Six new startups have been accepted into SKU, the Austin accelerator that helps consumer packaged goods companies grow.
The program has founders and their leadership teams attend classes for 14 weeks, and every company admitted to the program receives cash funding, as well as the opportunity for other funding as well. In exchange for admission into the program, SKU maintains a small equity stake in each company.
The accelerator has produced a variety of interesting and successful brands, including Pride Bites, Dude Wipes and Austin Eastciders. In the latest batch, SKU has everything from baby food to mezcal.
Let's learn a little more about these CPG startups.
Founders: Lindsey and Daniel Crouch
Background: She was a chef, he a personal trainer. They wanted to find a way to combine healthy and scrumptious with their line of cookies, donuts and muffins. Enter Guiltless Goodies, a seed-based goodies startup. All of the company’s products are paleo-friendly and produced from a custom seven organic seed blend. The company also grinds its own seed flour to protect the enzymes. Guiltless Goodies currently is in 25 stores, and it has a pickup bakery near Circle Drive and Highway 290.
Why SKU: “We are trying to find ways to grow our distribution, sales and marketing, while also improving our packaging abilities.” - Lindsey Crouch.
Founder: Albert and Sara Swatner
Background: What started as a passion project for Albert Swatner turned into a full fledged business. While there are plenty of sparkling waters out on the market, Sway Water differentiates itself by only using real fruit ingredients.
“We wanted something where it tasted like you were making water at home,” said Swatner.
The company gets its ingredients from California, and the natural flavors are derivatives of whole flavors. While the company has both sparking and still water, their cucumber lime water accounts for over 30 percent of the companies’ business. Swatner said Sway Water is in the process of working on its organic certification as well.
Founders: Maureen “Mo” and Mark Brown
Background: The Mosie Baby story starts with the Browns, who struggled to get pregnant for more than two and a half years. After becoming frustrated with the process, they decided that there should be a safe, home insemination solution that doesn’t cost a whole lot of money. After experimenting with several syringes, they found that the models needed for a pregnancy undertaking weren't on the market. After creating the prototype, they tried it on themselves, and it worked after one try. Founder Mark Brown says the company wants to be the “Kleenex of home fertility” and they are well on their way - the company is expected to beat their growth projections by more than 400 percent. Fun fact: The company also provides onesies to those who are successful conceiving with Mosie Baby.
Why SKU? Mosie Baby is overwhelmed with growth in their third year and needed help to scale.
Hacienda Mezcal
Founder: Zachary Lynd
Background: Lynd was in the restaurant world, both in product and design, as well as in marketing and branding, but Hacienda Mezcal is his first foray into CPG. Lynd’s excitement over mezcal comes from the fact that the beverage has “incredible integrity,” while taking a long time to mature (10+ years) and that there is plenty of room to innovate in the mezcal world. Hacienda Mezcal differs from other mezcals in that it is organic, with six different flavors, and uses leaves as packaging material. The company has distribution deals in New York, New Jersey and California, and it is the only company in this SKU cohort that is pre-launch, though Lynd expects to secure a funding round in June.
Why SKU? Lynd was looking for a strategic partner to help him expand.
Founders: Mike Simmons and Eric Lowe
Background: Austinites looking to try something other than beer, look no further: mead is the oldest fermented beverage in the world. While you may have sipped some mead at a Renaissance Festival, the founders of Meridian Hive wanted to make a more approachable mead for the masses. Meridian Hive is selling both draft mead and still mead at Twin Liquors and HEB, and it offers four core products, with 12-ounce cans (and six different flavors) that contain 6.5 percent alcohol, while also selling mead in 500ml bottles. Want to figure out what mead actually is? The Meridian Hive meadery is located on Exchange Drive.
Founder: Alyson Eberle
Background: Did you know the baby food your toddlers eat could contain junk nutrients? That’s what Alyson Eberle found out when her daughter Riley approached six months and she was shopping for real food. Disgusted, she left the baby food aisle, and she whipped up her own puree for Riley using a technique called high-pressure pasteurization, which enabled her to heat her purees without losing any nutrients and taste, while also extending the shelf life of the food. This technique helped her in creating a fresh baby food line. Pure Spoon launched at Whole Foods, and was fortunate to land a partnership with Daphne Oz, the daughter of Dr. Oz.
Pure Spoon is rapidly growing, launching an e-commerce store recently and with a growing kitchen in Round Rock. They’ve developed Stage 1 (5 months and older) and Stage 2 (7 months and older) of Pure Spoon products, and are now looking at products for toddlers and kids.
Why SKU? Eberle needed a team of people who knew products and how to grow a product line. She was also connected to Austin CPG legend Clayton Christopher, who is a mentor at SKU.
