Our Sponsors

BIGR Ventures

Founded by proven industry veterans Carole Buyers, Duane Primozich, and Bill Weiland in December 2015, BIGR Ventures is a growth equity fund providing value-added, strategic partnership and capital to promising early-stage natural and organic products. Headquartered in Boulder, CO, and boasting 70+ years of combined natural product experience between its founders, BIGR Ventures leverages unparalleled industry relationships and experience to maximize the potential of promising young companies.

Holland & Hart LLP

Holland & Hart has been a part of the Food & Beverage industry for decades, helping our clients through the entire lifecycle of a company’s growth and with an office at the epicenter of natural and organic products – Boulder, Colorado. We don’t just have “clients” in the Food and Beverage industry — our friends are entrepreneurs alongside you. We get what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. And we’re here to help with practical legal solutions and specialized practices to address niche food and beverage legal needs.

We share the passion you have for your mission, your company, and your unique products. You can review a representative list of some of the folks we have the opportunity to work with at: https://www.hollandhart.com/food-and-beverage.

Social Nature

With a mission to shift consumer purchasing patterns to more natural products, Social Nature is a trusted online platform for consumers to discover, try & review natural products.

Brands tap into our community of half a million shoppers to build and activate consumer demand for natural products at retailers online and offline.  We collect over 50 data points on each member so we can hyper-target our community for sampling and insights.

Over 500 better-for-you brands leverage Social Nature’s community to:

– Drive targeted sampling at retailers online or offline
– Syndicate product reviews to e-commerce channels
– Collect consumer feedback and test new product concepts

AVL Growth Partners

AVL is your dedicated finance and accounting team, “always on”, responsive and available whenever you need us. As a full-stack CFO firm, we provide a complete breadth of skills and finance & accounting expertise; flexibly delivering services how you need it, when you need it.

Good Karma Foods

Good Karma’s commitment to goodness spans across nutrition, taste and values. We are committed to being major allergen free, minimally processed, free of additives, and full of good fats. We are also sustainable, free of GMOs, and kind to animals. On top of all of that, we stand behind products that have variety, are creamy and delicious, and contain nutrients like calcium and protein.

Ingredion

Manufacturer’s Edge

As a NIST MEP approved center, Manufacturer’s Edge is the official representative of the MEP National Network in Colorado. Manufacturer’s Edge encourages the strength and competitiveness of Colorado manufacturers through coaching, training, and consulting, collaboration-focused industry programs, and by leveraging government, university, and economic development partnerships.

Through onsite support and technical assistance, Manufacturer’s Edge works to boost the competitiveness of Colorado manufacturers. The experienced engineers and business professionals work closely with manufacturers to provide company assessments and customized solutions including hands-on facilitation and implementation.

ORGANIC INDIA

At the heart of ORGANIC INDIA is our commitment to be a living embodiment of love and consciousness in action. ORGANIC INDIA’s Tulsi teas and herbal supplements are ethically and sustainably grown by small family farmers using regenerative agricultural practices. We provide meaningful livelihoods, as well as whole herb solutions for healthy, conscious living.

Sunrise Strategic Partners

Sunrise Strategic Partners provides growth capital and expertise to emerging brands in the healthy, active and sustainable living space. We team up with founders to add strategic value, share guidance on tactical priorities and leverage our industry relationships to maximize potential. The team at Sunrise has been growing businesses for over 30 years and has deep experience with the unique challenges and decisions that growing brands face. We partner with passionate founders who are ready to take their business to the next level, because we know scaling your brand can be a challenging journey. We know because we’ve been there.

Moss Adams

Moss Adams is a fully integrated professional services firm distinguished for our depth of industry knowledge, including food & beverage. We take the time to understand each client’s business or individual situation, anticipate needs, and identify gaps before they become obstacles. Plus, our strength in the middle market enables us to advise clients at all intervals of development—from start-up, to rapid growth and expansion, to transition. At Moss Adams, we bring our spirit of optimism and enterprise, and believe in the great promise of our clients, our people and the markets we serve.

Kate’s Real Food

Kate’s Real Food proudly provides you with real, lasting energy from organic, whole-food ingredients– for all the energy you need, and a great taste you’ll love. Each product is USDA certified organic, naturally gluten free, soy free, non-GMO, kosher, and sweetened with organic honey. We keep it simple with only real food for real energy.

