Venture Capital and the Nutraceutical Industry

Even during challenging economic times, companies are always looking for ways to grow new and innovative ideasand funding is still available. Steve Allen, chairman of the screening committee for the Nutrition Capital Network (NCN), and vice president of new ventures at Nestle, handles Nestle's venture capital activities in the United States and Canada. He spoke briefly with Heather Granato, Virgo Publishing, during SupplySide West 2009 regarding the state of investment capital in nutraceutical operations.

Traditional venture capital, he said, has not played a large role in the industry in the past and is unlikely to do so in the future. "I do think, however, that there are other sources of capital," he said, "several of them non-dilutive, that are very interesting for companies in this space." He noted during SupplySide West 2009 he saw several R&D deals inked with smaller companies to support new endeavors in the nutraceutical arena.