Valor Equity Partners

Valor Equity Partners is a private equity and venture capital firm based in Chicago, established in 1995. The firm specializes in making investments across various stages of company development, including seed-stage, early-stage, growth-stage, and late-stage investments. Valor primarily focuses on sectors such as industrial products, manufacturing, infrastructure services, healthcare, food technology, retail technology, fintech, and clean energy. The firm seeks to partner with high-growth companies and entrepreneurs who demonstrate a commitment to excellence and industry transformation. Investment sizes typically range from $10 million to $75 million for new platforms, while add-on investments do not have a minimum size requirement. Valor Equity Partners primarily invests in North America and India, aiming to support companies with revenues between $30 million and $200 million. The firm prefers to take a leading role in investments, pursuing both control and non-control equity opportunities.

Will Baine

Principal of Investment Team

Sean Costello

Vice President

Alli Folk

VP

Manuel Pantelias Garces

Vice President

Antonio Gracias

Founder, CEO and CIO

Bruce Johns

Senior Director

Sealy Laidlaw

Vice President

Chris Murphy

Managing Director

David Obrand

Partner

Harrison Pappas

Vice President

Vivek K. Pattipati

Partner

Taylor Patton

Senior Associate

Juan Sabater

Partner, Co-President and Member of Investment Committee

Bradley Sheftel

Partner

Jonathan K. Shulkin

Partner & Co-President

Michael Soenen

Partner

Miki Sofer

Vice President

Slater H. Stich

Vice President

Mark Vardaro

Senior Director

Timothy Watkins

Operating Partner

Past deals in Food Processing

Kingdom Supercultures

Series A in 2021
Kingdom Supercultures develops and produces microbial cultures that help food manufacturers to produce new varieties of food. The company produces and offers Koji, a Japanese food ingredient used to make miso, sake, soy sauce, and more. Its products helps in producing fermented sodas, beers, and plant-based dairy replacements. The company offers a platform that uses software and hardware automation to assemble microbial cultures for natural food production. The company was founded in 2019 and is based in Brooklyn, New York.

Little Spoon

Series B in 2021
Little Spoon, Inc. manufactures and markets baby food, vitamins, and probiotics products. The company offers baby blends and boosters. Its boosters include wiz kid; containing, Iron, Vitamin E, and Omega-3 DHA, sniffle shield; containing zinc, prebiotic, and vitamin C and E, poopie powder; containing prebiotics, probiotics, and prunes boost, and gut feeling; probiotic to help build a healthier and more resilient gut. The company offers baby blends in a range of textures, including smooth, textured, and very textured blends. It sells products online. Little Spoon, Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is based in New York, New York.

Salted

Seed Round in 2021
Salted is the restaurant group of the future. Learn more at hellosalted.com.

Misfits Market

Series C in 2021
Misfits Market, Inc. operates as an online grocery store that sells fruits and vegetables. It offers apples, potatoes, squash, sweet potatoes, broccoli, cabbage, citrus, lettuces/leafy greens, onions, peppers, berries, asparagus, peaches, tomatoes, and other products. It also provides home delivery services. Misfits Market, Inc. was incorporated in 2018 and is based in Pennsauken, New Jersey.

Voyage Foods

Seed Round in 2021
Voyage Foods has made sustainable and scalable alternatives to foods that have current obstacles –environmental, social, and health alike. Our breakthrough technology provides endless opportunities to make delicious, nearly identical, versions of beloved foods, without compromising individual health or our planet. We replicated the world’s favorite foods so that we can all enjoy them, forever.

No Cow

Funding Round in 2020
No Cow LLC produces and markets protein bars, energy bars, and protein cookies. It offers its products through retail stores in the United States, as well as online. The company was formerly known as D's Naturals, LLC and changed its name to No Cow LLC in November 2017. No Cow LLC was incorporated in 2014 and is based in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Climax Foods

Seed Round in 2020
Climax Foods is a data science company based in Berkeley, California, founded in 2019. It focuses on revolutionizing the food production system by utilizing artificial intelligence to innovate plant-based food products. The company develops sophisticated machine intelligence tools that facilitate the rapid creation of dairy alternatives optimized for taste, texture, and nutrition, enabling them to effectively compete with traditional animal-based foods. By leveraging the vast biodiversity of the plant kingdom, Climax Foods aims to deliver high-quality food at an accessible price point, bringing together a team of experienced data and food scientists to drive this transformation in the industry.

Misfits Market

Series B in 2020
Misfits Market, Inc. operates as an online grocery store that sells fruits and vegetables. It offers apples, potatoes, squash, sweet potatoes, broccoli, cabbage, citrus, lettuces/leafy greens, onions, peppers, berries, asparagus, peaches, tomatoes, and other products. It also provides home delivery services. Misfits Market, Inc. was incorporated in 2018 and is based in Pennsauken, New Jersey.

PathSpot

Series A in 2020
PathSpot Technologies, Inc. develops and manufactures a system controlled by a software that protects restaurants and their customers from the threat of food-borne illness. It utilizes a unique algorithm for filtering, processing, and analyzing fluorescent light to scans an employee's hands to detect pathogens that cause food borne illness. The company was founded in 2017 and is based in New York City, New York.

Little Spoon

Series A in 2020
Little Spoon, Inc. manufactures and markets baby food, vitamins, and probiotics products. The company offers baby blends and boosters. Its boosters include wiz kid; containing, Iron, Vitamin E, and Omega-3 DHA, sniffle shield; containing zinc, prebiotic, and vitamin C and E, poopie powder; containing prebiotics, probiotics, and prunes boost, and gut feeling; probiotic to help build a healthier and more resilient gut. The company offers baby blends in a range of textures, including smooth, textured, and very textured blends. It sells products online. Little Spoon, Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is based in New York, New York.

Fooda

Series C in 2017
Fooda, Inc. is a Chicago-based company that specializes in providing food delivery services to offices. Founded in 2010, Fooda connects local, regional, and national restaurants with workplace environments, offering unique meal programs that employees look forward to each day. The company facilitates on-site dining by having top-rated restaurants serve meals in office lobbies or breakrooms, while also providing catering services for corporate meetings and events. By leveraging its platform, Fooda not only supports local restaurants but also enhances the dining experience for employees, allowing them to enjoy authentic meals at work.

Fooda

Series B in 2016
Fooda, Inc. is a Chicago-based company that specializes in providing food delivery services to offices. Founded in 2010, Fooda connects local, regional, and national restaurants with workplace environments, offering unique meal programs that employees look forward to each day. The company facilitates on-site dining by having top-rated restaurants serve meals in office lobbies or breakrooms, while also providing catering services for corporate meetings and events. By leveraging its platform, Fooda not only supports local restaurants but also enhances the dining experience for employees, allowing them to enjoy authentic meals at work.

Fooda

Series A in 2013
Fooda, Inc. is a Chicago-based company that specializes in providing food delivery services to offices. Founded in 2010, Fooda connects local, regional, and national restaurants with workplace environments, offering unique meal programs that employees look forward to each day. The company facilitates on-site dining by having top-rated restaurants serve meals in office lobbies or breakrooms, while also providing catering services for corporate meetings and events. By leveraging its platform, Fooda not only supports local restaurants but also enhances the dining experience for employees, allowing them to enjoy authentic meals at work.