Taste Radio

Ryan Caldbeck has two words for brands planning to raise capital in 2018: be careful. With billions of dollars in play in the red-hot CPG space, Caldbeck, the co-founder and CEO of funding platform CircleUp, is advising brands to take extra caution when vetting potential investment partners. He believes that while funding opportunities for food and beverage companies are the most abundant since launching the firm in 2013, he’s concerned about the lack of a strategic component in the money that is currently flowing in from large private equity firms and tech-focused venture capital firms. “They will pay close to zero attention from the $2 billion fund that just invested $10 million; they won’t know their name,” Caldbeck said of some large investors. “Now you’ve partnered with someone that’s not going to give you the support beyond capital.” In an interview included in this episode of Taste Radio, Caldbeck noted that “the tailwinds and the structural dynamics for early-stage consumer companies -- call it $1-$15