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 United States 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.
Shawn Carter
Founder of Marcy Venture Partners
Jay-Z is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer and entrepreneur. He has sold approximately 50 million albums worldwide, earned 14 Grammy Awards, leading him to become one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America with a net worth of approximately $450 million as of 2011. Since 1996, 10-time Grammy award winner, Carter has dominated the rap industry and set trends for a generation. Founder and chairman of Rocawear, he is also co-owner of the NJ Nets, 40/40 sportsclubs, Translation Advertising and Carol’s Daughter skin line, as well involved in a partnership with Iconix Brand Group. After three successful years as President and CEO of Def Jam Recordings, where he fostered the careers of international stars Rihanna, Ne-Yo and Kanye West, he entered into a partnership with Live Nation to form Roc Nation. Through Roc Nation, he released the Blueprint 3, his 11th #1 album, putting him ahead of Elvis for most #1 albums by any solo artist. In 2010, he added author to his resume and claimed a spot on the New York Times bestseller’s list with his critically acclaimed debut book, “DECODED.” He continues his philanthropic work through his Water For Life initiative and the Shawn Carter Scholarship Foundation.
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About Marcy Venture Partners, Project Panther, Roc Nation, Shawn Carter: Marcy Venture Partners is a venture capital firm investing on consumer, culture, and mass-market brands.
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Jay Brown
Co-Founder & Managing Director of Marcy Venture Partners
Jay Brown has served as a member of our Board since January 2014. Jay Brown, a 20-year music industry executive veteran, fostered the careers and discovered countless superstars including Rihanna and Ne-Yo and worked with artists such as NAS. Jay Brown is the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Roc Nation, a full-service entertainment company started in 2008. Mr. Brown currently overseas the careers of a diverse Roc Nation roster comprised of Grammy award winning and critically acclaimed recording artists, writers and producers including Rihanna, Shakira, Timbaland, Kylie Minogue and Santigold. Prior to Roc Nation, Mr. Brown served as Executive Vice President for Def Jam Recordings from 2005 to 2008 and as Senior Vice President of Elektra Records from 1999 to 2004. Our Board has concluded that Mr. Brown should serve on the Board based upon his experience as an entrepreneur and senior executive and his broad knowledge of the music and entertainment industries.
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About Marcy Venture Partners, Roc Nation: Marcy Venture Partners is a venture capital firm investing on consumer, culture, and mass-market brands.
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.
Rachel Drori
Founder and CEO of Daily Harvest
Rachel Drori is the founder and CEO of Daily Harvest, a platform is serving the needs of modern consumers by turning freezers into personalized pantries stocked with clean food, quickly prepared and replenished as it is consumed. Daily Harvest was launched as a solution to Rachel’s own daily challenge: squeezing in nourishing fruits and vegetables into her busy life. She has built Daily Harvest into one of the fastest-growing consumer brands in the U.S. Prior to starting Daily Harvest, Rachel harnessed her skills as a customer-centric marketing executive, leading teams at Gilt Groupe, American Express, and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. Rachel holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Columbia Business School. She currently resides in New York City with her family
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About Daily Harvest: Daily Harvest is a customer-first platform that provides subscription-based food delivery services to offer healthy frozen foods.
Mary Biggins
Co-Founder and CEO of MealPal
Mary has over 10 years of marketing, product, and sales experience. She has a unique blend of experience creating marketing strategies for both big brands and micro businesses. She’s built marketing campaigns for big brands like the National Football League, Major League Baseball, and Disney. She’s also helped nearly a million small businesses grow as the manager of Vistaprint’s Canadian site. She has also operated two-sided marketplaces as the co-founder of ClassPass and MealPal.
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About ClassPass, MealPal: MealPal is a subscription service that provides members with affordable daily lunch options from restaurants near where they live or work.
Katie Ghelli
Co-Founder of MealPal
Katie has over 10 years of Marketing and Sales experience. Serving in various positions at Conde Nast and CafeMom, Katie developed robust marketing expertise. Leading Communications at Zocdoc, Katie worked closely with all functional teams. She has also operated two-sided marketplaces as the co-founder of MealPal.
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About MealPal: MealPal is a subscription service that provides members with affordable daily lunch options from restaurants near where they live or work.
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.