Purely Elizabeth

Purely Elizabeth is an all natural and organic food company that creates products using the most innovative, nutrient-rich ingredients. Purely Elizabeth’s product lines include Ancient Grain, Grain-Free and Probiotic Granolas, Ancient Grain Muesli, Oatmeal and Cereal, all of which are certified gluten free, vegan, organic and non-GMO project-verified.

City of Boulder

The City of Boulder Economic Vitality Program is pleased to sponsor Naturally Boulder. The natural products industry is a natural fit for Boulder’s environment and consumers. Naturally Boulder fosters business growth as Boulder’s largest and most evolved “industry cluster.”

KeHE Distributors

KeHE is dedicated to the success of our customers and suppliers by providing exceptional marketing, merchandising, and distribution services.  KeHE Distributors prides itself in being employee owned and operated.

Whole-Brain-Consulting, LLC

Looking for comprehensive outsourcing operations management services? Whole Brain Consulting is a fully integrated consultancy providing operations and supply chain management services to companies that outsource the manufacturing of their product. We provide a full suite of services, from contract manufacturer management to food quality and safety services.

Survey.com

Survey.com partners with brands to help them win at the shelf. Our goal is to empower brands with data and technology to offer targeted solutions to their specific retail challenges. The Survey.com platform prescribes data driven sales and execution strategies, at the store level, that result in increased sales, execution optimization and overall brand awareness.

Kurtz Fargo LLP

Kurtz Fargo LLP is a nimble accounting firm based in Boulder, CO, that provides high-quality assurance, tax, and advisory services to emerging growth, small, and mid-sized businesses .The Firm is committed to delivering high quality expertise, outstanding client service and utilizing cutting edge technology and research tools. We combine high-level expertise with a personal and involved client approach. Together, we build lasting partnerships to create, grow, and sustain healthy companies. Working hard to understand your unique business challenges, we tailor solutions to shape your complex problems into simple, clear results.

ROOT Marketing & PR

ePac

Located in Boulder, CO; ePac is a new kind of flexible packaging company focused on providing high-quality packaging solutions, with eye-popping graphics, for Natural and Organic brands of all sizes. Using state of the art digital technology ePac offers locally produced, custom printed finished pouches and rollstock, ships all orders within 3 weeks of art approval, and specializes in short to medium length runs.

The a2 Milk Company

Ordinary cows’ milk contains a mix of both A1 and A2 proteins. Only a2 Milk® comes from cows hand-picked to naturally produce only A2 protein and no A1 – and that makes all the difference.

Eco-Products

Eco-Products is the nation’s leading brand of single use foodservice packaging made from renewable and recycled resources. Their products are, relative to traditional counterparts, gentler on the environment because they require fewer virgin resources to produce, and make diversion from landfills an option upon disposal. Visit www.ecoproducts.com for more information.

I and love and you

We make grain free and raw foods, healthy chews + treats, and supplements for dogs and cats. Everything a well-rounded pet needs, minus a tummy rub. We’re still trying to figure out how to put that in a package.

Ripple Foods

Lily’s Sweets

Lily’s Sweets’ mission is to surprise and delight consumers with delicious, low-sugar treats.

makeena, inc

Makeena is the natural products industry’s mission-driven shopper data insight platform – focused on connecting brands and consumers through product knowledge, curated information, and repeat purchase behavior tools to drive revenue results.

Green Chef

It’s right in the name: Green Chef is all about eating and living green. We are a USDA certified organic company. We work with farmers to source sustainable, delicious ingredients.

SPINS

Since 1995, we have provided market measurement information and specialized insights into the trends that are top of mind for health and wellness consumers. Our comprehensive offerings include retail measurement services, consumer information and advanced analytics for the natural, specialty and conventional retail channels.

Caliper Ingredients

Caliper Ingredients, a division of Caliper Foods, provides standardized, shelf-stable formulations of water-soluble cannabinoid ingredients to quality-focused food, beverage, supplement, and cosmetic manufacturers. Caliper Ingredients is a local Colorado company supporting startups as well as national brands.

Natural Food Works

We are Natural Food Works, a specialty food manufacturer that offers contract manufacturing and private label services. We specialize in consumer food products made with better-for-you ingredients at the highest quality standards. Our facility is FSMA certified as SQF Level 2 and we are able to produce with Gluten Free, Non-GMO, Organic, Kosher, and USDA certifications. We are owned by operators who started out running brands and appreciate the difficulties that founders and brand owners face because we’ve been there ourselves. Reach out to us for any of your co-packing and private label needs!

OMG, Inc.

