August 26, 2016

Valmiki 504, a New Orleans-based venture capital division of New York-based Valmiki Capital Management announced the launch of Ceres 504, a new business incubator for food and food tech startups in New Orleans and across Louisiana.

Named for the Roman goddess of food, Ceres 504 will offer access to capital and expertise to its portfolio of startups with the goal of scaling up companies from Louisiana’s food, food tech, and culinary sectors.

“…we are pleased to announce additional investments in Louisiana businesses through the launch of Ceres 504,” said Peggy Babin, CEO, Valmiki 504 in a company statement. “Food is central to Louisiana’s culture and business environment and creating truly scalable food brands is important to the long term economic growth of the industry.”

Positioning for the launch, Valmiki 504 has named Neil Gibbons, a local entrepreneur and board member and chair emeritus of Propeller, a successful New Orleans-based startup incubator, to head Ceres 504. Gibbons’ career has seen him serve in consumer brand management and international marketing positions with S.C. Johnson, Inc. and RJR Nabisco, and as executive director of the Henley Business School in the UK, where he oversaw the reorganization of their flagship MBA and DBA programs and restructuring their international operations.

“The Louisiana startup ecosystem, which has mostly been incubated by philanthropic and tax-credit-based funding until now, is ready to take the next important step into private venture capital,” said Gibbons, adding, “Ceres 504 is a unique catalyst for Louisiana; it provides a combination of early-stage risk capital with institutional fund management services for local investors coupled with the value-add of management expertise in strategy and operations for early-stage entrepreneurs, all within the business incubator environment.”

Ceres 504 will be the platform through which Valmiki will commit its investments in the food sector. As such, the fund has announced its first investment as the lead in a $1.5 million seed round for New Orleans-based functional food company, Better Digestive Health Inc.

Founded by Dr. Viv Huilgol and Neil Gibbons, Better Digestive Health is aiming to commercialize functional, natural foods geared toward improving digestive function and quality of life.

Food incubators that focus on a specific geographic region are becoming more prevalent in the investment space. Earlier this year, Joe Sebastiani, former managing partner of Wines.com, former president of Viansa Winery and founder of KRAVE Jerky, announced the launch of Sonoma Brands, an incubator dedicated to the development of new food brands and the disruption of the packaged consumer foods space.

“The vision of Sonoma Brands stems from my passion for this region that yields extraordinary culinary expertise and an immense network of esteemed chefs and entrepreneurs,” Sebastiani said in a recent press release. “Our goal is to partner with strong, imaginative leaders to push boundaries, invigorate industry categories and differentiate ourselves through our agility in adapting to ever-changing consumer needs.”