Rick Blatstein
Founder & CEO of OTG
Rick Blatstein, founder and CEO of OTG Management, found his calling putting gourmet cuisine, swanky design and high-tech integrations into the drab world of airport terminals. OTG’s innovative approach to creating an “experience” is delighting travelers and catching the attention of airlines and airport operators.
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About OTG: OTG Management is a operator of airport food and beverage concessions
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 Stylman
Co-Founder, Managing Partner & CEO of Threes Brewing
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About TeamSnap, Threes Brewing: Threes Brewing is a brewery, bar & event space.
Fabian Estrada
Founder and CEO of Marley Spoon
Fabian Siegel is the Founder & CEO of Dinnerly & he attended The University of Bonn in 1995.
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About Dinnerly, Marley Spoon: Marley Spoon is a cooking platform that offers recipes, helps its customers order seasonal ingredients.
Jonathan Regev
Co-Founder, CEO of The Farmer’s Dog
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About The Farmer’s Dog: A smarter, healthier pet food — delivered. #longlivedogs
Brett Podolsky
Co-Founder of The Farmer’s Dog
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About The Farmer’s Dog: A smarter, healthier pet food — delivered. #longlivedogs
Michael Rypka
Co-Founder of Torchy’s Tacos
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About Torchy’s Tacos: Torchy’s Tacos is an Austin, Texas-based chain of taco restaurants.
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.
Maisha Leek
Operating Partner and Head of Founder & Studio Ops of Human Ventures
Maisha Leek is chief of staff at United Masters and Translation. Prior to Translation, she served as the National Vice President, Government Relations for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America where she led a team advocating for 4 million youth across the country, including on military installations and Native lands. Before BGCA, she served as senior advisor to the President of Howard University, and chief of staff to a senior member of Congress. She also led a team in establishing the Equity and Excellence Commission at the U.S. Department of Education . During the Bush Administration, she was appointed to serve as special assistant to the Vice Chair of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Maisha is a trustee of Trinity College – Washington DC and a member of the Corporate Advisory Council of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.
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About Human Ventures: Human Ventures is a business creation platform, comprised of a venture fund, studio and enterprise agency.
Joe Marchese
Co-Founder of Human Ventures
Joe Marchese is the Executive Chairman and lead investor in Human Ventures. Joe serves as president of Advanced Advertising Products at Fox Networks Group, where he leads operations in non-linear advertising products and services for 21st Century Fox’s global portfolio of channels. Joe was appointed to his current position after the company he founded, true[X], was acquired by 21st Century Fox in 2015. true[X], the leader in engagement advertising technologies, is now a part of the Advanced Advertising Products division. Joe is also the co-founder and Chairman of the Human company, Reserve. Prior to true[X], Joe spent several years as a television executive at the cable network Fuse TV, where, as SVP of Digital and Advertising. Joe currently serves on the board of trustees of the Paley Center for Media and the Board of Directors of the Tribeca Film Institute. Mr. Marchese holds a B.A. in Economics and Finance from Bentley University. He lives in New York with his wife Christie and their dog
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About Attention Capital, Casa Komos Beverage Group, Human Ventures: Human Ventures is a business creation platform, comprised of a venture fund, studio and enterprise agency.
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.
Gabi Lewis
Co-Founder of Magic Spoon
Gabi is the Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Magic Spoon, a high protein, low carb ‘childlike cereal for adults’. Gabi Lewis Born in Israel and raised in Scotland, Gabi moved to the USA to attend Brown University, where he earned a dual degree in Philosophy and Economics. He has taught English in the Amazon (where he ate his first insect), worked at the world’s largest hedge fund and received numerous grants for social entrepreneurship. He is a competitive powerlifter and once cycled down the world’s most dangerous road in Bolivia. He was one of only a handful of travelers in his group who remained unscathed.
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About Exo, Magic Spoon: Magic Spoon is a food company that provides childlike, low-carbohydrate cereal foods for adult customers.
Greg Sewitz
Co-Founder of Magic Spoon
Greg Sewitz is the co-founder of Magic Spoon. Greg Sewitz is a native of Los Angeles, Greg studied Cognitive Neuroscience and English at Brown University, writing his thesis on the neuroscience of morality. He always assumed he would be a writer, or a scientist—or a science writer.
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About Exo, Magic Spoon: Magic Spoon is a food company that provides childlike, low-carbohydrate cereal foods for adult customers.
Andrew Boryk
Co-Founder and CTO of Lunchbox Technologies
Co-founder at Lunchbox Technologies.