For over 30 years, we have developed a deep expertise on Target, built category knowledge in key focus businesses, nurtured longstanding partnerships, and driven mutually beneficial growth for our partners.

Redzone Production System

At Redzone we take a systematic approach to improving productivity & food safety, using easy to deploy social technology combined with coaching. Built for food, beverage & CPG companies, our capabilities provide real-time, plant wide visibility into key metrics such as OEE with integrated food safety/quality management in a single platform. By leveraging next generation consumer style mobile technology, the system goes live in 1 week with minimal training, empowering the shop floor and wider workforce with real-time manufacturing intelligence. Redzone benchmarked its 1st 400 deployments and demonstrated an average 13.3% productivity improvement in 90 days; the equivalent to $612k in annualized cost savings.

Javo Beverage Company

Javo Beverage Company is passionate about its superior and authentic products derived from its simple, perfected cold-brew process. Its values of quality, employee and customer welfare, and sustainability drive its culture and priorities, as they are evident in everything Javo does. Javo sources the best products from this great planet and recognizes the importance of taking care of it in return. That’s why Javo’s commitment goes above and beyond providing authentic, quality coffee, tea and botanical extracts. Its spent coffee grounds from production are repurposed; its dispensers have lower energy consumption and all Javo boxes are made from 100% recyclable materials. Javo is also proud to offer a full-spectrum of sustainable products, including Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance, Kosher, and Certified Organic products.

Aurora Organic Dairy

Aurora Organic Dairy’s mission is making high-quality organic milk and butter more affordable and available for American families. Founded in Boulder, CO in 2003, the Company is a leading producer of private-label and store-brand organic milk and butter for U.S. retailers.

Bobo’s Bars

Bobo’s Oat Bars have a moist and delicious home-made taste unlike any other snack bar on the market. Our vegan bars are made with NON-GMO, natural and organic ingredients and come in ten tasty original flavors and six new gluten-free flavors. Our gluten-free bars are just as outrageously yummy as our original flavors, so there’s no feeling of compromise.

Sterling-Rice Group

Sterling-Rice Group was formed in 1984. Having had experience in large, sophisticated packaged goods companies and small, intuitive, entrepreneurial firms, the founders saw value in both approaches. Quaker, Jovan, Celestial Seasonings and Frito-Lay were among the first clients. Today, companies that could go anywhere in the world come to Boulder to work with us.

The Jackfruit Company

BRYAN CAVE LEIGHTON PAISNER LLP

BFG Partners

BFG seeks partnerships with early stage food and beverage consumer product companies. BFG works alongside exceptional entrepreneurs to ensure the business is able to deliver sustainable growth and outperform its competitors.

Sherpa Chai

All Packaging Company

All Packaging Company, a Denver manufacturer of retail paperboard packaging, utilizes the latest technologies and sustainability practices. While big enough to sell to the major brands, we are small enough to offer real service and support to local startup companies.

Propeller Industries

Propeller Industries is the leading outsourced CFO and accounting services provider for venture-stage companies throughout the US.  Leveraging our scalable technology ecosystem, deep industry expertise, and global operating platform, we help great entrepreneurs build great companies!

Boulder Organic Foods LLC

Boulder Organic Foods’ mission is to craft “oh my gosh!” good organic food with uncompromised nutrition using garden-fresh ingredients. We’ve got a major thing for organic eating and we’re not ashamed to show it. Some may call our love of nutritious, fresh soup an obsession, but around here we just call it delicious business as usual.

CU – Masters of the Environment

The Masters of the Environment (MENV) Graduate Program at the University of Colorado Boulder is an innovative, interdisciplinary professional master’s degree that equips students with the knowledge, skills, and experience necessary to address the complex environmental challenges of the 21st Century. This 17-month, immersive, cohort-based graduate program builds students into leaders in a wide range of careers in conservation, consulting, energy, natural resources, planning, policy, sustainability, and more.

Encore Consumer Capital

Encore Consumer Capital is an innovative private equity firm built specifically to help consumer products companies grow. We invest exclusively in leading consumer products companies, and utilize the experience and network of our operating partners at Encore Associates to accelerate their growth.

Kinneberg Management Group

KMG has tremendous expertise in launching, developing and thoughtfully growing brands at Target and Walmart.  Partnering with Brands to navigate the Mass Channel is our core competency.  We are particularly focused on the rapidly growing categories within which natural, organic, socially responsible, eco-friendly and other healthy lifestyle products continue to disrupt and gain market share.

