Jing Gao

What’s going on with the food and beverage tech industry? 🍔 Over the past decade, MAGNiTT has seen a increase in VC investment for F&B startups. However, the momentum slowed after mid-2022. Fast forward to H1 2024, and there's cautious optimism in the air. Early signs of recovery are showing, with 33 deals totaling $84M. Grubtech’s $15M raise and Anabolic's $9M seed funding from the MENA region are two of the standout investments leading the way. 🥙 Local investors are playing a pivotal role, contributing to 79% of all investments in the MENA F&B space since 2010. While international players like 500 Global made early waves—becoming the first to back an F&B startup in 2016—their activity has since declined. On the local front, key players like Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP), Flat6Labs, BY Venture Partners, Vision Ventures (VV), and Shorooq Partners are actively shaping the industry. Compared to other regions we cover, including Southeast Asia and Africa, MENA also leads in F&B exits, with the UAE accounting for eight exits 🇦🇪 🍦 Get the full scoop on F&B trends cooking in EVMs, MENA, and the GCC: https://lnkd.in/dhWPeirb Are you attending Expand North Star in 10 days? Let us know as the team will be around... #VC #FoodAndBeverage #StartupEcosystem #MENA #F&B #Investment #Innovation #Tech #Entrepreneurship #UAE #SaudiArabia #Egypt #EmergingMarkets #VentureCapital

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I had an awesome conversation with Amos Golan of chunk foods about the future of whole cut, plant-based steaks. Whereas the first wave of plant-based startups like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat started with ground meat alternatives, the analog market represents the minority of meat sales vs. whole cuts. Case-in-point, there are lower barriers to entry for ground meat alternatives which have become heavily commoditized in recent years. In this episode, we chat about chunk's minimal list of ingredients thanks to its fermentation of soy flour, current trends around flexitarian vs. plant-based eaters, and the myriad of applications of chunk's versatile SKUs from barbacoa tacos to pastrami sandwiches. Check out the full episode linked in the comments as well as all major audio platforms!

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Paul Graham (co-founder of startup incubator Y Combinator)recently spoke about "founder mode" vs. “manager mode”.  As one of the co-founders of Recoup Beverage, I believe that in the early stages of building a company, founders need to understand every aspect of their business.  In many cases that means diving into the details and getting your hands dirty. Once you've built a solid foundation and a deep understanding of the concepts, then it's time to bring in great talent and share your vision with them.  But without that base, the concept of hire good people and give them room to do their job” can lead to major missteps. At the end of the day, it’s “your” company, and as the founder, it's critical to know enough about every part of it to ensure long-term success. Special thanks to our amazing co-packer and their entire team! #foundermode #startup #buildingyourdream #vision #hardwork #grit

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Founder Mode Activated! Paul Graham of Y Combinator just published an important and controversial post on founders actually being lead by founders. This was partly based on a talk by Brian Chesky 💪 It is a controversial topic because he advocates for being in the details. This can be characterized as the dreaded “micromanagement.” I have argued that in a startup, the founder should know the business and be focused on the areas that move the needle the most (this may be different things at different times). That means being in the details. Without being in the details, a founder/leader cannot properly diagnose the root cause, implement corrective action and, most importantly, make changes/adjustments along the way. I have also encouraged my executives to take on this same ethos of being involved in the most important area of the business. Obviously, this doesn’t mean doing everything and avoiding delegation. That’s not the same thing. Interesting read. Share reactions. #foundermode #startups https://lnkd.in/g_Fn4R28

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Why we invested: Gratsi Wine 🍷💸 We led the seed round of Gratsi back in November of '22. At the time, they had zero distribution and their ecommerce revenue was modest. But we were blown away and ultimately decided to partner with the team for a few key reasons: 1. Metrics and efficiency: the underlying metrics of the business were unlike anything we've seen in the space. Gratsi's ability to acquire and retain customers (online and in retail) is unrivaled. 2. Potential for premium boxed wine: we remain convinced that premium boxed wine will continue to become one of the most important categories in the wine space. The volume, margin, and customer experience implications are massive. 3. Founder vision and execution: Stephen Vlahos has been executing relentlessly against his vision since day 1. As we met and got to know Stephen in the early days, it quickly became obvious to us that he would stop at nothing in his mission to build one of the most important wine companies in the world. It's been an amazing two years for Gratsi since we invested and I'm incredibly proud of what the team has accomplished. But I'm perhaps even more excited for the years to come. This team is truly just getting started. Exciting times ahead for Gratsi and the team! cc: Top Shelf Ventures Noah Slakter Jason Sherman