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About Lunchbox Technologies, Tapt: Lunchbox Technologies offers digital marketing and ordering solutions for brick and mortar restaurants.
Serge Shilnov
CEO & Founder of reOrder Technologies
Sergey has been involved in digital development projects for more than 15 years. With a background in Fintech and Marketing, Sergey was an early adopter of technologies related to the Digital Securities space. Sergey has launched 2 software and infrastructure companies in the digital space in the past 5 years and has help roles in a New York based startup involved in the development of two distinct projects: a strategy & marketing platform for STO offerings that could be used as a mobile App by any individual; and the development of self-service POS terminal for restaurants and retail sector, for easy use by both vendors and consumers. For the past three years, Sergey has been particularly interested in developing a better on-line platform to bring better quality STO’s to market, and his passion has been in developing a crypto currency that could truly be used in place of fiat currency for day-to-day human transactions such as buying groceries and eating in restaurants. To this end, Sergey has developed a substantial amount of IP in the form of both detailed knowledge and planning, together with bringing a large number of low cost, high value programmers, to create both a complete STO underwriting platform, AND all of the required elements to launch a global “consumer coin” that could be used from a mobile-app between customers and vendors for multiple transaction in the same way we use cash, debit cards, or credit cards today.
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About DigiMax, NeuraLoom, reOrder Technologies: reOrder Technologies Inc is a US Company, aimed to automate the restaurant industry in order to increase the economic efficiency
Don Thompson
Founder and CEO of Cleveland Avenue
As President and Chief Executive Officer of McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD), Don Thompson leads the world’s largest foodservice company. McDonald’s serves 70 million customers everyday in more than 100 countries and employs 1.8 million people across the globe in corporate and restaurant positions. During his 23 years at McDonald’s, Thompson has helped drive business results and global strategic innovation across the organization. Since joining as an electrical engineer in 1990, he has held a variety of key leadership positions within the company including Regional Vice President, Division President and Chief Operating Officer. Between 2006 and 2010, Thompson served as President of McDonald’s USA, the company’s largest business segment. Most recently as President and COO of McDonald’s Corporation, Thompson and his leadership team established three global growth priorities in support of the McDonald’s Plan to Win: to optimize the menu, modernize the customer experience and broaden restaurant accessibility. In July 2012, Thompson became President and CEO and is leading the company on its mission to become “our customers’ favorite place and way to eat and drink.” A true advocate of collaboration and believer in the strength of the McDonald’s three legged stool, Thompson and his leadership team work closely with the 5,000 independent owner/operators, corporate staff and restaurant employees around the world as well as countless McDonald’s suppliers. A leader in the business community, Don serves on the Board of Directors for McDonald’s Corporation, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Catalyst, Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Purdue University. Thompson also serves as a member of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club, The Economic Club, World Business Chicago and the Brazier Foundation. Thompson has been recognized for his leadership and passion by the Illinois Holocaust Museum (2012 Humanitarian Award), the Executive Leadership Council (2010 Corporate Award), the Trumpet Foundation (2008 Corporate Executive Award), and Black Enterprise (2007 Corporate Executive of the Year). Thompson received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University and an honorary Doctorate in Science degree from Excelsior College. Thompson resides in the Chicagoland area with his wife and two children.
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About Cleveland Avenue: Cleveland Avenue is a Chicago-based venture fund and accelerator that invests in food, beverage, and tech businesses.
Donald Thompson
CEO and Founder of Cleveland Avenue
Don celebrates people and drives results. His 25-year ascension through the ranks of McDonald’s Corporation to become its President and CEO is one of the most respected career trajectories in corporate America. An electrical engineer by education and trade, Don approached his leadership of the world’s largest restaurant chain in a strategically methodical manner, while still embracing the warmth and enthusiasm of the dynamic teams around the world. He’s a heart leader with a head for serious business, as evidenced by his achievements such as developing the global platforms for the company’s beverages, sustainability and digital initiatives. In 2015, Don left McDonald’s to form Cleveland Avenue, LLC, bringing together his vast restaurant expertise and engineering experience with his passion for innovation, digital trends and startup concepts. Don leads the CA team in bringing creative and consumer-focused restaurant, food and beverage ideas to reality. Don is committed to mentoring others, fueled by his foundation in faith, family and community. Not to be outdone by the culinary geniuses he regularly encounters, Don occasionally dons a chef’s hat of his own, and enjoys cooking for family and friends.
