The Kraft/Heinz Springboard Incubator is headed into its second year after a successful first round launch in 2018.  Graduates of the first cohort -  including Melanie Kahn, founder of Poppilu; Drew and Mac Anderson, co-founders of Cleveland Kraut;  and Nick Hamburger, founder of Quevos - were on site at Tuesday night’s CFBN Start-Ups networking event to share testimonials and insight into the resources and access that the Kraft Springboard program affords.  Kelly Reinke, Springboard’s Incubator Lead, shared a deep dive into this year’s plans - including the exciting announcement that the Springboard team intends to offer greater opportunity by running two separate cohort cycles in 2019. 

The room was full of Midwest start-up founders - from the greater Chicagoland community - and conversations dove heavy into the innovation spaces around beverage, nutrition, and the powdered supplement categories.   All category sectors had interest and representation amongst the night’s gathering of entrepreneurs and founders.

Kraft/Heinz’s Springboard program provides access to their R&D facility and team, led by Tim Downey, during their incubation and he was on hand during Tuesday’s event and was heavily sought out by guests during the night’s networking.  The program’s ability to offer early stage companies access to prototyping, product formulation feedback, and nutritional and component analysis is a major advantage of the incubator’s partnership with Kraft/Heinz and their state-of-the-art facilities in the Chicago area.  

CFBN will be launching a monthly networking program for early stage and start-up ventures as part of its’ 2019 programming in partnership with local incubators and accelerators, and organizations in the entrepreneurial space. Reach out for more information and stayed tuned for programming announcements in the new year.