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Navigating Disagreements with Your Co-Founder: Finding Common Ground in the Startup World ️ Building a #successfulstartup requires a #dynamicpartnership between co-founders. However, navigating strategic differences is inevitable. Here's how I approach finding common ground in the midst of a creative clash: -Acknowledge & Listen: It all starts with acknowledging that a disagreement exists and actively listening to your co-founder's perspective. Understanding their "why" allows for a more productive conversation. -Focus on the Shared Vision: Remind yourselves of the core values and mission that brought you together. -Data Driven Approach:  Base decisions on objective data and analytics rather than personal preferences. -Define roles: Defining area of expertise and a hierarchy in the organization streamlines most decision-making process. Also prevents doubling of labor. -Test & Iterate: Let's face it, sometimes only action reveals the best path forward. Run A/B tests, pilot small projects, and iterate based on results. It allows you to learn together and find what works best. Disagreements are not roadblocks, but opportunities to refine and strengthen your shared vision. By fostering open communication and a willingness to explore new ideas, co-founders can emerge from a strategic clash even more aligned and ready to lead their startup to success! #startuplife #cofounderdynamics #collaboration #leadership Feel free to share your experiences and insights on navigating co-founder disagreements in the comments!

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great talking with Leon Zhang about BetterBasket (YC W24)! we had a similar (worse probably) project going on for an innovation class with some other classmates..but this guy executed! get to know his story below

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When we asked CPG founders who they wanted at Founderland... Their answer was clear: People who can help them grow their business & achieve their goals. Specifically: - The top retailers - The most founder-friendly investors, and - Other founders they can learn from and share with This conversation that I'm hosting at Founderland is a perfect representation of this group, plus one BIG bonus. We're also including Joel Toledano and ChargeUp.ai which is one of my favorite tech companies that is supporting consumer brands today. They automate the retail deduction and chargeback process for brands, saving them an insane amount of time and money. Such a cool co. Excited to teach, share and connect...and get some deals done, while of course having lots of fun. Joel Toledano Jen Zeszut Kim Coffin Deb Conklin

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Update call with a portfolio founder/CEO turned into a riffing session on how to develop the best narrative around the business, which led us to very meaningful discussion on products, core value proposition to customers, and customer personas. Startup sausage-making!

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Are #VC exits in standstill and what does it mean for the #CPG companies? Just a handful of large VC-backed companies have gone public since Q1 2022, exiting at only $70bn cumulative worth. i) less than the value recorded in any quarter in the record-breaking 2021 ii) staggering 90.5% decline from 2021’s record highs of $750bn iii) and more importantly the first time the figure has dipped below $100bn since 2016 What does it mean for CPGs? 1. Strategic Acquisitions: As VC-backed companies struggle to justify their high valuations or demonstrate the necessary fundamentals for IPOs, they may get forced to sell at lower price point to a strategic acquirer, and #FMCG players are well-positioned to capitalize on this lack trend 2. Investment opportunities for CVCs: smaller rounds and less competition may enable CPG companies to get stake in the most promising start-ups that would otherwise be quickly scooped by Sequoias and Tigers of this world ;) 3. Less 'well-funded' competition for incumbents: less exits and lower valuations means the large upstarts challenging leading FMCGs will need to be more frugal with resources potentially stifling investments As the saying goes, “In every crisis lies an opportunity.” CPG leaders who will navigate the best this environment may end up winning disproportionally (as we were writing on the topic) FMCG CEOs: 2023 M&A Report – Seven Key Learnings & Seven Predictions For 2024 https://lnkd.in/dT5A-jGZ To receive the corresponding deck, pl. leave your name in comment To get all our insights, follow us/ subscribe to our CEOs newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eR8vDpvE #strategy #zerobasedgrowth #mergersandacquisitions Frederic Fernandez & Associates