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About Cleveland Avenue: Cleveland Avenue is a Chicago-based venture fund and accelerator that invests in food, beverage, and tech businesses.
Jerry Bello
CEO & Founder of Pasta Chips
Jerry Bello serves as a CEO – Founder at Vintage Italia – Pasta Chips.
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About Advanced Micronutrition, KEEN Growth Capital, Pasta Chips: Vintage Italia, the maker of Pasta Chips brand pasta snacks
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.
Shy Pahlevani
Founder & President of HUNGRY
Shy Pahlevani is a successful D.C.-based serial entrepreneur. After making a name for himself within Washington DC’s burgeoning tech scene, he and his brother Eman Pahlevani founded LiveSafe – a venture backed leading mobile safety communications platform that crowd-sources safety intelligence. The brothers teamed up with long-time friend and business partner Jeff Grass to successfully grow LiveSafe into a global enterprise. Over the next five years, the trio would raise more than $20 million dollars for LiveSafe from 3 tech titan billionaire backers and take the brand international. LiveSafe now actively protects more than 2.4 million people across the Fortune 1,000, universites, and sporting arenas.
Later in 2017, Shy, Eman and Jeff again teamed up to create food-tech platform HUNGRY – the first ever online marketplace connecting local top chefs with businesses in need of office catering. The company grew quickly from a $1 million dollar run rate to nearly $20 million dollar run rate in less than 24 months. HUNGRY launched in several new markets in 2019 and today operates in a $65 billion dollar catering market within D.C., Philadelphia, Atlanta, Boston and NYC. Notable investors include JAY-Z, Usher, and the founders of Honest Tea & Whole Foods.
Throughout his startup career, Shy has been recognized as one of D.C.’s Top Young Entrepreneurs & Washington Business Journals’ 40 Under 40. Shy currently resides in the Washington D.C. area where HUNGRY is also based.
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About CrimePush, HUNGRY, LiveSafe: Hungry is a food-tech catering company that connect customers to chefs, delivering fresh food from these chefs to the customers.
Eman Pahlavani
Founder & COO of HUNGRY
Eman Pahlevani is a successful D.C.-based serial entrepreneur. After graduating from law school in 2012, he and his brother Shy Pahlevani founded LiveSafe – a venture backed mobile app company that crowd sources safety intelligence. The brothers teamed up with long time friend and business partner Jeff Grass to successfully grow LiveSafe into a global enterprise. Over the next five years, the trio would raise more than $30 million dollars for LiveSafe and take the brand international.
Later in 2017, Eman, Shy and Jeff again teamed up to create food-tech platform HUNGRY – the first ever online marketplace connecting local top chefs with businesses in need of office catering. The company grew quickly from a $1 million dollar run rate to nearly $20 million dollar run rate in less than 24 months. HUNGRY began launching in new markets earlier this year and today operates in D.C., Philadelphia, Atlanta, Boston and NYC. Throughout his startup career, Eman has been recognized as one of D.C.’s top entrepreneurs. Eman currently resides in the Washington D.C. area where HUNGRY is also based.
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About CrimePush, HUNGRY: Hungry is a food-tech catering company that connect customers to chefs, delivering fresh food from these chefs to the customers.
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.
Kyle Roche
Board of Directors & Co-Founder of SupperBell
Kyle Roche is the General Manager of Amazon Sumerian. Kyle was the founder of 2lemetry which was acquired by Amazon in 2015 and became AWS IoT. He is a regular speaker at industry events for IoT, AR, and VR. He has authored numerous technical publications on subjects ranging from cloud computing to augmented reality
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About Amazon Web Services, SupperBell: Supperbell provides meal-delivery services.
