Startup CPG

Investor Spotlight: Graham Garzon, GroundForce Capital — Growth Stage Investing, Business Fundamentals, and What It Takes to Build an Acquirable Brand📈 Growth stage investing is a different game — and Graham Garzon has one of the clearest, most grounded perspectives on what it actually takes to build a CPG business that makes it to an exit. Host Hannah Dittman sat down with Graham, VP at GroundForce Capital, a consumer-focused growth equity fund backing brands doing north of $15–20M in revenue, to get into what investors at this stage are really looking for. Here's what every founder needs to hear: 📈 Profitability is no longer optional. Build toward it from the beginning. 📈 The numbers don't tell the whole story. Consumer behavior, retail health, and white space matter just as much as the P&L. 📈 Omnichannel execution is what acquirers want. Retail, DTC, and the processes to manage both. 📈 The best founders know their business deeply — and know what they don't know. 📈 The first investor meeting is simpler than you think. Know your market, your problem, your solution, and why you're raising. That's it. Full episode here: https://lnkd.in/es-7U4yZ #StartupCPG #CPGFounders #GrowthEquity #FoodAndBeverage #Fundraising

The right conversation at a Startup CPG event can open unexpected doors. I Eat My Greens is proof. What started as a frustration with bland, over-processed grocery soups turned into a mission to make healthy food that actually tastes homemade and fits real life. 🥣✨ The team partnered with chefs and local farmers to create veggie-packed, clean-label soups with real ingredients, bold flavors, and nothing you can’t pronounce. Along the way, early packaging challenges led them to partner with rePurpose Global to reduce plastic waste and double down on sustainability. Startup CPG helped open a key door at the Denver Grocery Run, where a real conversation with the Thrive Market team has turned into a major opportunity. Fast forward to today, and I Eat My Greens is now on Thrive Market, reaching 1.6M+ members looking for better-for-you, sustainable food. Follow I Eat My Greens for more on their journey! Stay tuned — we’ll keep spotlighting incredible founders in our Startup CPG Wins series! 🙌 #StartupCPG #CPGFounder #StartupCPGWins #IEatMyGreens #ThriveMarket #BetterForYouFood #StartupStory

💡💡💡💡 JOIN OUR UPCOMING WEBINAR WITH OUR PARTNERS AT NIQ Brandbank 💡💡💡💡 NEXT WEDNESDAY - June 3rd at 1pm EDT / 10am PDT As an emerging brand founder, you've likely got no shortage of ideas.... but which ones are actually worth building??? Ellie (Carrow) Hopkins & Erica Harrison from NIQ's Strategic Analytics & Insights team will be giving us a simple, founder-friendly innovation framework to help you prioritize smarter & reduce risk – without slowing your business down → coming from their combined 20+ years of experience helping emerging brands turn consumer insights into growth! You'll walk away from this one with a practical stage-gate playbook (Explore → Screen → Validate → Forecast) built to drive commercial success for your brand – so you know which ideas to move forward with now and which to save for later. REGISTER FOR THE WEBINAR HERE: https://lnkd.in/edUYjMsn #StartupCPG #CPGIndustry #ConsumerGoods #CPGBrands #EmergingBrands

New Founder Feature: Ashley Whalen of Chara — Bringing Froyo Back, Building in Public, and Why Pressure Is a Privilege 🍦🍦 23 years old. Less than a year in. Already in retail, popping up across SoCal in a renovated vintage VW froyo bus, and collabing with Fabletics. Host Caitlin B. sat down with Ashley, founder of Chara — high protein Greek frozen yogurt packed with living probiotics and naturally sweetened with maple and agave — built out of a college apartment at USC with zero industry experience and a really good idea. Here's what we're still thinking about: 🍦 Froyo deserves a comeback — and Chara is doing it with real ingredients, not artificial sweeteners and kettlebell branding. 🍦 Building in public works. TikTok, pop-ups, and showing up authentically as a young founder has built a community that shows up back. 🍦 Pressure is a privilege. When something goes wrong, it is pushing you to make the next move. Use it as a tool. 🍦 You do not have to have it all figured out when you start. Every hiccup directed Ashley toward the next right step. Listen here: https://lnkd.in/e9dSPJTR #StartupCPG #CPGPodcast #Chara #FounderFeature #FrozenYogurt #CPGFounders #BetterForYou #BuildingInPublic #YoungFounder #EmergingBrands #NaturalFood #FoodInnovation

At this year’s Shelfies tasting, the Startup CPG team spotted several standout trends across the thousands of products they sampled 👀✨ 🛒 From bold flavor combinations you wouldn’t expect, to unique packaging, functional ingredients, and cleaner labels, a number of recurring themes kept showing up again and again. 🔁 Watch until the end to hear each Shelfies judge’s take on the products they tested and the biggest trends they noticed throughout the event. #StartupCPG #Shelfies #EmergingBrands #FoodandBeverage #HealthandWellness