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WHY RETAILERS ARE THE WELTHIES PEOPLE IN THE WORLD? … 2.8 trillion USD turnover with contribution in high marginal part of ~24% or 662 billion of Private Label Manufacturing (write your insight for founders in comments) … Let’s brake it down below 👇 1. Walmart Turnover $572.8B CEO Doug McMillon High margins from private labels (~25% of sales). #GreatValue #Equate #Mainstays 2. Amazon Turnover $469.8B CEO Andy Jassy AWS contributes ~60% of operating income; private labels boost profits. #AmazonBasics #Solimo 3. Costco Wholesale Turnover $226.9B CEO W. Craig Jelinek. 70% of profit from membership fees; Kirkland drives sales. #KirklandSignature 4. Schwarz Group Turnover $140B CEO Gerd Chrzanowski. Lidl's private labels are 80% of products, increasing margins. #Lidl #Kaufland #Deluxe 5. Kroger Turnover $137.9B CEO Rodney McMullen Private brands account for 30% of sales. #SimpleTruth #PrivateSelection 6. Walgreens Boots Alliance Turnover $132.5B CEO Rosalind Brewer . Own brands enhance margins significantly. #Nice #Boots #No7 7. Alibaba Group Turnover $109.5B CEO Daniel Zhang. Cloud revenue up 50%; private labels growing. #TmallCollection 8. The Home Depot Turnover $151.2B CEO Ted Decker Private brands like Husky boost margins. #Husky #GlacierBay 9. ALDI USA Turnover $106.3B CEO Jason Hart (Aldi US). 90% of products are private label, enhancing profits. #AldiBrand 10. Tesco Turnover $74.7B CEO Ken Murphy. Own brands make up 50% of sales volume. #TescoFinest #FandF 11. Carrefour Turnover $80.7B CEO Alexandre Bompard Private labels represent 25% of sales. #CarrefourBio #RefletsdeFrance 12. JD.COM Turnover $114.3B CEO Lei Xu (徐雷) Logistics and private labels increase margins. #JingZao 13. Target Turnover $106B CEO Brian Cornell. 33% of sales from exclusive brands. #UpandUp #CatandJack 14. CVS Health Turnover $292.1B CEO Karen S. Lynch Own brands and health services boost profits. #CVSHealth #GoldEmblem 15. Aeon Turnover $83B CEO Akio Yoshida. Private brands contribute 15% to sales. #Topvalu #HomeCoordy

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I'm excited to announce that Canapi Ventures has led OpenYield's seed round. OpenYield is redefining how bonds are traded and who gets to trade them. Despite being one of the largest global asset classes, fixed income has long lagged behind equities in terms of innovation. Outdated systems, fragmented liquidity, and barriers to access have made bond trading inefficient, opaque, and inaccessible to many, particularly retail investors.   OpenYield is changing that. By delivering an equity-like trading experience for bonds, the platform transforms the fixed income market into a space defined by transparency, efficiency, and access. With real-time pricing, seamless execution, and intuitive workflows, OpenYield is making bond trading easier and more effective for institutional players, market makers, and retail investors alike. This progress wouldn’t be possible without the exceptional leadership of Jonathan Birnbaum and Hilton Lipschitz, whose decades of experience in capital markets and fintech have earned them the right to build a category leader in this market. Also hard to believe that meeting Jonathan over 20 years ago led to this partnership today!   For Canapi’s network of financial institution LPs, OpenYield represents an exciting opportunity to enhance wealth platforms, attract new client assets, and deepen advisor relationships. As the competition for wealth clients intensifies, access to efficient fixed income trading will be a critical differentiator, delivering real value for customers and strengthening client loyalty. Thrilled to be partnering with Ben Savage and Ned Daoro at Clocktower Ventures. Shoutout to Harrison Kioko. More thoughts on our investment thesis here:

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Actress Eva Longoria has joined Siete Family Foods in an equity deal with the goal of building a billion-dollar brand Siete Foods was founded in 2014 and quickly became popular for its vegan, grain-free Mexican-American snacks. Since its launch, Siete has raised more than $90 million in funding. Now Actress Eva Longoria is also part of the brand. Longoria is best known for her work as an actress, but she's no stranger to the food world. She co-founded the tequila brand Casa Del Sol and the cookware brand Risa. Now she is adding Siete Foods to her portfolio. "I'm a long-standing fan of Siete's products, but more importantly, I feel deeply aligned with their mission," Longoria said. "As a fellow Texan who is dedicated to elevating Latinos in business, I'm very excited to partner with Siete and contribute to their next chapter." Siete Foods expects to hit $500 million in annual sales in 2024 and sells its products at 37,000 stores, including Target, Walmart, and more. With this partnership, the goal is to double that revenue to a billion dollars per year, Longoria said. This partnership makes a lot of sense for a few reasons: 1) Longoria had been an ‘organic’ customer of Siete Foods, long before they began to explore a collaboration. It enables her to speak authentically to her +10M followers about the brand. 2) Longoria founded a foundation in 2012 to help Latinas build better futures for themselves through education and entrepreneurship. Siete Foods could function as a flywheel for all the other Latino-owned businesses in her portfolio. 3) (Might be obvious) Longoria is a Latina and has a dedicated following of other Latinos. Clear celebrity-product-market fit if you ask me. 

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I recently saw this metric from Carta’s 1Q24 VC Fund Report, which is very concerning. DPI... is nowhere to be found in earlier vintages that probably should start showing DPI. Funding early-stage projects is great, but ultimately, these venture dollars need to exit their investments and pay back their limited partners. That’s where the metric Distributed to Paid-In Capital (DPI) comes in. While managing a fund, we get interim measures during the life of the fund (e.g. IRR, MOIC), but ultimately, “you can’t eat IRR.” If you want to build a lasting venture capital organization, you need to start showing DPI for your fund. Keep in mind that this is traditional VC data from Carta, and is not strictly crypto venture. Crypto venture tends to get liquidity earlier (tokens) and things tend to go parabolic sooner (faster, more unicorns) - but I’d wager that the data here is somewhat similar for Crypto VCs… Not as much DPI as there should be from these earlier vintages. Read the full article, as well as a recap of all the crypto fundraising rounds for August, here: https://lnkd.in/g3eVJ-iF

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In November 2023, Crunchbase famously declared that 'VCs no Longer Do DTC' - as financings in the category were down 97%. This has led to much conversation around the viability of VC x DTC, and has left many wondering where it all went wrong. Fear not, as I wrote 4,000 words outlining exactly what happened, and it starts by considering the following high profile failures: - Dollar Shave Club, divested by Unilever after a $1 billion acquisition. - Bonobos, sold $75 million after being acquired by Walmart for over $300 million. - Outdoor Voices, imploded after raising $70 million. - Smile Direct Club, from IPO to bankruptcy in just four years. These stories are part of a longer list of DTC brands that faced similar fates. So, how did it happen? The Rise: To understand the downfall, we need to look at the rise of venture capital. VC has grown exponentially—from $30 billion in 2006 to hundreds of billions by 2021. This influx of money meant there were far more funds than viable 'venture scale' investment opportunities. Investors looked for opportunity beyond SaaS The SaaS Illusion In the early days, DTC brands looked remarkably similar to SaaS. High gross margins, recurring revenue models, and heavy investment in technology infrastructure made them appealing to VCs. Oftentimes, DTC brands would have full teams of engineers building their websites and analytics. Ultimately, the products these technology teams were making would prove to be valuable vertical SaaS products (Shopify). Then, Dollar Shave Club was acquired for $1B. Proving that DTC could in fact produce venture returns at real scale. The Fall: VCs had seen DTC as a new frontier. The internet enabled a new wave of brands that could sell directly to consumers that could [apparently] generate massive returns. But as the market matured, cracks began to appear. Ironically, DTC brands that swore to cut out the middleman (retailers) and pass on margin to the customer created new, more powerful middlemen—social media platforms and online marketplaces that proved to be able to capture more margin than any retailer, x100. Additionally - bad accounting, Facebook arbitrage convergence, market saturation, increased competition, inflation, privacy changes, and shifts in consumer behavior post-COVID further eroded profits. The Conclusion: In the end, the DTC model couldn't sustain the weight of expectations. Don't get me wrong - many VCs made a killing on DTC. It is rumored that Kristen Green of Forerunner turned $250k in $35M by investing into Dollar Shave Club's first financing - a notable transaction that I theorize skewed investor underwriting models for the next 10 years. My prediction is that By 2028, it's likely that CPG-focused 'venture' capital will be a thing of the past, and traditional PE firms will prove to be the CPG capital provider of choice. For a deeper dive, read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/g5xnCwHM

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