David S. Shapira
Founder , Chairman & CEO of Giant Eagle
David Shapira is executive chairman of the board of directors of Giant Eagle, Inc. and is president of the David S. and Karen A. Shapira Foundation. In his role at the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business and College of Business Administration, he is responsible for enhancing ethics and leadership at the school. He is also responsible for engaging with Katz and CBA students across a spectrum of business areas including entrepreneurship, supply chain management, and organizational behavior. During his thirty-plus years as chairman, chief executive officer and president, David Shapira positioned Giant Eagle, Inc. as an industry leader, and grew the company from a local chain of 50 grocery stores to an organization now employing more than 34,000 with more than 420 locations and $9.5 billion in revenue. A Pittsburgh native with an undergraduate degree from Oberlin College and a Master’s Degree in Economics from Stanford University, Mr. Shapira joined Giant Eagle in 1970, a company founded by his grandfather with four others. Today, the same five families own Giant Eagle, and remain actively involved. Named president and CEO in 1980 and Chairman of the Giant Eagle Board of Directors in 1992, David led the company during its peak years of growth and transformation, which included his application of a world-class customer loyalty program with the development of the Giant Eagle Advantage Card and fuelperks!. Mr. Shapira has implemented numerous industry-leading technologies and marketing concepts, including: gift card development and sales, in-store pharmacy and banking, multi-format retailing, and a truck fleet that is being converted to run on compressed natural gas. Since stepping away from day-to-day operations of Giant Eagle in 2013, David has applied the entrepreneurial approach developed at Giant Eagle to the world of philanthropy. Through the Foundation he leads with his wife Cindy, David has led the development of a number of projects that demonstrate real and meaningful positive impact on civic challenges of our day. These entrepreneurial philanthropic ventures include Onward Israel, which transforms young adults through professional summer internships with Israeli businesses and organizations, and the Comprehensive Excellence initiative at Hillel International. David’s civic involvement reflects his and Giant Eagle’s commitment to advancing and investing in the many communities the company and Foundation serve. David has served on numerous corporate and civic boards, including EQT, Mellon Bank, the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance (Past Chairman). David is the Immediate Past Chairman of Carnegie Mellon University’s Board of Trustees, and the current Chairman of Carnegie Mellon’s Investment Committee, as well as a Trustee at Oberlin College, and a Founding Co-Chairman, along with Cindy, of The Pittsburgh Promise Campaign. David’s philanthropic board service has also included the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh (Past Chairman); Jewish Healthcare Foundation (Past Chairman); United Way of Allegheny County (Past Chairman of the Annual Campaign); Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (Past Chairman); Extra Mile Foundation; and Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. David is currently a member of the Hillel Foundation International Board of Governors.
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About Giant Eagle: Giant Eagle is a national supermarket chain with some of their own brands of products.
Chetan Narain
Co-Founder and Software Engineer of Pepper
Chetan Narain is a Co-Founder and Software Engineer at Pepper. He is also the Group Product Manager at Uber. Mr. Narain previously the Software Engineer / Analyst and Associate Product Manager at Google. Chetan graduated from Princeton University with a BSE in Operations Research and Financial Engineering and Computer Science.
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About Pepper: Building the digital operating system for the food supply chain
Ivana Tesanovic
Co-Founder of Pepper
Ivana Tesanovic is the Co-Founder of Pepper. Previously, She was a Manager of Baker McKenzie and Massive Insights. Ms. Tesanovic received a bachelor of arts at York University.
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About Pepper: Building the digital operating system for the food supply chain
Roly Nesi
Founder & CEO of Roar Organic
Roly Nesi is the Founder and CEO of Roar Organic.
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About Roar Organic: Roar Organic is a natural line of vegan, low-calorie, low-sugar, electrolyte-infused beverages
Aarti Kochhar Kaji
Co-Founder of Taali Foods
Aarti Kochhar Kaji co-founded Taali Foods in 2017.
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About Taali Foods: Taali Foods is a food company that offers products made from Non GMO, whole, and natural ingredients.
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.
Scott Semel
Founder & CEO of Ripple Brand Collective
Scott Semel is Founder & CEO at Ripple Brand Collective.
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About Ripple Brand Collective: Ripple Brand Collective is a producer of snacks and chocolates under the brand name of barkTHINS.
Hamdi Ulukaya
Founder & CEO of Chobani
Hamdi Ulukaya is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Chobani. After moving to New York from his native Turkey, Hamdi found that in America, yogurt just wasn’t as delicious and widely available as it was back home. Hamdi believed everyone deserved better options, so he set about making delicious, nutritious, natural and accessible Greek yogurt right here in the U.S. The rest, as they say, is history. America’s number one Greek yogurt is made with only natural ingredients. Always has been, always will be. In 2005, Hamdi happened upon an ad for a recently closed yogurt plant. For him, the find was fate, and he knew in his heart he wanted to buy it. The Chobani® dream finally had a home. For the next two years, Hamdi focused on every step of the process. He carefully built his team, which included hiring a master yogurt maker to ensure quality from the ground up. Just nine years after Chobani started, it has become the #1 Greek yogurt brand in the U.S.
