virtual Kitchen operates as a food tech and logistics company that focuses on building delivery-optimized kitchens.
Louis DeMenthon
Founder & CEO of Eat This Much
I started the diet generator in 2011 as a learn-to-program project under the name Swole.me. The original meals were almost totally random, resembling the college “bodybuilding” diets I followed (dinner = 2 cans of tuna, stick of celery). I kept improving it whenever I had free time, and the meals got better as I got better at programming. When they started to look like something a normal, well-adjusted person might eat, I renamed it to Eat This Much and teamed up with my friends Patrick and Mike to build something that everyone can use to effortlessly control their diet.
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About Eat This Much: Eat This Much is an online tool that automatically creates meal plans to meet users’ diet goals.
Matias Muchnick
Founder & CEO of NotCo
Matias Muchnick is the CEO and Founder at NotCo.
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About NotCo: NotCo is a food technology company that produces plant-based meat and dairy substitutes.
Phaedra Anestassia Randolph
Founder & CEO of Spero Foods
Phaedra Anestassia Randolph founded Spero Foods with the mission to recreate dairy & eggs from plants, making products that are nutritious, scalable, and delicious.
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About Spero Foods: Spero Foods specializes in the fields of big data, food tech, plant-based products, and predictive modeling.
Ben Lewis
Co-Founder + CEO of Little Spoon
A serial entrepreneur, Ben Lewis’ experience lies at the intersection of brands, technology and food. He has worked extensively in the organic food industry, honing a well-rounded understanding of consumer facing brands and what it takes to build them. Ben has helped pioneer trends like cold-pressed juice and cold-brew coffee, taking them from obscure, emerging concepts to household buzzwords. Ben’s first foray into business was in high school when he founded a charitable bottled water company out of the back of his car. As a student at Wharton, he co-founded The Epic Seed, a Greek yogurt brand with a national footprint and a cult-like following. Most recently, Ben built a national distribution company which acted as an incubator to up-and-coming food and beverage brands. Over the course of four years, Ben grew the company from zero to $25 million in revenue and a team of 75 people, building a nimble just-in-time supply chain spanning eight regions. Ben’s accomplishments are a direct result of his willingness to innovate and use unorthodox solutions to transform businesses. Through his many experiences, Ben has developed a deep understanding of the obstacles and demands unique to modern consumer products marketed to a younger generation—especially those related to food. Today, Ben is the co-founder and CEO of the direct-to-consumer startup Little Spoon, the first company to offer fresh, nutritionally optimized meal plans suited to the evolving needs of growing babies. Ben is passionate about design, healthy living, food of all types, and creating processes that run smoothly.
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About Kairos, Little Spoon: Little Spoon designs products for a child’s most formative years, starting with a baby’s first bites.
Angela Vranich
Co-Founder + Chief Product Officer of Little Spoon
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About Kairos, Little Spoon: Little Spoon designs products for a child’s most formative years, starting with a baby’s first bites.
Josh Tetrick
Co-Founder & CEO of Eat Just
Josh is the CEO & Co-Founder of Eat Just, Inc., a San Francisco-based company on a mission to bring delicious, accessible, healthier and more sustainable food to everyone, everywhere. Prior to founding the company, Tetrick led a United Nations business initiative in Kenya and worked for both former President Clinton and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. As Fulbright Scholar, Tetrick taught schoolchildren in Nigeria and South Africa and is a graduate of Cornell University and the University of Michigan Law School. Tetrick has been named one of Fast Company’s “Most Creative People in Business,” Inc.’s “35 Under 35” and Fortune’s “40 Under 40.”
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About 33needs, Eat Just: Eat Just offers a plant-based egg substitute intended to provide healthy and nutritional food alternatives.
Kendra Kawala
Co-Founder & COO of Maker Wine
Kendra Kawala is the Co-Founder and COO of Maker Wine.
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About Maker Wine: Maker Wine connects wine lovers to premium canned wines from best-in-class independent producers.
Sarah Hoffman
Co-Founder & CEO of Maker Wine
Sarah Hoffman is the Co-Founder and CEO of Maker Wine.
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About Maker Wine: Maker Wine connects wine lovers to premium canned wines from best-in-class independent producers.
