Capital and Its Expectations

Lisa Feria is the CEO and Managing Director of Stray Dog Capital, one of the most active venture capital funds in the plant-based market. With more than 35 investments in the United States, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Israel, and New Zealand, Stray Dog Capital invests in early-stage food, food-tech, and biotech companies that will transform our food system. Lisa brings more than 20 years of experience in food operations and consumer packaged goods and led billion-dollar brands in multinational companies such as Procter & Gamble and General Mills. Lisa has an MBA from the University of Chicago and a BS in Chemical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Selected to be a Kauffman Fellow (Class 22), Lisa has been selected twice to the “Top 100 Most Influential Latinas”. A passionate vegan and triathlete, Lisa serves on the boards of Mercy for Animals, the Great Plains SPCA, Miyoko’s Creamery and No Evil Foods. T.K. Pillan is Co-Founder and Partner at Powerplant Ventures (PPV), an investment fund that supports world-changing, plant-centric companies that deliver better nutrition in more sustainable and ethical ways. PPV investments include Beyond Meat, Thrive Market, Ripple Foods, REBBL, Beanfields and Vive Organics. Prior to starting Powerplant, Pillan co-founded Veggie Grill, the largest 100% plant-based restaurant company in the United States. Pillan currently serves as Veggie Grill’s Executive Chairman. Prior to entering the food arena, Pillan co-founded Guidance Solutions, one of L.A.’s first e-commerce development firms and named one of the regions’ 15 fastest growing technology companies in 1999, 2000 and 2001. Pillan earned an engineering degree from MIT and an MBA from UCLA. When not helping advance a plant-centric future, Pillan enjoys playing beach volleyball and trying to reclaim his glory days of playing collegiate baseball and basketball at MIT. Dan Altschuler Malek is a Managing Partner at Unovis Asset Management / New Crop Capital, a global investment firm that provides early-stage funding to entrepreneurs developing plant-based and cultured meat alternatives to foods derived from conventional animal agriculture including beef, chicken, pork, dairy, egg, fish and shellfish products. Through its initial fund, New Crop Capital, the team has invested in more than 37 companies including Beyond Meats, Memphis Meats, BlueNalu, Good Catch, Nova Meats, Alpha Foods, Zero Egg, Aleph Farms, and Miyoko’s. As Managing Partner, Dan heads the firm's activities in North America and Israel exploring deal- flow, creating strategic opportunities, and working with founders to solve daily challenges and evaluate strategic decisions. Dan is passionate about food, startups, and sustainability and prior to joining Unovis his endeavors included launching a snack company, heading a logistics firm, opening a restaurant, and managing a creative agency. He received his BA from Mexico’s Universidad Iberoamericana and an MBA from Babson College. In addition to his other work, Dan serves as a mentor at Food-X and Startup Bootcamp as well as a board member of Zero Egg and Alpha Foods.