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About Chobani, Chobani Food Incubator: Chobani produces and markets Greek yogurt.
Jared Cannon
Founder & CEO of Simply Good Jars
Jared Cannon developed his concept for Simply Good Jars after an award-winning 18 year career as a chef in the food service industry working for celebrated restaurants and growing fast-casual eateries; all the while realizing how there still is an incredible need for faster, healthier food options. Upon graduation from New York City’s reputable Culinary Institute of America, Jared transitioned to Florida International University in Miami to continue his journey in hospitality management and finished his education at Temple University’s top-rated Fox School of Business with a Masters in Innovation and Entrepreneurship. It was at Fox that Jared’s vision for expanding people’s access to healthy food options evolved. Notably, Jared has spearheaded culinary teams at Tria, Iron Hill Brewery and Restaurant, Ritz Carlton Hotels, FS Food Group, honeygrow, and Di Bruno Bros. He has cooked at New York’s legendary James Beard House and has studied cuisine extensively throughout Italy, Mexico, and across the United States. Jared founded Simply Good Jars in the fall of 2017 with the intent to help improve lives and communities through responsible, respectful food choices for everyone. Jared is starting in Philly—the birthplace of America, and our hometown. But get ready. Simply Good Jars are just too good and too important to stay in one place for too long.
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About Simply Good Jars: Simply Good Jars is to make healthy choices easier and to foster a strong and critical connection between local growers, consumers.
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.
Chris Baggott
Co-Founder and CEO of ClusterTruck
Over the course of his career, Chris Baggott has redefined what it means to be a marketer. After co-founding ExactTarget, one of the world’s most successful, publicly-traded email service providers, he saw an opportunity to branch out into content marketing. In 2007, Chris launched Compendium, the leading content marketing platform helping organizations capture and create original content in a branded hub for distribution to any marketing channel. As a marketing futurist, Chris is frequently quoted in national business and marketing trade magazines, and speaks regularly on the topic of digital marketing at hundreds of venues. He is recognized as one of the most influential marketers by Invesp Consulting and BtoB Magazine. His blog was voted “Best Online Marketing Blog” by MarketingSherpa readers and “Best of the Web” by Forbes.
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About ClusterTruck, Tyner Pond Farm: ClusterTruck is a provider of online food delivery platform used to offer foods at the doorsteps of customers.
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.
Chuck Templeton
Founder & Managing Director of S2G Ventures
Chuck Templeton is passionate about early stage and emerging companies, and is focused on using business principles to find solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. He has had the pleasure of being involved with over two-dozen startups as an investor, board member, or advisor, but spends the majority of his time helping impact companies as the Managing Director of Impact Engine. He took his first big step as an entrepreneur in San Francisco when he founded OpenTable, which went public on the NASDAQ in May of 2009 (OPEN). He helped build an industry leading company that changed the way full-service restaurants manage their top-line growth and diners make their dinner reservations. While CEO, he recruited and hired the first management team, obtained and allocated company resources, led the business and product strategy, and carefully crafted a highly dedicated culture. OpenTable is the global leader in restaurant reservations with customers in all 50 states and more than a dozen countries. He used that experience to support the GrubHub team as an Advisor and Director. They grew to be a national leader in providing hungry diners with food delivery and take-out options, while also helping independent restaurants use technology to operate more profitably. Chuck serves as Chairman of the Board for GrubHub and is on the Board of Directors for Getable.com, TaskRabbit, and PVPower. He spent three years serving in the US Army, becoming Ranger and Sniper qualified. Most importantly, he has an amazing wife and two awesome daughters.
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About S2G Ventures, ThinkCERCA: S2G Ventures is a multi-stage venture fund focusing on investments in food and agriculture industries.
Sanjeev Krishnan
Founder, Managing Director & CIO of S2G Ventures
Sanjeev Krishnan is maanaging director and chief information officer at Seed 2 Growth Ventures (S2G).
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About S2G Ventures: S2G Ventures is a multi-stage venture fund focusing on investments in food and agriculture industries.
Guillaume Cuvelier
Founder of SVEDKA
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About SVEDKA: SVEDKA Vodka has been making its mark since it was first imported in 1998.