Clay Alexander
Founder and CEO of Ember Technologies
Clay Alexander is an American inventor and serial entrepreneur who holds more than 100 patents worldwide and is the Founder and CEO of Ember, a global consumer electronics brand and maker of the World’s First Temperature Control Mug. As a lifelong entrepreneur, Alexander started his first company, Radiance Lightworks, in 1999 at the age of 23. It has become one of the top lighting design firms in the country, boasting an extensive client list which includes Universal Studios, Mattel and 20th Century Fox. He then launched his second company, Journée Lighting, in 2005 and created the world’s first LED track light. He scaled it to be one of the most respected brands in LED lighting and it was during this time that Alexander also invented General Electric’s LED light bulb, the GE Infusion™. With decades of experience building and scaling successful companies, Alexander combined both his business savvy and talent as a world-class inventor to launch Ember.
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About Ember Technologies, Radiance Lightworks: Ember Technologies is a design-led temperature control brand that produces a patented temperature adjustable dishware and drinkware.
Roni Gloger
CEO & Founder of Altalena Wholesale
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About Altalena Wholesale, OMG! Food Company, Primal Food: Altalena Wholesale is a privately held company that offers organic, non-GMO, kosher, and conventional raw materials.
Chris Clifford
Founder & CEO of Day One Beverages
CPG founder and investor
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About Building Blocks Ventures, Day One Beverages, HED Skincare, Transcend Digital: Anything is possible on Day One. There’s no baggage or expectations and no limits on your imagination. Every day can be Day One if you want it to be. We created a simple, refreshing and effective beverage formula for balance and clarity. Sparkling Water + Cannabinoids
Jared Berry
Founder of Carlsbad Naturals
As a pioneer in the CBD industry in the United States, Jared Berry has forged trails in multiple territories, establishing businesses and technologies that have set standards in the cannabis marketplace. He singlehandedly identified CBD as a viable ingredient for multiple supplements and delivery systems and as an international commodity. As such, his early efforts laid the groundwork for entities like Medical Marijuana, Inc. (Hemp Meds), Cannavest (now CV Sciences), and other CBD companies. His innovative vision set the industry in motion and continues to move it forward as the multi-billion dollar movement into which it has evolved. He founded BPSG/BioSynthesis Pharma Group and went on to found Isodiol, the industry’s most innovative hemp cannabinoid product developer and manufacturer.
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About Carlsbad Naturals: Carlsbad Naturals brings cutting edge science to deliver nutrients and hydration in an effective way
James Rogers
Founder & CEO of Apeel Sciences
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About Apeel Sciences, The World Economic Forum: Apeel Sciences develops plant-derived shelf life extension technology for fresh produce that improves quality and reduces food waste.
Jeffrey Shaw
Founder & CEO of Underground Cellar
Founder and CEO of UndergroundCellar.com; Y Combinator W15
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About Underground Cellar: Underground Cellar is an online wine marketplace to discover, buy, and store premium wines.
Sri Artham
Founder & CEO of Hooray Foods
Sri Artham is the Founder and CEO of Hooray Foods.
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About Hooray Foods: Hooray Foods produces plant-based meats offering consumers a vegan alternative to meat products.
Chris Tara-Browne
Human CEO & Co-Founder of Unfurl
Chris Tara-Browne currently works as the CEO, Co-Founder, and Board member for Unfurl. He previously worked at Bauman College as a Board Member.
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About Unfurl: Unfurl is the Netflix of the restaurant industry
Alex Harris
Co-Founder & COO of Unfurl
Alex Harris currently works as the Co-Founder and COO for Unfurl. He previously worked at TraceAir Technologies as the Director of Customer Success.
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About Unfurl: Unfurl is the Netflix of the restaurant industry
Massimo Noja De Marco
CEO and Co-Founder of Piestro
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About Kitchen United, Piestro: Piestro operates a robotic pizza system and dispenser designed to deliver high-quality artisanal pizzas.
