Founders & Funders 2025 Recap: What Happened When 160 CPG Brands Met 70 Investors in One Room

In December 2025, 160 of the year’s top emerging CPG brands and 70 of the most active consumer investors came together in New York City for the very first Founders & Funders — and by the end of the day, more than 600 curated one-on-one meetings had taken place, seven investor panels had unpacked how consumer investors actually evaluate brands, and relationships had formed that would go on to close real fundraising rounds.

What is Founders & Funders?

Founders & Funders is Startup CPG’s flagship fundraising event, built to solve one of the hardest parts of building an emerging CPG brand: getting in front of the right investors.

Fundraising has always been about relationships. The best investors don’t back companies after reading a deck — they back founders they’ve gotten to know and trust. But for most founders, building those relationships means months of cold emails, chasing intros, and hoping for a handful of real conversations.

Founders & Funders compresses that into one day: curated one-on-one meetings between emerging CPG brands and active consumer investors, educational panels, and networking with the people shaping the future of consumer products.

What Happened at Founders & Funders 2025

Our inaugural event exceeded even our own expectations.

600+ curated one-on-one meetings. Every meeting was intentional — investors reviewed brand one-pagers beforehand and selected the companies they most wanted to meet. No cold pitches, no wasted time.

Six educational investor panels. Founders got an inside look at how investors evaluate businesses, from identifying enduring consumer trends to understanding diligence, margins, deal terms, and choosing the right investment partner.

Hours of high-density networking. Founders connected with fellow entrepreneurs, investors, retailers, and industry leaders — relationships that extended well beyond the event itself.

And most importantly: deals got done. Since December, more than five fundraising rounds have closed involving brands who attended, proving the conversations started at Founders & Funders don’t end when attendees walk out the door.

What Founders Learned From the Investor Panels

One of the biggest differentiators of Founders & Funders is that founders don’t just meet investors — they learn how investors think. Four themes came up again and again:

1. Investors back trends, not fads

A clever product can generate excitement. An enduring consumer behavior can build a billion-dollar company. Investors are underwriting businesses that need to stay relevant for years, not months — founders who can show they’re riding lasting shifts in consumer behavior immediately stand out.

2. Great brands stand for more than an ingredient

Consumers don’t stay loyal because a product contains a trendy ingredient. In crowded categories, investors look for brands with a compelling story, clear positioning, and the ability to evolve — not businesses dependent on a single claim.

3. Diligence starts with the founder

One quote from the event summed up the fundraising process: “Diligence starts with the founder.” Investors evaluate far more than revenue — how founders communicate, how well they know their numbers, how transparent they are about challenges, and whether they inspire confidence as long-term partners.

4. Traction creates conviction

Revenue matters, but it’s one piece of the puzzle. Investors look closely at repeat purchase, margins, distribution momentum, reviews, and lifetime value. Every metric should help answer the same question: can this business become a large, enduring company?

What Founders & Funders Are Saying

“Beyond ultimately meeting in person with what became our lead funder for the round, it gave us the opportunity to meet an incredible range of investors back-to-back and quickly develop a real understanding of the personalities, priorities, and styles of the different funds operating in the space. That kind of rapid pattern recognition is incredibly hard to replicate otherwise… We left with perspective, clarity, relationships, and ultimately a much stronger sense of alignment on the type of partners we wanted to build alongside.”
— Katie Lefkowitz, Founder & CEO, Harken Sweets

“Founders & Funders made a hard part of the job a lot more manageable. In one room, we got to sit across from investors who really get consumer brands, hear how they think, and start to figure out who we’d genuinely want around the table for the long haul… Startup CPG put together something rare, and we’re lucky we got to be part of it.”
— Jesse Konig, Co-Founder & CEO, Jesse & Ben’s

“Founders & Funders is one of the most impressive CPG startup events I’ve attended. The founders in the room were highly curated and genuinely inspiring, and every connection felt purposeful. This truly is the event for early-stage CPG brands looking to forge real relationships with active investors.”
— Jaxon Stuart, Partner, Spacestation Investments

Founders & Funders 2026: Applications Are Open

This December, Founders & Funders returns to New York on December 10th — bigger than before. Since 2025, we’ve expanded our CPG investor network by more than 3x.

You’ll meet many of the most active consumer investors in the industry through curated one-on-one meetings, hear directly from leading VCs and founders through educational panels, and spend the day building relationships that can change the trajectory of your business.

Whether you’re actively raising or planning your next CPG round, Founders & Funders is designed to help you understand how investors think, sharpen your fundraising strategy, and get in the room with the right partners.

Applications for Founders & Funders 2026 are open: Apply here.

Who joined us in 2025: