FaBCAP ACCELERATOR

FaBcap was a food industry specific accelerator to build the capacity and capitalization of ten selected Wisconsin-based food or beverage manufacturers, related businesses, or technologies each year. The ten companies went through a nine-month program including one-on-one coaching, six facilitated industry workshops, a financial package assessment, and closing pitch presentation. Each received a $10,000 check upon conclusion of the accelerator, made possible by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.

Effective January 2022, the Food Finance Institute (FFI) has announced its evolving the FaBcap program to the FFI Fellows Programs. The new program is based on and will replace the FaBcap accelerator. They’re now accepting applications for two of the three cohorts of companies: Value Added-Agriculture and Processing & Technology. For Food and Beverage Companies, the cohort application period will open in late spring/early summer.

BACKGROUND

In FaB’s early years, there was a group of members that recognized Wisconsin’s ecosystem of support for young food and beverage companies could use some reinforcement. With a WEDC grant and corporate sponsors, along with collaboration with the Food Finance Institute and industry experts, FaB was able to create and launch the FaBcap Accelerator, hosting four classes of ten selected Wisconsin-based food and beverage companies between 2015 and 2020.

Tracking the first five classes, FFI reported in January 2022 that the 50 Wisconsin-based food and beverage product, ingredient, and technology companies that went through the original FaBcap Accelerator Program have attracted $864,250 in grant funding, $7,579,781 in debt funding, and $9,935,024 in equity funding, with their annual sales totaling $36,772,563.