Moxie Sozo

Moxie Sozo is a full-service creative agency, with accounts in North America, South America, Asia, Europe and Australia. Our clients range from early-stage startups to global brands like Nike, Nickelodeon, and Gruppo Campari. Since starting in 1999, we’ve helped our clients sell several billion dollars worth of products, goods & services. From the initial brand strategy to final delivery, we are fanatical about coming up with original solutions. Our comprehensive approach has been developed and refined over the course of thousands of projects for hundreds of brands. We obsess about the details and are not happy until our clients are happy.

Summit Venture Management

Summit Venture Management consults and partners with entrepreneurs and equity investors on business and brand growth initiatives.

Wells Fargo

The Wells Fargo Food & Beverage Finance Group, is a national team of experts with dedicated focus on the Food & Beverage industry.  This team possesses vast experience and deep industry knowledge of what is important to our customers.

Fresca Foods Inc

Fresca Foods helps young natural food companies grow quickly into national brands. We partner with innovative companies that inspire conscious consumers and transform traditional food categories. Fresca brings manufacturing, brand management and growth capital, and together we build category leading brands.

DeLine Box & Display

Weller

Ancient Harvest

The Quinoa Corporation brought the first 50 lb bag of this unknown grain into the United States to share with the natural foods industry. Since that time, we have spread the word of this amazing grain to all corners of the earth.

Little Secrets

We’re all about sourcing the best ingredients and creating premium blends without any artificial ingredients, flavors or colors because the words “delicious” and “natural” can and should absolutely go together. Pretty regular at everything else, but our candy game’s tight. And like any good little secret, sharing is optional.

Boulder Economic Council

The Boulder Economic Council, an affiliate of the Boulder Chamber, is a group of prominent business and community leaders committed to Boulder and its economic well-being.

Customer Marketing Group, Inc.

For more than 20 years, Customer Marketing Group (CMG) has helped leading and emerging brands maximize the efficiency of their trade spend, generating a minimum 200% ROI in the first year. How do we do it? A dedicated team with extraordinary academic qualifications, analytical firepower, and real world industry experience fully focuses its expertise on the complex job of optimizing your trade budget.

SRW

SRW is the agency built for natural, wellness and better-for-you brands. With offices in Chicago and Colorado, we’re always at-the-ready to make an impact for growing brands through digital media and classic good thinking. Our methods have launched and fueled companies like Simple Mills and Kite Hill, and continue to propel wellness world mainstays and newcomers, to boot.

Maty’s

Growing frustrated that modern medicine wasn’t helping her daughter Maty with her health challenges, Carolyn Harrington was inspired to begin researching natural ways of healing.  What started with a mission to keep her friends and family healthy became what is now known as Maty’s Healthy Products.  Maty’s is focused on providing pure, all natural, and organic alternatives to traditional medication without a long list of scary side effects.  Join our movement and rethink your medicine cabinet with Maty’s whole food health alternatives!

Center for Education on Social Responsibility, The Leeds School of Business, CU-Boulder

Hope Foods

Simply put, our products make us happy and we hope to make you happy. We believe that business has the potential to have a deeper purpose — to generate HOPE. We are about people. We are about health. We are reliable. We are responsible. We are charitable. We are sustainable. We are HOPE.

CleanWell

Company description – CleanWell has been delivering proprietary, botanical-based, clean-without-compromise formulas since 2005. We develop our products with one belief: that harmful germs can be eliminated safely with the power of nature. With powerful botanical ingredients like Thymol to refreshing plant-based fragrances, our germ-fighting household disinfectants, hand sanitizers, and hand soaps are safe for the whole family—no harsh chemicals or harmful ingredients. And, we’re planet-friendly too. So, when life gets messy go ahead and embrace the good-and-dirty. We will always help you Live Free, CleanWell.

Haynes and Boone, LLP

Haynes and Boone, LLP is one of the American Lawyer top 100 law firms, with more than 575 lawyers in 17 offices and 40 major legal practices. We are among the largest firms based in the United States.  It is our mission to be a preeminent law firm that serves clients globally on sophisticated legal matters while maintaining a special culture founded on teamwork, a healthy work environment, and a strong work ethic. Our culture is defined by our collaborative work environment and by putting the interests of our clients first.