📰 Newswire Roundup is here! It’s been a busy yet exciting time for our emerging brand community, and these latest press releases are seriously worth celebrating. From nationwide launches to award-winning moments, there’s no shortage of big wins happening in CPG right now. See below for a peek at some of the headlines: ✨ Vitaminis Expands National Retail Presence at 400+ Walmart Stores ✨ Rally Launches a Pickle Juice Shot Designed for Fast Muscle Cramp Relief and Cleaner Hydration ✨Shinzo Matcha Matcha Launches Sparkling Matcha Soda ✨Yaza Foods Tzatziki Hits Over 500 Stores ✨NOORA Blends, Inc. Launches Nutrient-Forward Functional Blends Powered by Patented VITERO™ Technology ✨Heatonist and Cantina Royal Bring Epazote to Hot Sauce for in a Limited Collaboration ✨Aerchitect Introduces Nervous System Fragrance — A Category at the Intersection of Fragrance and Neuroscience ✨Hook & Arrow Renews Partnership with First Descents ✨UMAMI GRANOLA Launches the First Cantonese Breakfast Granola for AAPI Heritage Month ✨Daybird Expands Retail Footprint to 500 Doors Nationwide Got a milestone worth sharing? The Startup CPG Newswire is a FREE publishing service for emerging brands to get their news in front of the entire CPG community. Submit today: https://bit.ly/3WC9jsS #StartupCPG #NewswireRoundup #CPGNews #PressRelease #EmergingBrands #CPGCommunity #BrandAnnouncements #CPGFounders #CPG #HeathandWellness #FoodandBeverage

🎯🎯🎯NEW WEBINAR NEXT WEEK - THE REAL COST OF GETTING INTO TARGET🎯🎯🎯 🍬 BEHAVE Candy made it to Target shelves nationwide – and founder Mayssa Chehata is joining us to share the reality of what launching with this major retailer actually takes. On June 1st at 2pm EDT / 11am PDT – she'll be joined by Jackie Bae - Lunr, Director of Client Success Lunr Capital, who spent six years on the inventory mgmt and merchandising teams at Target before working with emerging consumer brands on retail expansion and working capital strategy. Together they'll cover: ➡️ The real costs and operational lift of a major retail launch ➡️ What tools & infrastructure you should have in place before getting the 'yes' ➡️ How to use consumer insights to set yourself up for success post-launch Thanks to our partners at Glimpse for helping bring this one together!!!! 👉 REGISTER HERE - HAPPENING JUNE 1ST: https://lnkd.in/enBErFXz

Hot brands of 2026: ONOIN (oh-no-in) Make your mouth water, not your eyes🥹meet your newest cooking hack. Shelf-stable, pre-chopped, seasoned and flavored onions in 100% olive oil, designed to save you time & up your cooking game. Onoin has secured major pre-launch retailer traction in the NY/NE region and was featured in the Startup CPG sections at the Specialty Food Association Winter Fancy Food Show and UNFI Orlando Show. Onoin also attended the NYC Founders & Funders Roadshow. Marc Brown has a deep R&D and food science background, no surprise he created such yummy flavors - including Jalapeno Lime, Garlic Herb, and Ginger Lemongrass. Big ❤️ to our friends at Wagon Studio on epic branding. Have you tried ONOIN yet? 👇 #StartupCPG #HotBrands #CPGCommunity #FoodandBeverage #HealthandWellness

It’s AAPI Heritage Month, and we’re celebrating the AAPI founded brands in our community 💛 From pantry staples to wellness favorites and everything in between, AAPI founders are shaping the future of CPG with innovation, culture, and bold storytelling. Drop your favorite AAPI-founded CPG brands in the comments below or introduce your own brand 👇 #StartupCPG #CPGCommunity #AAPIFounder #AAPIHeritageMonth

We just hosted our first ever public-facing Grocery Run, and it was a hit! 🛒 For this one, we partnered with Leevers Locavore in Denver and ran the event during store hours, so the 31 sampling brands from the community got their products in front of buyers, community members, AND real shoppers. Leevers Locavore was the perfect place to test a public-facing format. They’re known as a champion for emerging brands, and have created an incredible community-centric experience for their customers. Most of the sampling brands aren’t on shelves at Leevers yet, but we ran a vote among attendees for their favorite brands and we’ll be sharing the results with decision-makers at the store. So shopper enthusiasm could lead to community brands getting shelf space! Thanks to the Leevers team for piloting this format with us, the brands who showed up, and every shopper who stopped by to taste, vote, and meet the founders building the next wave of CPG. Special shoutout to the sponsors, Burst Management, LLC and Cin7 for supporting this event! #StartupCPG #GroceryRun #LeeversLocavore #CPGCommunity