• Point Reyes Farmstead & The Fork: The cohort toured the Point Reyes production facility and then gathered at The Fork for a guided tasting, culinary demos, and discussions on scaling dairy innovation. • Mollie Stone’s Retail Visit: Founders explored in-market dairy merchandising, consumer trends, and category opportunities in a leading California retailer. • Instacart Session: The cohort also had a visit to Instacart for insights on digital commerce, shopper behavior, and strategies to grow dairy brands on Instacart. Overall, the kickoff provided founders with a strong introduction to California dairy—from farm, to shelf, to digital commerce, while also building early alignment with CMAB.
Looking Ahead
• The cohort companies will present to a live judging panel at an exclusive pitch event in Napa, California on December 11, 2025 • During the event, four finalists from the Excelerator track will be selected to receive $30,000 in marketing support. •
Over the next 12 months, the four finalists will be tracked for sales growth and will compete for a $100,000 grand prize , to be awarded during 2026 Excelerator program. • We will also announce the 2024 $100,000 grand prize winner, selected from among the four 2024 finalists: Stellify, Smearcase, TODO, and Pluff.
Implications & Strategic Relevance
• This cohort underscores CMAB’s commitment to innovation, value add dairy products , and next-gen dairy brands. • The dual-track structure allows CMAB to engage both growth-stage brands (who are ready to scale) and earlier-stage innovations (which have a longer innovation cycle). • For CMAB’s strategic priorities: the Excelerator supports volume growth (via brand & product innovation), aligns with wellness, value add, and clean-label trends, and strengthens the RCM/CMAB value proposition among entrepreneurial brands.
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