Crestone Capital

KO Firm

KO Firm is a corporate law boutique with a deep industry knowledge and focus in the natural products space. KO Firm represents businesses, private equity and venture capital funds, investors and individuals in a broad range of sophisticated transactional matters, including mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital investments, entity formations and restructurings. KO Firm also regularly advises clients on general corporate and business matters, serving as outside general counsel and drafting, reviewing and negotiating a wide variety of commercial contracts including supply, manufacturing, co-branding, equipment leasing, co-packing, distribution, employment, consulting and brokerage contracts.

PSL Law Group

PSL Law Group believes in providing quality legal advice at fair prices. We advise food and beverage businesses ranging from startups to established, fully capitalized companies on topics such as complying with FDA and USDA in food safety, managing regulatory and litigation risk in food labeling and marketing, providing general corporate guidance, and raising capital. Feel free to give us a call to set up a meeting– with offices conveniently located off of Pearl Street, we would love to sit down with you anytime!

Cali’flour Foods

Cali’flour Foods makes craveable comfort food that’re always low carb. With simple fresh ingredients and no fillers, our pizzas, crusts, flatbreads and entrees taste as good as they make you feel.

Wish Garden Herb

– Providing the highest quality, most elegantly formulated, most effective products possible.
– Educating people about the use and efficency of herbs in healing and health.
– Growing our business in an ecologically and ethically sustainable manner that benefits everyone involved.

Ridgeline Ventures

Based in Boulder, Ridgeline Ventures invests in natural foods/products, active lifestyle, and technology companies.  We are former business owners and operators and take a unique approach to investing.  The capital we invest is our own which allows us to strategically align with management teams for the long run.  Our goal is to build lasting partnerships, not quick exits, and we work with teams to build successful, sustainable companies that we can all be proud of.

Brand Geek

Brand Geek is a soulful intellectual property law firm serving other multiple-bottom-line enterprises. We delight our clients through creatively solving complex puzzles and by connecting dots (often known as humans).  As a member of 1% for the Planet since 2006 and a Certified B Corp since February 2008, we strive to lead by example.

Fresh Ideas Group

FIG is a fiercely distinct communications agency. We’re specialists not generalists. FIG’s tenacity is born of our core belief that saving the planet is as simple as changing the way we eat, drink and, well, do business.

Bhakti

Bhakti produces a blend of organic ginger and spice in a brew of antioxidant rich fair-trade black tea. The company uses sustainable practices, and supports nonprofit organizations that work to empower and educate women and girls worldwide.

Wellmune

Yum Love More

Akamai

Soda Pop Public Relations

34 Degrees

These lighter, crispier, all-natural crackers are simply good to eat. We created 34° Crispbread as the perfect companion to the world’s favorite cheeses. But the truth is, we love them straight from the box too.

Motherlove Herbal Company

GanedenBC30

Brandjectory

Grower’s Organic, LLC

QiPath

QI Path’s software-enabled solutions help you quickly find, prioritize and eliminate vulnerabilities in mission-critical, high-risk processes and plans, preventing hazardous errors, waste, re-work and unanticipated outcomes.

2x Consumer Products Growth Partners

The Good Crisp Company

Acme Distribution Centers, Inc

Natural Habitats

Natural Habitats is a company fully committed to the sustainable production of organic and fairly traded products, including organic palm oil. Natural Habitats products are cultivated using only 100% organic practices by independent farmers and owned plantations in South America and add organic credibility to food, personal care, and animal nutrition products. Using a vertically integrated supply chain, Natural Habitats supports the communities in which it operates through organic farming practices and environmental preservation, and provides education, healthcare, and social support to equitably improve quality of life for all stakeholders, from Farm to Fork.

Planterra Foods

Pure Strategic

Meati Foods

Colorado Mills

Packaging & Promotions LLC

Anton Collins Mitchell LLP

Simple Startup

Crest Foods Co, Inc.

The Crest Foods Consumer Products Division specializes in developing and manufacturing turn-key dry food solutions for both category leaders and emerging brands in the retail, food service and industrial packaged goods industries.

Stir Consulting

Chef Soraya Eat a Bowl

VOCO Creative

Eldorado Natural Spring Water

AdWallet

Creative Alignments

Fortis Solutions Group

Convoy

NSF International

Compass Natural Marketing

KidGlov

Community Food Share

Eurofins Microbiology Laboratories

Teatulia Organic Teas

Mile Hi Express

10X-Traction

Aspen Leaf Wealth Management

American Tape & Label

PurPics

Primeflex Labels Inc

Quinn Popcorn

SchroderHaus Production

Toasted Oat Bakehouse

Food Business Consulting

Whizzbang Social

Western Innovations Inc

GoodBelly

Amplio Digital