Who are the most innovative consumer brands of 2019?
Announcing the call for nominations for the seventh annual CircleUp25
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10 Reasons Investors Pass… And, Ways to Enhance the Odds of Raising Capital
By: Andrew Whitman This editorial comes to us from Andrew Whitman, Managing Partner at 2x Consumer Products Growth Partners. 2x Consumer Products Growth Partners joins with founders and management of emerging consumer products businesses capable of growing exponentially via an infusion of capital and management expertise. Representative investments include Beanitos, MegaFood, Orabrush, Tasty Bite and Wellness. Entrepreneurs often ask why investors, and more ...
Trademark Searching: Best Practices for Consumer Brands
By: James Michels Brands are the single most valuable asset many consumer-facing companies own, accounting for nearly 30% of stock market value of companies in the S&P 500 according to market research firm, Millward Brown. So it’s unsurprising that companies maniacally protect their brands with trademarks for words or designs that are unique to their business—including ...
While Silicon Valley Screams Tech, We Say Consumer. Here’s Why.
“Why are you focusing only on consumer product and retail companies at CircleUp—won’t your investors miss out on the next Twitter or LinkedIn?” Alas, living in Silicon Valley, I hear this question often. Here, tech investing isn’t a sub-category of early-stage investing—it is early stage investing. The numbers don’t lie: according to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ and the ...
3 Consumer and Retail Trends to Watch in 2015
At CircleUp we’re fortunate to sit at the intersection of private equity investing and data. This provides us with exceptionally rich insight into what’s happening in the private markets. We capture metrics and indicators from thousands of consumer and retail companies that apply to join the CircleUp platform, as well as activity data from the ...
Time for a snack? M&A in snack food category heats up.
By: Dan Gross Each week we share insights from experienced operators and investors in consumer and retail. This article comes to us from consumer products investor extraordinaire, Dan Gross. Dan Gross is a VP at Encore Consumer Capital. The snack market is alive and kicking. Last week, General Mills announced it was acquiring Food Should Taste Good, ...
CircleUp Insights: Investing in the Pet industry
This week I was at the Global Pet Expo in Orlando, FL, the pet industry’s largest trade show each year with seven thousand attendees. The buzz at the show, and the performance of the companies he talked with, continued to reflect the strong growth of the industry. In particular, alternative format dog food companies are seeing incredible ...