Constellation Brands Ventures (CBV), the corporate venture capital arm of Victor, N.Y.-based beverage alcohol company Constellation Brands, Inc. (NYSE: STZ and STZ.B), has launched a new program.
Focus on Female Founders intends to invest $100m in female-founded or female-led businesses in the beverage alcohol space and adjacent categories by 2028.
The Focus on Female Founders program supports emerging brands and technologies that are in or adjacent to the beverage alcohol space. Interested companies must be founded and/or led by women. In addition to capital, funding recipients will have access to:
– Constellation’s staff and hands-on mentors;
– brand-building, supply chain, governance and finance expertise;
– relationships with distributors and retail partners; and
– a community of fellow women entrepreneurs who can share knowledge and offer support.
The company has completed its first investments in two specialty beverage companies:
– Austin Cocktails, an Austin, Texas based bottled cocktail company co-founded by Jill Burns and Kelly Gasink in 2012, and
– Vivify Beverages, makers of innovative, premium alcohol beverage products led by Bob Walkenhorst, co-founder and chief executive officer.
The terms of the two transactions have not been disclosed.
FinSMEs
07/12/2018