Patrick Brown
Co-Founder & CEO of Impossible Foods
Patrick O. Brown is CEO and founder of Impossible Foods, a company at the forefront of making nutritious, delicious meat and dairy products from plants to satisfy meat lovers and address the environmental impact of animal farming. The idea for Impossible Foods came to Pat while he was on sabbatical from his position as an HHMI investigator and professor of biochemistry at the Stanford University School of Medicine. In reflecting on how he could use his training and experience to make the largest positive impact on the world, he realized there was a way to make delicious, affordable meat and dairy products, directly from plants – that would be better for the environment and for consumers. In 2011, Pat chose to devote himself full time to Impossible Foods. After receiving his BA, MD and PhD (in Biochemistry) at the University of Chicago, Pat completed a residency in pediatrics at Chicago’s Children’s Memorial Hospital. As a fellow with Mike Bishop and Harold Varmus, he defined the mechanism by which HIV and other retroviruses incorporate their genes into the genomes of the cells they infect. At Stanford, Pat and colleagues developed DNA microarrays – a new technology that made it possible to monitor the activity of all the genes in a genome – along with the first methods for analyzing, visualizing and interpreting global gene expression programs. He pioneered the use of gene expression patterns to classify cancers and improve prediction of their clinical course. He has also been a leader in making scientific and medical research results freely available to scientists, physicians and the public. With Harold Varmus, then Director of the National Institutes of Health, and Berkeley professor Michael Eisen, he founded the Public Library of Science, a nonprofit scientific publisher that has transformed the publishing industry by making scientific and medical research results freely available to the public. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine and recipient of the American Cancer Society Medal of Honor. He is also the co-founder of Lyrical Foods, Inc., maker of Kite Hill artisanal nut-milk-based cheeses and yogurts.
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About Impossible Foods: Impossible Foods focuses on developing plant-based substitutes for meat, dairy, and fish products.
Monte Casino
Co-Founder & CEO of Impossible Foods
Whether from behind the stove or behind the lectern, Monte has dedicated himself to the creation of fine foods for over two decades. A graduate of Johnson and Wales University, Monte has worked in the kitchens of esteemed chefs like Lydia Shire, Jodi Adams, and Wolfgang Puck. Most recently, he dedicated himself to teaching his passion for blending classical culinary technique with scientific innovation. He worked as an instructor at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, then at Le Cordon Bleu in Boston where he taught artisan cheese-making, bread baking, and molecular gastronomy.
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About Impossible Foods: Impossible Foods focuses on developing plant-based substitutes for meat, dairy, and fish products.
Thomas Lines
Founder and Director of FRS
Thomas Lines is the founder and director of [FRS](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/frs#/entity), a line of nutritional products that include ready-to-drink beverages, chews, powdered drink mixes, shots, and concentrates. He currently resides in Foster City, California.
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About FRS: FRS offers a line of nutritional products that include ready-to-drink beverages, chews, powdered drink mixes, shots and concentrates.
Brian Spears
Founder & CEO of New Age Meats
Brian Spears is the co-founder and CEO of New Age Meats.
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About New Age Meats: New Age Meats is a biotechnology company that develops healthy cultivated meat grown from animal cells instead of animal slaughter.
Vaibhav Verma
CEO and Co-Founder of Simmer
Vaibhav Verma is the CEO of Simmer.
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About Simmer: Simmer is a food review app that aims to bring high quality reviews for every dish on the menu.
Richard Wu
Co-Founder of Simmer
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About Simmer: Simmer is a food review app that aims to bring high quality reviews for every dish on the menu.
Julia Collins
Founder and CEO of Planet FWD
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About Planet FWD: Planet FWD specializes in developing a regenerative food platform.
Jonathan Kaplan
Founder & CEO of THE MELT
Jonathan Kaplan, also known as Jon, is the Founder of THE MELT and serves as its Chairman of the Board. Mr. Kaplan serves as a Director of Euclid Analytics, Inc.
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About THE MELT: THE MELT is an American restaurant serving made-to-order grilled cheese sandwiches.
Dinesh Tadepalli
Chief Spoon Seller & Co-Founder of incrEDIBLE
Co-founder of incrEDIBLEspoon.com, Angel Investor and SoC Engineer by profession As a Founder – Crazy enough to save the Planet, found the best alternatives and now expanding their presence across the world. Our planet, our responsibility. Did you eat your spoon today? As an Engineer – Love to work smart. Good at time/work management. Exponential passion for technology and products.A hardcore implementation and design engineer related to SOC Integration, Implementation, Netlisting, Synthesis, ECO, STA, Sign-off and Verilog modeling.
