USA – PepsiCo has announced the ten emerging food and beverage brands that will join its first collaborative accelerator program in North America, Nutrition Greenhouse North America.
According to the company, each of the participating startups will receive US$20,000 in grant funding and participate in a 6-month business optimization program.
The Nutrition Greenhouse program is designed to accelerate the growth of these startups with personalized mentorship from experts at some of PepsiCo’s leading and emerging brands.
The PepsiCo mentors will collaborate with the startups on areas ranging from marketing, distribution, manufacturing, supply chain, packaging, label claims, and fundraising, in addition to addressing other challenges related to growing their business.
“Nutrition Greenhouse was created with the intent of supporting change-making startups of the future,” said Daniel Grubbs, Managing Director, PepsiCo Ventures Group.
“We are very excited to collaborate with, help grow, and learn from these incredible companies.
Each finalist is unique in their own way, but one thing they all share is they’re mission-driven and purposeful, which is very much aligned with our own Performance with Purpose agenda.”
The chosen food and beverage brands include Bohana, Hapi Drinks, IQ BAR, Remedy Organics, Rule Breaker Snacks, Sophie’s Kitchen, Too FIT, Torii Labs, Wildway and YoFiit.
At the end of the program, one company will receive an additional US$100,000 in funding based on the company’s progress, the level of collaboration and partnership with the PepsiCo mentors, and the effective use of the initial US$20,000 grant.
That company will also have the opportunity to continue partnering with PepsiCo.
PepsiCo said the finalists were selected by an external and internal committee of the company, chosen based on their product and brand qualities, focus on consumer nutrition, scalability of their business model and uniqueness in the market.