Philanthropic start-up accelerator, The Seed Fund will open for entry on Friday 1 February, offering 12 places on its summer Academy run in partnership with Great Taste, the world’s most coveted food awards. With a packed schedule covering branding, funding, finance, PR, social media and more, this year’s Academy will also feature a brand new investment Pitch Day held at Piper Private Equity in Notting Hill.
In a marketplace where 90% of food and drink start-ups currently fail, The Seed Fund sets out to provide the knowledge, mentoring and opportunities to ensure that these fledgling businesses are able to survive and thrive during their early years. Supported by handpicked industry experts including Renée Elliott, founder of Planet Organic, the Guild of Fine Food’s John Farrand and Camilla Barnard from Rude Health, the Academy delivers a game-changing series of workshops, presentations and one-on-one sessions, run between May and September.
The seventh edition of The Seed Fund will begin with a hands-on Breaking Bread event at the Guild of Fine Food in London, before culminating in the new investment Pitch Day at Piper Private Equity, where the business owners will have an opportunity to present to the panel and secure funding for their brands. One eventual Academy winner will also be awarded a further year of business support and brand development, estimated to be worth over £100,000.
Jayne Noblet of The Collaborators, founder of The Seed Fund, comments: “The bar was raised in 2018, with over 200 entries into The Seed Fund Academy, so we can’t wait to see what comes through this year. It’s tough out there for start-ups, but there’s definitely space on the shelves for great brands run by great people, as millennials continue to fuel demand for non-corporate food brands. The insights and guidance offered by our mentors will be invaluable to anyone who joins the Academy this summer and we’re also incredibly excited to be adding our first investment Pitch Day to the programme. Following a summer of learning and development, this is a chance to land the funding required to transform a big idea into big business, so whether you’re producing gin, jam, coffee or kombucha, we want to hear from you.”
Hitting the road next month on a mission to find the future stars of food and drink, The Seed Fund team will be exhibiting at trade shows including The Source at Westpoint in Exeter on 6-7 February and Fine Food Show North at the Yorkshire Event Centre in Harrogate on 10-11 March.
The Seed Fund can accept entries from any food and drink start-up that have been trading for less than four years, with a turnover under £1,000,000 per annum. The Seed Fund Academy’s Class of 2019 will be announced in May, with this year’s winner due to be unveiled at the Great Taste Golden Forks Dinner in London this autumn.
The Seed Fund will be open for entry from Friday 1 February until Monday 1 April. To apply, visit www.theseedfund.co.uk.