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About incrEDIBLE: Edible cutlery to replace single use plastics
Eugene Kang
CEO / co-Founder of Country Archer Jerky
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About Country Archer Jerky: Country Archer Jerky is a producer of delicious real ingredient jerky and meat sticks.
Christine Moseley
Founder & CEO of Full Harvest
Christine Moseley, Full Harvest Founder + CEO, is a passionate serial social entrepreneur. At age 17, she started a music education non-profit, which is still growing 14 years later. Currently, at Full Harvest, she is solving the food waste problem at the farm level. Full Harvest is the first institutional B2B platform connecting large farms to food companies to sell surplus and imperfect produce. Christine has over 10 years of experience in the logistics and food industries at both Fortune 100 companies (P&G, Maersk- world’s largest logistics company) as well as high-growth food start-ups. In her last corporate role, she assisted Organic Avenue, a NYC healthy food + juice start-up, double in size as Head of Strategic Projects and Business Development. Christine holds an MBA from Wharton Business School and BA from the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill.
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About Full Harvest: Full Harvest is the first B2B marketplace for ugly and surplus produce.
Cory Ondrejka
Co-Founder & CEO of Mori
Cory Ondrejka is the CEO and co-founder of mori, inc. (formerly Overlook Research), a stealth, venture-funded startup in Los Gatos, CA. Prior to mori, Ondrejka led the Mobile Product group at Facebook and was responsible for Facebook’s mobile turnaround and delivering Facebook to over a billion mobile customers worldwide. Ondrejka also led Facebook’s multi-billion dollar acquisition and integration of Oculus VR. Before Facebook, Ondrejka was the co-founder of Walletin, a startup focused on high-performance javascript and Web rendering acquired by Facebook in 2010. He was the Chief Technology Officer of Linden Lab, where he co-created the award-winning virtual world Second Life. He has served as Executive Vice President for Global Digital Marketing at EMI Music, and has been a visiting professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California where he gave classes on online communities. Ondrejka began his career in game development startups, shipping arcade and console video game titles. He holds a bachelor’s of science degree in Weapons and Systems Engineering from the United States Naval Academy and was an officer in the US Navy. Ondrejka also advises several early-state technology companies.
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About Mori: Mori is a branded food company with quality products.
Mark Manguera
Founder & Managing Partner of Snow Monkey
Mark Manguera is Founder & CEO @ Kogi BBQ.
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About Kogi BBQ, Snow Monkey: Dairy free anytime dessert made from only fruits, seeds and superfoods.
Rachel Geicke
Founder of Snow Monkey
Born and raised in Hong Kong by parents of Chinese and German descent, Rachel grew up in an international business hub. She started her first business in the entertainment industry at age 16, turning a profit and leveraging this experience to gain roles with Pepsi China, the Peninsula Hotel in Shanghai, and the Hilton Queenstown. As a previous member of the Hong Kong National Field Hockey team and the Boston University Rowing team, Rachel truly understands the power of food as functional fuel. At the age of 20 she was diagnosed with Celiac disease along with several food allergies which drove her to explore alternative diets and primal ingredients. Rachel graduated magna cum laude from Boston University’s School of Hospitality Administration, where she first created Snow Monkey in her college apartment. As the steward of Snow Monkey’s vision, brand and sales, Rachel has led Snow Monkey to secure a spot in the prestigious Chobani Food Incubator and expand distribution from 0 to 1,200 retail locations in only 2 years, rightfully landing her a spot on the 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 list. Equally comfortable pitching to venture capitalists as she is stocking Snow Monkey pints on retail shelves, Rachel is invigorated by work that breaks barriers and paves the way for societal advancements.
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About Snow Monkey: Dairy free anytime dessert made from only fruits, seeds and superfoods.
Ella Mihov
Founder & CEO of Lune
Ella is a product leader at Google Nest focused on growing devices and services distribution through new channels, including multifamily, professional installers, builders, hospitality, and senior living. Previously, Ella was the founder and CEO of Lune (lune.co), a consumer health company that launched a direct-to-consumer nutrition lab test and mobile experience targeting post-baby moms. She previously was a product manager at Google, where she led the development and launch of several moonshot products across U.S. and International markets. Ella also advises on strategy and product.
