OVERVIEW

This quick bites virtual event presents the perspectives of four finance professionals in a roundtable discussion about the financial landscape for raising capital in the food & beverage industry. They reflected on food venture financing trends in 2023 and discussed how the food and beverage capital markets might change in 2024.

Our panel of industry experts explored the dynamics shaping the mergers and acquisitions landscape and offered an insider’s take on the past, present, and future of food venture financing.

PANELISTS

We heard from:

• Don Buder, Partner at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

• Rodney Clark, Managing Partner at Aspect Consumer Partners

• Dan Harris, Partner, Head of Corporate Practice at BraunHagey & Borden

• Anna Whiteman, Principal at Coefficient Capital

HIGHLIGHTS

A few highlights from the discussion:

• 10:25 – Anna Whiteman, Principal at Coefficient Capital, discusses what she believes are “the biggest factors that are causing headwinds in the food and beverage space.”
• 22:11 – Don Buder, Partner at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, mentions what categories he is seeing the most traction in and which early-stage companies are gaining investments.
• 30:26 – Rodney Clark, Managing Partner at Aspect Consumer Partners, projects more activity and potentially higher valuations in the coming quarters, noting that really strong companies have been doing well in these markets although “valuations overall have drifted down. We’ll see if the overall market gets buoyed a bit.”
• 33:07 – Dan Harris, Partner, Head of Corporate Practice at BraunHagey & Borden, touches on the idea that in addition to valuation and terms on equity financing investment, the investment vehicle itself is an important element, “We’re still seeing a lot more by way of convertible securities.”

VIEW VIDEO

• Watch the video recording on YouTube