Designer Rebecca Minkoff Goes From Fashion To The Food World

Forbes

29-05-2025

It's well-known in entrepreneurial circles that women-founded and led companies receive less funding compared to their male counterparts, and a new food-focused accelerator called SeedHer seeks to make a dent in that statistic.
SeedHer emerges out of the Female Founder Collective, a women's entrepreneur group co-founded in 2018 by fashion designer Rebecca Minkoff and serial entrepreneur and angel investor Ali Wyatt. Female Founders Collective has approximately 25,000 total members, including its exclusive dues-paying members.
As the collective has grown, it's also worked to formalize and professionalize its offers even further, said Wyatt. Approximately two years ago, the Female Founder Collective started to curate around more specific industries with six cohorts a year to allow founders a better chance to network and bring in partnerships and resources that would appeal to different cohorts. This is in addition to its existing consulting marketplace platform, The North, where founders can contact advisors directly.
But its latest venture with SeedHeris, geared towards food and beverage founders. SeedHer originated from a few facts, including the lack of funding for female-led businesses, the low margins for food startups that deter entrepreneurship and growth, and the fact that women are the 'chief nourishment officers' in their households, said Wyatt. Female-founded companies secured $38.8 billion in venture funding in 2024, marking a 27% increase from the previous year. However, this rise came amid a 13.1% drop in deal count, while all-male-founded companies experienced a higher 33.2% growth in deal value with a smaller 7% decline in deal count, according to Pitchbook's 2024 US All In: Female Founders in the VC Ecosystem report.
'What tends to happen, and we don't see this with their male counterparts, is they don't have a relationship at Walmart [or similar] that keeps them on the shelves,' said Wyatt. 'We want founders to have the phone-a-friend concept where they can call their [expert] friend and ask them questions at these pivotal points along the way that will get them out of trouble and allow them to keep growing.'
SeedHer features a 12-week course includes eight 'masterclasses' and community meetings with mentors in partnership with Kellanova's Pure Organic brand. Kellanova was formerly known as Kellogg's. There will also be coursework for founders that can be integrated into business practices, like re-examining existing margins and changing the unit economics. The idea is that it's not incremental work or skills they're gaining, but instead substantial enough to help them with immediacy.
SeedHer applications opened on May 29 and applicants should have a minimum $500,000 in annual revenue, and applications will be judged by the FFC and Kellanova Pure Organic teams. Approximately 15 startups will be chosen. The program culminates with a Demo Day in November. On the Demo Day, the panel of experts will provide insights and feedback to founders.
'While FFC built a movement around collective support, SeedHer is a next step in providing select female founders in food and beverage with more direct resources, mentorship, and funding pathways to help them grow their businesses,' she said in an email. 'At the end of the SeedHer accelerator, we want founders to leave with practical insights, strategic direction, and stronger industry connections to help them scale.'
The creation of SeedHer comes at a time of change for the snacking industry. Consumers have been interested in healthier options for some time, ranging from high-protein options currently in vogue to less processed products. Health officials have raised the U.S. population's awareness over ultra-processed foods and potential negative health consequences, while petroleum-based synthetic food dyes as received federal scrutiny.
FFC and Kellanova Pure Organic came together to work on SeedHer after Minkoff crossed paths with Leslie Serro, vp of sweet snacking at Kellanova and connected on the topic of entrepreunialism. Kellanova did invest an undisclosed sum as a premier sponsor to SeedHer, but is not providing grants to participants, said Serro.
Serro said she plans to bring in Kellanova leaders to speak with and mentor SeedHer participants, including marketing, financing and retail. She said the major painpoints identified include entering retail, managing supply chain and scaling up the business.
'As we go through different stages of our life, we see different things,' she said. 'The Female Founder Collective, and these entrepreneurs see things differently, are pushing boundaries, and are looking for new solutions.'