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About Lune: Lune is a wellness company offering nutritional checkups and products so people can live their best lives.
Shaun Quade
Co-Founder & CPO of Grounded Foods Co.
Shaun Quade is the Co-Founder and CPO at Grounded Foods Co.
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About Grounded Foods Co.: Grounded Foods makes plant-based cheeses from a proprietary fermentation process, using imperfect vegetables and hemp seed.
Neka Pasquale
Founder of Urban Remedy
Neka Pasquale L.Ac M.S. is a California state-licensed Acupuncturist, herbalist, author and founder of Urban Remedy a company specializing in certified organic, non-GMO, gluten free, vegan offerings. Urban Remedy embodies the belief that “food is healing.” Every product made blends cutting-edge nutrition with Traditional Chinese Medicine to offer the cleanest juices, teas, foods and snacks with natural functional benefits. Urban Remedy is certified organic, non-GMO and kosher.
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About Urban Remedy: Urban Remedy is a plant-based organic food company that makes eating ultra-fresh and clean easier
Jeff Nobbs
Founder of Kitava
Jeff Nobbs is the Founder & CEO at Zero Acre Farms.
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About Kitava, Rakuten Rewards, Zero Acre Farms: San Francisco’s healthiest restaurant.
Louise Fritjofsson
Co-Founder of Martie
Louise Fritjofsson is a Co-founder at Martie. She co-founded Reimagine Foods before that.
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About Martie: Martie diverts perfectly good surplus pantry staples from going to landfills and delivers them directly to customers.
Kari Morris
Co-Founder of Martie
Kari Morris is a Co-founder at Martie. He co-founded Reimagine Foods before that. He is a graduate of California College of the Arts.
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About Martie: Martie diverts perfectly good surplus pantry staples from going to landfills and delivers them directly to customers.
Ray Reddy
Co-Founder and CEO of Ritual
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About Ritual: Ritual is an ordering app that taps networks of co-workers & colleagues for fast & easy pick up & pay at local eateries and coffee shops.
Rajat Suri
Founder & CEO of Presto
Rajat ‘Raj’ Suri is the Founder and CEO of E la Carte. Suri, a Ph.D. student at MIT, got the idea in 2008 to build the Presto while trying to split a bill with his fellow graduate students from MIT and Harvard. To understand the restaurant industry more clearly, he decided to abandon his Ph.D. and spent a year as a waiter, testing the first prototype of the Presto with guests. Previously, he was a Co-Founder of Zimride, now called Lyft, the popular ride-sharing company. While attending university Raj served on the Board of Directors of FedS, the corporation representing the interests of the students of the University of Waterloo. Earlier, he was the Founder and President of the Forum for Independent Thought, Canada’s first student think tank. Raj holds a bachelor’s in chemical engineering and economics from the University of Waterloo. He also attended a Ph.D. / MBA program at MIT. He enjoys playing tennis and soccer, and is an avid film buff.
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About Presto: Presto is the leading provider of customer experience and labor productivity software to restaurant enterprises.
Aylon Steinhart
Founder & CEO of Eclipse Foods
Aylon is an expert in the alternative protein industry and has spoken regularly on food innovation at conferences and top schools such as Harvard, MIT, Yale, Berkeley, and Stanford. In his work at the Good Food Institute, Aylon advised dozens of startups, investors, and strategic partners on the protein alternative space. Aylon has co-founded two startups and has worked with companies such as Kraft Heinz, Nestle, and Kellogg’s.
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About Eclipse Foods: Eclipse Foods is a plant-based dairy products that are indistinguishable from animal dairy products.
Harrison Valner
Co-Founder & COO of Kyoku
Harrison Valner is the Co-Founder and COO at Kyoku.
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About Kyoku: Kyoku is a foodtech brand that makes personalized nutrition for endurance athletes.
Ryan Roddy
Founder and CEO of Kyoku
Ryan Roddy is the Founder and CEO of Kyoku.
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About Kyoku: Kyoku is a foodtech brand that makes personalized nutrition for endurance athletes.
