Food innovation is "having a moment" in Chicago, and World Business Chicago (WBC) will showcase the sector next week during the second Chicago Venture Summit Future-of-Food event, to be held May 3–5.
Early data suggests that this will be World Business Chicago’s largest Chicago Venture Summit to date with more than 1,000 people registered, representing more than 450 unique business entities including 157 startups, according to Abin Kuriakose, chief strategy and innovation officer at World Business Chicago.
WBC first held its Chicago Venture Summit in 2014, and the event has featured speakers such as Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick and investors Ben Horowitz and Peter Thiel.
This year’s event will feature keynotes from well-known businesspeople in the food space: Alanna Cotton, president and chief business officer of Ferrero North America; Kristin Kroepfl, chief marketing officer of Quaker Foods North America; and Hiroshi Shiragami, chief innovation officer for Ajinomoto.
The opening keynote will be delivered by Cotton, Ferrero's new North America President, who was appointed to the role last fall. A Northwestern alum, Cotton is one of the highest-ranking Black women executives in the food innovation space.
Other notable speakers include Shayna Harris with Supply Change Capital, a women-led venture capital firm that has both General Mills and Bank of America as investors, and Michelle Ruiz, from one of Chicago's exciting young food startups, Hyfé Foods.
“This tracks well with all of the incredible momentum we’re seeing in the space,” Kuriakose told Chicago Inno. “The growth capital that’s coming into food startups, the news we’re seeing from food corporates, Mars Wrigley’s new R&D center ... we’re definitely having a moment for the food sector in Chicago.”
Last year the foodtech venture summit helped connect local startups including Aqua Cultured Foods with VC firms looking to support them, according to Kuriakose.
The Chicago-based startup pitched at the Chicago Venture Summit and was able to connect with HPA and Supply Change Capital, both official sponsors of the summit, during the event, according to Kuriakose.
Earlier this month, the foodtech startup announced it raised $5.5 million in seed funding led by Stray Dog Capital with participation from H Venture Partners, Aztec Capital Management, along with follow-on investment from Supply Change Capital, HPA and others.
