Successful food startups

“Food is one of the top global problems, after water, in terms of quality, quantity, distribution, and access, ” she says. “At the same time, it’s become extremely clear to people that, in terms of health and wellness, you are what you eat. Kids are becoming more educated, and an aging population has recognized how much food shapes their lives. There’s been a lot of innovation in the way food is grown, produced, distributed, packaged, and consumed. It’s a very exciting time.”

Prior to her work with food startups, Janis spent 25 years working with startups and innovators mostly in the financial services industry, including at J.P. Morgan, where she ran the firm’s business incubator, LabMorgan.

Soon after retiring 10 years ago to devote herself to community service and raising her daughter, she began helping farmers and food entrepreneurs in Southwest Connecticut bring their products to market and expand their companies.

Since then, she has seen a groundswell of investor interest in the space.

“Where most investors are looking to invest now is food science, ” she says, “changing the way food is created. But we’re also seeing investor interest in how food is packaged, distributed, and made accessible. There is a lot of innovation in those areas.”

This interest from Connecticut investors is part of a larger picture. An article in the New York Times last April points to the increased investment in food startups from major venture capital firms in Silicon Valley. The article cites a recent report showing that, in 2012, Silicon Valley VC firms invested $350 million in food technology startups, an increase of 37% over the previous year. Janis also pointed to an excellent talk given by Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures, where he speaks about his enthusiasm for food innovation and investment. (The food-related portion of the video begins at 9:10.)

Connecticut Food Startups

Janis mentioned several companies, including some that were featured at her Westport event, to illustrate the growth of the food startup space in Connecticut, including Encendia Biochar, Green and Tonic, Actual Food, Jerri Graham’s Nothin’ But Foods, and Amy and Tom Barnouw’s Planet Fuel.

For our part, The Whiteboard discovered several other food startups during our recent trip to reSET in Hartford, including Karen Pace’s PeaceBar and Maureen Farmer’s The Farmer’s Garden, both of which participated in the reSET Social Enterprise Accelerator last year. And if you cast your vote for the top social enterprise in reSET’s Social Enterprise Challenge Awards, you’ll see that three of the finalists are food-related, including Wayne Gryk’s ThinkitDrinkit, Ray Xiong’s Farmivore, and Roger LaChanc’s REL Distributors and Yummy Connecticut.