Funding Your Food & Beverage Business

A 4-week workshop series supporting entrepreneurs in the F&B industry who are ready to fundraise

About the Program

Fundraising can be challenging. Receive support from Spring to become investment ready!

Is your F&B business ready for growth and you need funding to make that happen? Are you ready to learn about seeking investors? If so, the Funding Your F&B Business program is for you!

Spring Activator is excited to launch Funding Your Food and Beverage Business, a 4-week workshop series launching May 19, 2022. During this workshop series, businesses will learn all about capital raising for their food and beverage business.

During weekly sessions with Spring’s investment team, you can look forward to learning best practices, tools, and frameworks to help you gain confidence in seeking funding. Opportunities for private consultations with Spring’s Food & Sustainability Program Manager, Lucy Cullen, are available for those who require additional support.

Interested? Scroll down to learn about the program details and apply by May 5, 2022.

"The goal is to provide food and beverage entrepreneurs with everything they need to know about funding their business, the steps involved, and how to gain confidence speaking with investors" - Lucy Cullen

What You Will Learn

Fundraising fundamentals
Pitch development

Sales development

Funding literacy

Negotiating

Due diligence

This Program Sprint Is Right for You If

Are seeking to scale your food/beverage business

Are looking to raise capital and gain confidence speaking with investors

Have not yet done a seed round

Program Details

Workshop Schedule & Topics

May 19—Fundraising Fundamentals
May 26—Pitching and Positioning
June 2— Due Diligence
June 9—Negotiating and Getting to a Close

All sessions are at 11 am PST / 2 pm EST

Format

4 weekly interactive sprint sessions on Zoom – 90 minutes in length
Modules accessible via Spring’s online Learning Management System
Access to the Spring Community and network resources
Ongoing support from the Food & Sustainability Program Manager

Eligibility Criteria

Food, food-centric and/or beverage businesses that is scalable
Interested in doing a pre-seed or seed round
Interested in growing and expanding operations
Support living wage employment opportunities for your teams and suppliers

To Prepare Before You Apply

A brief description of your food business and any product(s) you are looking to grow

Workshop Series Cost

CAD $250 / business (payment plans available) for those who apply by the application deadline May 5 at 11:59 pm PST

Questions? Contact lucy@spring.is

Watch Our Recent Info Session

Our food business experts, Lucy Cullen and Allison Gibson go over program goals and details. This info session is an opportunity for you to get to know them, hear about the workshop series, and listen to others interested also in applying!

This event was held on April 14, 2022, at 11 am PST / 2 pm EST

Who You Will Learn From

Lucy Cullen

Food & Sustainability Program Manager

Lucy has worked in the hospitality industry for 10+ years, and founded two social enterprises in the food space. Before joining Spring, Lucy worked with Forward Food under Humane Society International/Canada which reduces the environmental impact of foodservice menus. She has been named Canada's Top 25 Under 25 Environmentalists twice, and Corporate Knight's Top 30 Under 30 in Sustainability. She is excited to help food entrepreneurs solve complex problems. In her spare time, Lucy enjoys writing and playing music on the piano and saxophone.

Connect with Lucy

Davina McPhail

Investment Program Manager

Davina began her career in microfinance impact research before expanding into banking to deepen her understanding of traditional financial institutions. She has worked in India, London, Paris, Taiwan, and Cambodia, having developed and fundraised for a social enterprise in the latter. Before coming to Spring, Davina worked for a social impact investing fund investing in social enterprises in Europe and Africa.

Connect with Davina

Graham Day

Investment Program Director

Graham has extensive experience working with social enterprises in executive roles. Most recently, he worked as CFO with Sistema.bio—an award-winning company delivering renewable energy solutions to smallholder farmers in developing countries—where he raised over $15m in financing to fund the company's expansion across four continents. At Spring, he is thrilled to expand and enrich the impact investing ecosystem in Canada and help propel amazing businesses to new heights.

Connect with Graham

Kristen Perry

Investment Program Manager

Prior to joining Spring, Kristen built and led a non-profit organization focused on developing high-potential post-secondary entrepreneurs and was a Venture Manager at the Creative Destruction Lab. She has a background in ecosystem development, incubation programming, and operations for entrepreneurs, mentors, and investors. Kristen holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Queen's University with a Certificate in Social Impact.

Connect with Kristen

Ready to Apply?
We're looking forward to receiving your application!

Application Deadline | May 5 at 11:59 pm PST

Interested in Collaborating?

Mentorship, guest speaking, and sponsorship opportunities are available.

Are you looking to engage with up-and-coming entrepreneurs and become part of the growing food ecosystem in Canada? Join our network of mentors, guest speakers, and sponsors!

How you can get involved:

Deliver innovative content through a guest lecture
Work one-on-one with our entrepreneurs to help their businesses grow and thrive
Sponsor a session or a Demo Day prize

Contact Lucy Cullen at lucy@spring.is