Event Details

Looking Back, Looking Forward - Trends in Food Venture Financing in 2023 and Prospects for 2024


Join Naturally Bay Area for a roundtable discussion about the financial landscape for raising capital in the food & beverage industry. We'll reflect on food venture financing trends in 2023 and discuss how the food and beverage capital markets might change in 2024. Our panel of industry experts will explore the dynamics shaping the mergers and acquisitions landscape and offer an insider's take on the past, present, and future of food venture financing.

Speakers

  • Don Buder (Partner, Food & Beverage Practice at Davis Wright Tremaine)

    Don Buder

    Partner, Food & Beverage Practice at Davis Wright Tremaine

    https://www.dwt.com/

    Don is a strategic legal advisor and corporate counsel to emerging growth and middle-market Food & Beverage, Food Tech, and Ag Tech innovators and investors. His clients are based in the major U.S. food hubs, including the Bay Area, Boulder, Brooklyn, Austin and Los Angeles. His law firm, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP (DWT), has one of the largest food & beverage practices in the United States, with over 40 attorneys serving food venture entrepreneurs, emerging brands, larger food companies, and the private equity firms that invest in them, at every level of the food chain from "Farm to Label". Don is a Founding Faculty Member and member of the Advisory Board of the Food Business School at the Culinary Institute of America (Napa Valley). He currently serves as the Vice-Chair of the board of Directors of KCETLink TV, the public television station in LA, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Technion Society - San Francisco Chapter.

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  • Rodney Clark (Managing Partner at Aspect Consumer Partners)

    Rodney Clark

    Managing Partner at Aspect Consumer Partners

    https://aspectconsumer.com/

    Rodney Clark is Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Aspect Consumer Partners, a boutique M&A, strategic and corporate finance advisory firm based in San Francisco, California. Rodney is passionate about providing companies and entrepreneurs with the right advice to help them grow and succeed, and has spent the past 25 years focused on advising companies in Food & Beverage, Consumer Products, Health, Wellness & Lifestyle companies. His experience includes a wide variety of strategic and financial advisory assignments including, buy- and sell-side mergers and acquisitions, public offerings and private placements and Rodney has completed over $68 billion in M&A and financing transactions across a number of key industries. Rodney lives with his wife and two children in Marin County, California, and in his spare time he enjoys trail running, cycling, yoga, surfing and reading.

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

    Dan Harris

    Partner, Head of Corporate Practice at BraunHagey & Borden

    https://www.braunhagey.com/

    Dan Harris is a partner and head of the Corporate Practice Group at BraunHagey & Borden. Dan works closely with a wide range of innovative food system technology, CPG, software, hardware, and marketplace-based companies throughout their life cycles, advising on general corporate and commercial matters, equity and debt financings and mergers and acquisitions. Dan’s core practice also involves representing a number of leading investors in the CPG and technology sectors. Dan focuses on providing his clients commercially-grounded advice geared towards achieving their ultimate business goals and has represented companies and institutional investors in transactions totaling more than $3 billion over the past two years alone.

    Dan lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his family. He enjoys exploring the world with his family and embraces his role as culinary guide on their trips. When in the Bay Area, you may find Dan reliving his days of playing competitive sports, perusing local farmers’ markets or cooking with his daughter and son. Dan is also a self-proclaimed oenophile.

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  • Anna Whiteman (Principal at Coefcap)

    Anna Whiteman

    Principal at Coefcap

    https://www.coefficientcap.com/

    Anna is a Principal and on the founding team of Coefficient Capital, a multi-stage investment fund focused on consumer and technology investments. Forbes named Anna 30 Under 30 for Venture Capital, Entrepreneur Magazine named Anna to its 100 Powerful Women list, and Business Insider has named Anna a Rising Star in Venture. She is also the founder of a top national networking group for female founders with over 150 active members.

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