Colorado Inno is celebrating the wins of 2023 and looking ahead to potential accomplishments in 2024 with our annual Startups to Watch. In total, we’ve selected 20 early-stage Colorado startups worth keeping an eye on in the year ahead. Here are four operating in the food, drink and travel space.
Find the complete list of Startups to Watch in 2024 here.
Founded: August 2017
Founder: Orion Brown
Headquarters: Denver
While traveling the globe, Orion Brown grew increasingly frustrated that she couldn’t find travel products made with women of color in mind. Her 2017 trip to Japan, where she couldn’t find hair care products for her natural curls at retailers or U.S. military bases, was the final straw.
After lots of research that left Brown empty-handed, she decided to launch her own solution, filing an LLC with the state of Colorado in 2017 and officially launching in 2020. Before launching BlackTravelBox, Brown worked in tech, marketing and brand management, skillsets that have since translated to her startup.
Today, BlackTravelBox offers travel-sized shampoo and conditioner bars, body balms, hair balms and lip balms that celebrate Black women but can be used by anyone.
BlackTravelBox has raised $250,000 to date in grants, convertible notes and crowdfunding campaigns, and gained notable traffic in 2023. The startup was named Black Travel Summit’s brand of the year, landed third place in Denver Startup Week’s pitch competition and was a finalist for global travel retail award TFWA in the body care category. BlackTravelBox was also part of Amazon’s Black Business Program and launched four of its products on Amazon, expanding its reach to more consumers.
Brown plans to carry this momentum into 2024 by expanding BlackTravelBox products into more hotels. Its products are currently available at the Miraval Resorts spa in Arizona and Roomza Hotels. Brown said she is in discussion with Hyatt Hotels & Resorts.
New products and raising a seed round are also part of the startup’s plans for 2024. BlackTravelBox aims to launch a new product each quarter, starting with a push-up lotion bar.
Founded: 2021
Co-founders: Chennelle Diong and Justin Beaver
Headquarters: Longmont
Gluten-free and celiac-friendly startup GoodLove Foods makes frozen cinnamon rolls, puff pastry and biscuits.
“We aim to create a more inclusive foodie environment, one delicious biscuit at a time,” GoodLove Foods CEO and co-founder Chennelle Diong said.
Before GoodLove Foods, Diong worked in experiential marketing for local and national brands while her husband and co-founder Justin Beaver was a quality engineer working in manufacturing.
The duo, who both have celiac disease, love preparing food for each other and had an inkling that there needed to be more food options inclusive of dietary restrictions. Given their personal experiences as gluten-free consumers, they entered into the consumer packaged goods industry with the launch of GoodLove Foods in 2021 to make a product that didn’t compromise on taste or experience.
GoodLove Foods won Denver Startup Week’s pitch competition in 2023, receiving goods and services valued at more than $48,000. The startup also experienced a 400% year-over-year growth rate.
For now, Diong and Beaver self-manufacture the products and cut thousands of biscuits by hand but have plans to get into distribution in 2024. The startup will also hire and grow its product line in the year ahead.
Founded: 2019
Co-founders: Anika Sawni and Niki Sawni
Headquarters: Denver
While studying cognitive science at McGill University in Quebec, Canada, Anika Sawni began questioning why drinking was so normalized, especially among college-aged consumers. Other than soda or water, she found that sober and sober-curious drinkers had few options to choose from. This lack of innovation stuck with her through school. When she graduated in 2018, Anika pitched a booze-free beverage business to her older brother Niki Sawni. A year later, they co-founded Grüvi, a booze-free brand evoking a fun-and-loose ‘70s feel.
Grüvi’s mission is to “trailblaze a new way to live and socialize with alcohol-free beverages.” It claims to be the only brand currently offering both non-alcoholic beer and non-alcoholic wine and the only business that has won international gold medals for both beer and wine. Grüvi won a gold medal for its non-alcoholic beer, Golden Lager, at the World Beer Cup in 2022. Its Sangria won gold at the 2023 International Wine and Spirit Competition and the fourth iteration of its Dry Red Blend won silver at the same competition.
Grüvi has a loyal customer base, including more than 100 people who have invested in the company. The startup has raised $5 million to date, including a $3 million seed round in August 2023 that was co-led by more than 50 of its customers, Rockies Venture Club and Good & Well.
In 2023, Grüvi won Brandjectory’s Pitch Slam contest and landed among Colorado's top five non-alcoholic brands. It also became the first non-alcoholic wine brand at Whole Foods Market in Colorado and expanded into more than 500 retail locations, with products now available in over 4,500 stores in the U.S. and Canada. Grüvi products are now available at Ball Arena, too.
Continuing this momentum into 2024, Anika Sawni said the startup will expand into more retail locations and new settings — such as bars, restaurants and concert and sporting venues — to “make every moment more Grüvi.” The startup also plans to roll out new tech in 2024 and go through a rebrand and packaging update.
Founded: 2020
Founder: Dara Erck
Headquarters: Aspen
When Dara Erck couldn’t find natural body care products and vitamins for her teenage son, she decided to create her own. During the pandemic, she launched Sam+Leo, an all-natural body care and vitamin brand that’s also gender inclusive. Erck, who previously worked on vaccine development through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, named the company after her two boys.
The startup aims to support teen mental health, authenticity and inclusivity in addition to environmental sustainability. In February 2023, it launched five variants of vegan gummy vitamins for teenagers and kids ages four and up to address things like stress, sleep, energy, eye fatigue and immune system support.
“Sam+Leo is the first company to address the needs of teen mental health through supplements,” Erck said. “Our products offer an alternative to the sugary, caffeinated energy drinks like Monster, Red Bull and Prime. In addition, we are the first to offer a gummy vitamin addressing the effects of screen time fatigue on eyes.”
Sam+Leo also manufactures and sells body care products such as deodorant and lip balm. All its products are sold in eco-friendly packaging.
Sam+Leo had a successful 2023. It won Startup Colorado’s Coopetition — a four-week accelerator for rural-based founders — and two grants from the Colorado Office of Economic Development & International Trade. The startup plans to use this momentum to scale its e-commerce sales and distribute its products to major retailers in 2024.