Jonathan Keidan
Founder & Managing Partner of Torch Capital
Jonathan is the Founder of Torch Capital. A long time entrepreneur and investor, he has spent his career at the intersection of the media, technology and entertainment industries. He is the Co-Founder of digital media company InsideHook and has spent a decade as an active early stage investor and advisor to a number of New York and LA’s top start-ups.
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About The Council on Foreign Relations, Torch Capital: Torch Capital is an early-stage consumer-focused venture capital firm.
Carey Cooper
Co-Founder & CEO of L3 Hospitality Group
Carey is our CEO Extraordinaire. His early success as president of Redi Cut Foods, the largest regional processor of vegetables, made him a supply chain expert. His entrepreneurial spirit has only grown since then and nothing has brought him as much professional joy as becoming a restaurateur. We refer to him as Mr. Positive. He’s the go-to guy in his community and at work… not to mention he can tell you the origin of an avocado by the way it spins on the table.
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About L3 Hospitality Group: L3 Hospitality Group is a restaurant operating company.
Nathan Cooper
Co-Founder & Partner of L3 Hospitality Group
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About L3 Hospitality Group: L3 Hospitality Group is a restaurant operating company.
Jonathon Perrelli
CEO & Co-Founder of LifeFuels
Jonathon’s newest project and startup is LifeFuels, a beverage technology company created with the goal of helping people feel their best, from the inside out. Jonathon and his team will be launching the world’s first portable beverage maker, which makes drinks on the go tailored to match your activity and lifestyle, in 2018. Inspiration for Fortify Ventures and Distilled Intelligence came from Jonathon’s 18 years as an entrepreneur and angel investor. As a native Washingtonian, Jonathon is a key player in the thriving startup technology ecosystem in our nation’s capital. He is dedicated to and passionate about startupland. Jonathon is a proud graduate of Virginia Tech and alumnus of UUNET.
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About LifeFuels, SecureForce: LifeFuels is changing the way consumers approach hydration and nutrition by empowering them to create personalized beverages on the go.
Rob Lawson-Shanks
CTO & Co-Founder of LifeFuels
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About LifeFuels: LifeFuels is changing the way consumers approach hydration and nutrition by empowering them to create personalized beverages on the go.
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.
Katherine Sizov
CEO & Co-Founder of Strella Biotechnology
Katherine Sizov is the Founder and the Co-President of Strella Biotechnology and Co-President of YouthHack’s.
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About Strella Biotechnology: Strella Biotechnology offers a biosensing platform that predicts the ripeness of fruit which reduces waste and improves product quality.
Yonatan Pinhasov
Co-Founder & President of Variety Fun
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About Biohazard Coffee, Variety Fun: Variety Fun is an online a monthly subscription-based snack foods delivery service for business and home.
Ilya Avshalumov
Co-Founder & CEO of Variety Fun
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About Variety Fun: Variety Fun is an online a monthly subscription-based snack foods delivery service for business and home.
Mason Sexton
CEO & Founder of Soozy’s
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About Nomad Interactive, Soozy’s: Soozy’s is a food and beverage company that offers healthy and tasty grain-free baked goods.
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.
Kevin O’Leary
Founder & Chief Sommelier of O’Leary Fine Wines
Kevin O’Leary is an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and television host. O’Leary started his own software company in his basement along with his 5 year partner Gary Babcock. His mother provided the seed investment of $10,000 which he used to start software publisher SoftKey. His partner Gary left just as numerous mergers and acquisitions allowed the company to become The Learning Company and O’Leary took control as president of the Boston based company. In 1999, the Learning Company was sold to Mattel for $3.7 billion USD. In 2003 he became co-investor and a director in Storage Now, a developer of climate controlled storage facilities. Through a series of development projects and acquisitions, Storage Now became Canada’s third largest owner/operator of storage services with facilities located in eleven cities serving such companies as Merck and Pfizer when it was acquired by the In Storage REIT in March 2007 for $110 million. In March 2007 O’Leary joined the advisory board of Genstar Capital, a private equity firm that focuses on investments in selected segments of life science and healthcare services, industrial technology, business services and software. Genstar Capital appointed O’Leary to its Strategic Advisory Board to seek new investment opportunities for its $1.2 billion fund. Kevin now has an office in West Palm Beach Florida.
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About Disney–ABC Television Group, O’Leary Fine Wines: O’Leary Fine Wines is a Wine making private firm and producing top rated wines and other drinks too.
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.
