Pre-seed and seed CPG companies have a new financial opportunity courtesy of Ignite20 Ventures, a fund and accelerator program designed to educate and support early-stage food and beverage brands.
Ignite20 Ventures launched an open call for its first fund, which will award 20 innovative CPG startups in food, beverage, health, beauty and pet care with $50,000 each in capital and admission into an accelerator program, Gabriela Morales, CEO and co-founder of Ignite20 Ventures, shared during the Natural Products Expo West.
Funds from Santatera Capital – an investor in Wildwonder, Tia Lupita, Mezcla, Hiyo, Little Sesame and other emerging CPG brands – and Redwood Ventures created Ignite20 Ventures to support emerging brands earlier in their business cycle.
Currently, Ignite20 is accepting applications until May 4 at 11:59 PM ET for its first class of brands. The team will select companies later in May, and the accelerator programming will start in June.
“We are very focused on the founder, and this is why we are building an accelerator,” Morales said. “We are building a 100-day accelerator to help them with connections. For example, we have a module called founder one-on-one, where we help the founder to develop leadership skills, how to fundraise, and how to negotiate with buyers.”
VC funding levels have not returned to 2021 – when venture capital funds flowed into many CPG startups and food-tech companies – but 2025 is shaping up to be a “more optimistic” year, Morales explained.
Recent acquisitions of large CPG brands, like Siete Foods and Simple Mills, and smaller brands like sparkling water company Aura Bora, is providing venture capitalists returns to re-invest in new funding rounds.
Managing Director at Greenwich Capital Andrew Dickow shared similar sentiments at Natural Products Expo West, saying, "2024 was an okay year, but I think you are seeing a big pickup in activity." He added, "I am pretty bullish on what we are going to see in M&A this year."
A founder’s pitch presentation (i.e., pitch deck) is often what piques a venture capitalist’s interest in a company. However, few early-stage companies envision an exit strategy, which might change due to recent acquisition activity, Morales pointed out.
“Everyone in their pitch deck is telling you how much money they need,” Morales said. “We do not really see a slide on ‘this could be my exit strategy,’ but that is also something that could change.”
While many founders have a growth-at-all-cost mentality, they might consider exiting around the $10-20 million mark and then using that capital and support to build another company faster and better, she noted.
“Having the network that you have already built with your first company, that is priceless,” Morales said.
