If you’re like me, the holiday season always sneaks up on you and the gift buying never gets completed as early as you’d like.
St. Louis Inno is here to help you get a head start on your holiday shopping with our annual gift guide, which features consumer products made by local startups. This year’s list features eight St. Louis-based startups. We hope our list helps you source gift ideas while also providing a snapshot of the diversity of startups in St. Louis. The list features products ranging from chocolate bars to hair extensions.
In curating this year’s list, we did not include any repeat companies from our 2021 Inno Gift Guide. You can find last year’s list here. The 2022 list is based on our previous reporting of local startups throughout the year.
FOR THE FOODIE
Honeymoon Chocolates
Honeymoon Chocolates, a maker of healthier chocolate, sells “bean to bar” chocolate that includes no refined sugar and is sweetened using only raw honey. Founded by husband and wife duo Cam and Haley Loyet while they were students at Illinois Wesleyan University, Honeymoon has since expanded to sell its products online, at several stores locally and at its own retail store in Clayton. Chocolate bars currently listed for sale on Honeymoon’s website range from $10 to $14 in price. Honeymoon Chocolates was a finalist in St. Louis Inno's 2022 Fire Awards.
Core and Rind
Core and Rind makes and sells plant-based and dairy-free "cheesy" sauce made from cashews. Co-founded by Rita Childers and Candi Haas, Core and Rind’s cheese sauce is sold in several flavors. Core & Rind says its sauce can be used as an alternative to traditional cheese for a variety of foods, including pasta, tacos and pizza. The startup sells its products in stores as well as online. A jar of its sauce retails for $10.99 on Core and Rind’s website. St. Louis Inno named Core and Rind to its 2022 Startups to Watch list.
Pop Pop Hurray!
Pop Pop Hurray! Gourmet Popcorn is a local popcorn brand that sells dozens of flavors, ranging from traditional flavors like caramel to out-of-the-box concepts like pina colada and chili cheese. Founded in 2020 by Tony Davis, Pop Pop Hurray operates two retail locations, located at 256 S. Florissant Road in Ferguson and 1457 Bass Pro Drive in St. Charles. It also sells its products online. A one-gallon tin of one of its classic flavors retails for $21. Pop Pop Hurray was one of five local startups to be chosen for the second cohort of the University of Missouri-St. Louis' Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Accelerator.
rootberry
Rootberry makes and sells prepared plant-based meals, shareables, salads and desserts. Since its launch in 2021, rootberry has expanded quickly, launching with a direct-to-consumer delivery service model and expanding to retail stores and universities. Menu items include fettuccine alfredo, tikka masala and enchiladas, among others. Meals sold on its website start at $9.99. Rootberry was a finalist in St. Louis Inno's 2022 Fire Awards.
FOR THE GAMER
Kombinera
Earlier this year, Maryland Heights-based Graphite Lab inked a publishing deal with gaming giant Atari to publish its new puzzle-game called Kombinera. Released in April, Kombinera involves its players being responsible for multiple balls as they steer them through different puzzles. The game is available on several different platforms, including major consoles like PlayStation, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. Graphite Lab was a finalist in St. Louis Inno's 2022 Fire Awards.
FOR YOUR COWORKERS
Bold Xchange
St. Louis e-commerce startup Bold Xchange operates an online marketplace that sells items from Black-owned businesses. Its marketplace is open to individual consumers, but Bold Xchange has found success with a business-to-business model, with brands that include Centene Corp. (NYSE: CNC), Home Depot (NYSE: HD) and CarMax (NYSE: KMX) using its platform to buy gifts for employees and events. In September, St. Louis nonprofit WEPOWER made an investment in Bold Xchange from a $1.5 million fund it launched to provide capital to local Black and Latino entrepreneurs.
FOR THE FASHIONISTA
Expedition Subsahara
Maryland Heights-based Expedition Subsahara sells an array of handwoven items made in Senegal, where its founder Sofi Seck was born. Products sold by the startup include baskets, bowls, vases and shopper bags. Expedition Subsahara sells its items on its website and prices vary depending on the specific product. In October, Seck pitched Expedition Subsahara on the ABC TV show “Shark Tank.”
Rebundle
Rebundle manufactures and sells plant-based braided hair extensions it says are more environmentally conscious and skin-friendly than traditional hair extensions. It says it uses patent-pending technology to turn banana stems into hair extensions. It retails its hair extensions on its website at a starting price of $45. Rebundle closed a $1.4 million funding round earlier this year and was named recently to American Inno's national list of Startups to Watch.
St. Louis Inno sourced this list on its own through its previous reporting of St. Louis' startups. It does not endorse companies on the list.
