Watch: Mark Rampolla on Investment During the Pandemic

There’s no doubt that the covid-19 pandemic will change the food and beverage industry. The way brands raise investment and the eventual outcome for those investors is no exception.

For many brands, taking venture capital was a critical part of a business plan, seen as a necessary step to support growth and bring in strategic advisors. However, companies are having to adjust when they plan to raise capital and the terms on which they raise it. And, on the other end of the equation, investors may vet potential investments even more carefully.

In an interview with NOSH editor Carol Ortenberg, Mark Rampolla, partner and co-founder at PowerPlant Ventures, discussed what the new relationship between brands and investors may look like, both pre and post acquisition. Drawing also from his time as founder and CEO of coconut water Zico, Rampolla discussed the opportunity for “wartime CEOs” to actually thrive and see enormous opportunity.

“It will be challenging,” Rampolla said. “But the brands that can break through and build deep, engaging, consumer relationships, and solve problems for them in novel ways, have a chance to build brands that last forever.”