Nagib Georges Mimassi
Founder & CEO of RockSpoon
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About RockSpoon: We enable people to find the food they love, enjoy every meal, and get healthier
Sisun Lee
Founder and CEO of More Labs
Sisun Lee is CEO at 82 Labs.
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About More Labs: More Labs is a dietary supplement that helps the body’s natural detoxification process after a crazy night out.
Philip Seifi
Co-Founder & CEO of Pona
Philip draws on his interdisciplinary background to align design, technology and business objectives. He also lends his time to Harvard Alumni for Global Development and has mentored entrepreneurs at UNDP, Techstars and startup events around the world.
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About Colabra, Pona: We connect families through food.
Ollie Capehorn
Co-Founder of Pona
Founder of Edulift.
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About Pona: We connect families through food.
Arif Fazal
Founder, Managing Director of Blueberry Ventures
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About Blueberry Ventures: Blueberry Ventures is a venture firm that invests in brands and business models across food and beverage.
Kevin Yu
Founder & CEO of SideChef
Kevin Yu joined SideChef as Founder & CEO in 2013.
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About SideChef: SideChef is an online platform that provides step-by-step recipes for new and amateur cooks.
Oliver Zahn
CEO and Founder of Climax Foods
Oliver Zahn, PhD, is an astrophysicist interested in making Earth a better place. After directing UC Berkeley’s Center for Cosmological Physics together with two Nobel laureates, Oliver led Data Science at Google and Impossible Foods. His lifelong love of food is complemented by a passion for outdoor adventures.
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About Climax Foods, Finistere Ventures: Climax Foods Climax Foods develops machine intelligence tools to create plant-based foods that will out-compete animal-based predecessors.
Mitchell Bailey
Co-Founder and Creator of Trust Me Vodka
Mitchell Bailey currently works as Co-Founder and Creator at Trust Me Vodka.
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About Trust Me Vodka: Trust Me Vodka features Gluten-Free Made from potatoes and Organic made from wheat vodka.
Elliott Balbert
CEO & Founder of Natrol
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About Natrol: Natrol is driven to become the most desired nutritional supplement brand by creating products that support your healthy life.
Kit Codik
Founder and CEO of Liquor.com
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About Dotdash, Liquor.com, The Gap: Liquor.com is a website providing recipes, information and news on cocktails and spirits.
Justin Trout
Co-Founder & COO of Health-Ade
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About Health-Ade: Health-Ade kombucha offers a bubbly and delicious probiotic tea
Vanessa Dew
Co-Founder, Chief Sales Officer of Health-Ade
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About Health-Ade: Health-Ade kombucha offers a bubbly and delicious probiotic tea
Michael Lippold
Founder & CEO of FreshRealm
Michael R. Lippold, also known as Mike, CFA, serves as the Chief Executive Officer of FreshRealm, LLC. Michael Lippold undertakes a wide range of responsibilities that include identifying potential mergers and acquisitions, valuations, new product identification and assessment, and capital-markets outreach, among other duties. He is a food-industry Securities Analyst. Michael Lippold served as the Director of Strategic Development of Calavo Growers Inc., Michael Lippold joined Calavo from Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC, where he served as a Senior Research Analyst in the Consumer Sector since 2007. He also served as an Equity Analyst of Craig-Hallum Capital Group, Research Division. Michael Lippold spent seven years in the investment-management business before joining Craig-Hallum. Prior to that, he served as a Quantitative Portfolio Manager of Telluride Asset Management LLC, where he had oversight and traded a fundamental equity portfolio for two years. He served first as a Research Analyst and subsequently co-managed a small-cap stock portfolio with Rocket Capital Management LLC. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. Michael Lippold earned his B.A. degree in Financial Economics from Gustavus Adolphus College, Saint Peter, Minn.
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About FreshRealm: FreshRealm partners with grocery, convenience, and omni channel retailers to provide meal destination solutions.
Sherry Lei
Founder and CEO of Nextdish
Sherry Lei is the Founder and CEO of Nextdish.
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About Nextdish: Nextdish is cooks and delivers the ready-to-eat food at dinner time.
Dan Stauber
Co-Founder + Product Development of Laird Superfood
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About Laird Superfood: Laird Superfood offers coffee creamers and premium organic coffee that is an alternative to traditional sports drinks.
