Now in its 7th year, the CircleUp25 award honors the most innovative brands changing what we eat, drink, wear, put on our skin—and consume.

Winners announced in June, 2019

Investors, deal makers and other luminaries help select the final 25 winners

Ryan Caldbeck

Co-founder & CEO, CircleUp

Robert Brown

Co-founder & Managing Director, Encore Consumer Capital

Doug Bouton

President & COO, Halo Top

Moiz Ali

Founder & CEO, Native Co.

Andy Friedman

Managing Partner, Pin High Capital; former CEO and Founder of Amplify Snack Brands 

Betsy Foster

Global VP of Business Development Whole Foods Market

Ben Felt

Managing Director, The Invus Group

Henry Davis

Founder & CEO, arfa, Inc.

Franklin Isacson

Kirsten Green

Managing Partner, Coefficient Capital

Managing Director, Forerunner Ventures

Danielle Gould

Founder & CEO, Food + Tech Connect

Olivier Garel

Head of Unilever Ventures

Paul Munford

 CEO & Editor-in-Chief,

Leanluxe

Claire McCormack

General Manager, Beauty Independent

Jeff Klineman

Editor-in-Chief, BevNET

Andy Katz-Mayfield

Founder, Harry's

Jeremy Smith

President, LaunchPad

Web Smith

Founder & Editor-in-Chief,

2PM

Jon Sebastiani

Founder & Managing Partner, Sonoma Brands

Wayne Wu

Managing Director, VMG Partners

Josh Wand

Founder, Force Brands

Anarghya Vardhana

Partner, Maveron

Nicole Quinn

Partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners

Selection Process

You can submit one of two ways! Complete a nomination form (linked below) or by tagging your favorite brand on social media using #CircleUp25

Brands, be sure to engage your fans on Twitter to boost your nomination! 

Nominations will be narrowed by Helio, our technology platform that analyzes 1.4 million businesses across relative strength of brand, team, distribution and financial performance. For more on Helio, read about it here.

Qualification Criteria

Who is qualified?

Who is not qualified?

Privately-held consumer and retail companies of any size  

Companies across the food, beverage, apparel, retail, restaurants, home goods, pet care and personal care categories

CircleUp marketplace alumni—you’re qualified to enter CircleUp25!

Publicly-traded companies

Companies that have been acquired

Companies in CircleUp's existing equity or credit portfolio

Previous CircleUp25 winners

See past winners from 2018, 2017, 2016 , 2015 , 2014 , and 2013

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