#173 - The Food Investors: Capital for Emerging CPGs
Host Daniel Scharff moderates a panel of CPG investors Greer Tessler (Simple Food Ventures), Daniel Faierman (Habitat Partners), Carolyn Simmons (Melitas Ventures), and Andrew Reynolds (RCV Frontline) to discuss the current fundraising landscape for early-stage food brands. The investors detail realistic valuation ranges for pre-seed and seed rounds, emphasizing that gross margins must exceed 35% to justify investment in the current climate. They highlight key trends such as protein enrichment, clean-label baby foods, and sugar reduction, while advising founders to bootstrap as long as possible and leverage founder networks for introductions rather than cold outreach.