Ghazi Atallah
COO & Co-Founder of Club Feast
Ghazi Atallah currently works as the Chief Operating Officer for Club Feast. He previously worked at Brahman Capital as the Portfolio Manager.
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About Club Feast: Club Feast is a restaurant delivery application that provides pre-scheduled food delivery.
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.
Andrea Xu
Founder & CEO of Umamicart
Andrea Xu is the Founder and CEO of Umamicart.
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About Umamicart: Umamicart is an online grocery store that focuses on delivering Asian products and groceries.
Esther Park
Founder and CEO of Nara Organics
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About Nara Organics: Nara Organics manufactures organic infant formula delivered directly to the consumers.
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.
Lauren Picasso
CEO & Founder of Cure Hydration
Lauren Picasso is the Founder & CEO of Cure Hydration, an all-natural hydration drink mix launching in 2019. Prior to Cure, she was an early employee at Jet.com, an e-commerce company that raised $570M in funding and was acquired by Walmart for $3.3B in 2016. As Director of Marketing at Jet, Lauren worked across a variety of online and offline marketing channels helping to scale the company to over 10 million customers. She was also an early employee of Rent the Runway and has worked for Google, Bloomingdale’s and Ralph Lauren. Lauren has spoken at dozens of major industry conferences including MAU, TAP, eTail West, IRCE, Acceleration & more. Lauren received her MBA from Harvard Business School and B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.
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About Cure Hydration: Cure Hydration offers all-natural, science-backed functional beverages.
Taylor Katzman
Founder & CEO of Provi
Taylor Katzman is the Founder and CEO of Provi.
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About Provi: Provi is a communication platform that simplifies the operations for bars, restaurants, and retailers in ordering booze.
Daniel Berg
Founder of Berg Bites
At age 10, Berg Bites CEO and founder Dan Berg accompanied his father to the gym every week. This exposure to health and fitness was a formative influence over Dan. It didn’t just inspire him to work out. It inspired him to incubate a business idea from the family living room. Preteen Dan began the research and development of Berg Bites in middle school. He taught himself about food and nutrition and purged the family home of junk food. By high school, he was producing the Berg Bites prototype: nutritious and delicious balls of peanut butter, chocolate, oats, and seeds, served to friends and family as the one and only Berg-approved dessert. These crowd-pleasers became the original Chocolate Chip Madness flavor of Berg Bites. Rolled within each bite is the family legacy that nurtured Dan and his vision. Dan’s entrepreneurial spirit and dedication to health food fused in college, where he and his dormmates couldn’t easily find healthy snacks. Dan’s mother shipped the bites to the hungry students, who gratefully devoured them. It was a moment of truth for Dan, who had been thinking about the business angle since high school. It was time to fulfill the call of destiny and transform Berg Bites into the corporation of Dan’s lifelong dream
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About Berg Bites, DRNX, Future Forward Food: Berg Bites provides nutritious, clean label products that consumers can understand and feel good about eating.
Marco De Leon
Co-Founder & CFO of Rip van Wafels
Co-Founder of Rip Van.
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About Rip van Wafels: Rip van Wafels aims to revolutionize the way Americans enjoy their daily coffee.
Pat Vihtelic
Founder and CEO of Home Chef
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About Home Chef: Home Chef is a provider of subscription-based meal kit delivery services to help people to save time while enjoying home cooking.
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.
Osman Khan
Co-Founder of Squared Circles
Osman Khan 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.
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.
Sabah Ashraf
Founder & CEO of Kajaana
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About Kajaana: Kajaana is a modern food brand inspired by beloved Indian classics. Women-led, premium, plant-based, convenient and delicious.
Zach Pelka
Co-Founder of Une Femme Wines
Zach previously served as Founder & CEO of Paytronage, a marketplace for income share agreements (ISAs), an equity-based alternative to traditional student loans, which was eventually acquired by a South American fintech conglomerate, Lumni, Inc. After Paytronage, Zach served as the Head of Capital Markets & Investor Relations across 5 countries at Lumni, leading fundraising, capital structuring, and internal financial management. Previously, Zach had worked in the intersection of finance and technology for PJT Partners, Technology Crossover Ventures, Charles Schwab, and LPS Integration.
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About Lumni, Inc., Mineful, Une Femme Wines: Une Femme makes women-made wines for celebrating life’s big wins: the dream job, the IPO, the smashing of yet another glass ceiling.
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.
