Raising Capital | Edible-Alpha® Learning Center

Working with Private Equity In Your Food or Beverage Business

10 minutes of Free video by Edible-Alpha®

Private Equity investors are interested in being an owner of a company (perhaps not the controlling interest). This means the business owner must sell the company at some point, and the sale offers a return upon the successful sale or "exit" at sale. Private Equity investors invest in some of the more high-risk investments in the marketplace.

Video about Raising Capital for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Working With Grants Like The USDA’s Value-Added Producer Grant

15 minutes of Free video by Edible-Alpha®

The best entrepreneurial candidates for VAPG do their due diligence, looking at all aspects of the business, like financing, marketing, product testing, talking to others and hire a team (like lawyers, accountants, etc.) that can help them before rushing into the process.

Video about Business Models for businesses that are Pre-Venture | Startups

Advice From Food Entrepreneurs to Food Entrepreneurs

35 minutes of Free video by Edible-Alpha®

Having your own business is difficult and as a founder, you start out with just you. So many things that are difficult to deal with happen in business and how you adapt is key to business survival. Finding creative revenue streams and maybe even a new business model can be the way your business survives deaths, fires and funding falling through.

Video about Business Models for businesses that are Pre-Venture | Startups

Communicate Your Financials Well to Raise Capital

5 minute Free read by Edible-Alpha®

As more and more consumers demand healthy, natural and free-from foods and as more capital and technical assistance is made available for new and innovative brands, the brands that survive will be the ones who take their communication about their financial position (and other metrics like store velocities) seriously.

Article about Raising Capital for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Financing Your Value-Added Farm or Food Business

Financing Food and Beverage Businesses, An Overview

55 minutes of Free video by Edible-Alpha®

Food, beverage and value-added agriculture businesses need to raise money serially in order to grow. And, they need different kinds of money at different stages of their growth path. And, specific sources of money are often for specific uses, and all of this needs to be documented.

Video about Business Models for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Equity Crowdfunding

15 minutes of Free video by Edible-Alpha®

Equity-based crowdfunding (not to be confused with donation or rewards-based crowdfunding) is a new industry and it may not be worth pursuing as a source of capital for such small amounts of money from so many investors who now have an ownership stake in the business.

Video about Raising Capital for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Investor Pitch Deck Template

12 Free powerpoint slides by Edible-Alpha®

This deck provides the standard outline of topics that any food, beverage or value-added farm business would need to pitch investors on their business model. The main goal of the presentation is to communicate the vision, strategy, and business model enough to capture the investor attention and interest.

Tool or Template about Raising Capital for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Farm Credit and Value-Added Agriculture

1 hour & 5 minutes of Free audio by Edible-Alpha®

The farm credit system includes many lending organizations around the country and is a great source of financing, including for non-traditional farmers like CSAs and value-added on-farm processors. These institutions also sometimes provide educational opportunities around financial literacy, financial statements and what it takes to successfully repay a loan

Podcast about Raising Capital for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Working With Credit Unions Like Summit Credit Union To Grow Your Food Business

55 minutes of Free audio by Edible-Alpha®

This podcast outlines what it is like to work with credit unions. Summit helps food entrepreneurs access SBA 7a programs to provide up to $5 million of capital to younger businesses for working capital, inventory, and equipment purchases. The SBA 7a Express program provides a quicker turnaround than the traditional 7a, allowing for loans up to $350,000.

Podcast about Raising Capital for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Working With Alternative Lenders like WWBIC To Grow Your Food Business

50 minutes of Free audio by Edible-Alpha®

This podcast outlines what it is like to work with alternative lenders and CDFIs like WWBIC. WWBIC offers a combination of relevant business classes, business loans up to $250,000, assistance with personal financial management, and connections to people who can make things happen for business owners and entrepreneurs across the state of Wisconsin.

Podcast about Raising Capital for businesses that are Pre-Venture | Startups

Getting All The Way to a Strategic Investment In Your Food Company

50 minutes of Free audio by Edible-Alpha®

Stephen and Chris McDiarmid of Gorilly Goods, a certified organic raw healthy snack maker in Jackson, Wisconsin talk about how their dehydration process and unique flavor profiles make them defensibly unique from other snack brands and how focusing on pitching their business model led to strategic investment in their company.

Podcast about Business Models for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Formation Documents, Raising Equity, and Protecting Recipes

30 minutes of Free audio by Edible-Alpha®

The type of entity you form and the type of legal protections you undertake matters in terms of your strategic path to grow and what kinds of money you are able to raise to support that growth. When raising equity, find legal counsel that understands what you need to do to comply with securities law and its required disclosures to investors or potential investors.

Podcast about Raising Capital for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Building Yumbutter Into a National Nut and Seed Butter Brand

1 hour of Free audio by Edible-Alpha®

Matt D'Amour of Yumbutter talks about the challenges in growing a national food brand and it is important to raise the right amount of money (usually more than you think) to support the roll-out of your national brand in grocery stores. It is important for your brand to have multiple pillars to remain defensibly unique.

Podcast about Raising Capital for businesses that are Growing and Scaling