Joining the Melitas Family

Hyped to announce that I’m officially joining the Melitas Ventures team!

Based in New York, Melitas is an early-stage fund investing across emerging food & beverage brands and enablement tech along the entire food value chain.

When I thought through the opportunity, I broke down the decision into three core criteria: the people, the portfolio, and the potential. Let’s get into it.

The People

I’ve spent the past 3 years investing in early-stage consumer companies.

As much as I love the stage and sector focus, not to mention the founders themselves, the co-investors that I’m operating alongside are what matter the most to me.

High-integrity, high-energy colleagues hustling right next to you, every single day.

That’s my north star when it comes to deciding what teams I want to be a part of.

I’ve known Alex over at Melitas for a number of years and have always respected his tenacity, pace, and judgment as both a friend and frequent collaborator.

After meeting the rest of the team, specifically Michael and Jacques, I began to understand the type of firm that Melitas was building — a small, agile team of high-integrity, high-energy investors. Perfectly aligned with my north star.

The Portfolio

Venture capital is a hits-driven business. Your track record is all you have.

At Melitas, our track record includes early bets in Magic Spoon, Olipop, Verb Energy, Mud/Wtr, Kin Euphorics, GEM, MatchaBar, and Lemon Perfect, among a host of innovative food & beverage brands along the entire value chain.

Quite the roster, to say the least. Critically, the portfolio reflects not only great judgment and a killer instinct, but also includes a group of founders that I deeply respect.

The Potential

Finally, the latent potential and growth trajectory of Melitas is what really put me over the finish line and pushed me to jump full-throttle into the fund.

The innovation on display across the early-stage food & beverage ecosystem is reaching a tipping point, quickly shifting into mainstream discourse and cultural dialogue.

Previously reserved for hubs like LA and NYC, functional alternatives to old-school, low-quality food & beverage products will continue to proliferate into a national audience.

Consumers are increasingly vocal about their desire for better-for-you options, whether that be in the form of upgraded coffee, late-night snacks, or alcohol alternatives.

In the same way that a company needs to ride the right market waves, a venture fund must do the same. The growth potential, financial upside, and ultimate success of a fund are often tied directly to the market waves that the fund is investing in.

Melitas squarely checks that box, and within a handful of years, has already positioned itself as one of the leading early-stage funds in the food & beverage ecosystem.

Put simply, that’s something I want to be a part of.

I’m hyped to ramp up with the Melitas team in the coming months, and always down to jam on all things food & beverage. Drop me a line anytime!