The Natural List–Investing in CPG: A capital-efficient, good-growth era

The Angel Group’s Adam Spriggs and Chris Robb embrace relationship-centered funding to celebrate early-stage innovation.

In this episode of The Natural List, co-hosts Jessica Rubino and Adrienne Smith sit down with The Angel Group’s Founding Member Adam Spriggs and Managing Partner Chris Robb for an informal crash course in today's angel investing landscape.   

Founded just under five years ago, The Angel Group is a community of investors who are passionate about the food and beverage industry and supporting CPG’s most promising emerging brands. Built on a community-driven model, this investment syndicate partners with early-stage companies and offers far more than funding. In fact, Adam and Chris assert that “bringing in the right intelligence, social capital and communal value is as important if not more important than the financial capital.” 

Tune in to hear about The Angel Group’s success stories, the importance of supporting companies in the early innings and actionable advice for investors and brands. 

In this episode:   

  • 0:35 – Welcome Adam Spriggs and Chris Robb from The Angel Group! 

  • 3:00 – What is The Angel Group? 

  • 6:50 – Cultivating a community of investors. 

  • 10:45 – Why the community-driven model is important to the future of CPG. 

  • 15:45 – How relationships can change a brand’s trajectory. 

  • 20:50 – Success stories from The Angel Group (this episode's The List!). 

  • 25:15 – The big exit strategy: What does the future end-game look like? 

  • 28:10 – Should investors double down on innovation? 

  • 30:50 – Adam and Chris offer advice for emerging brands.  

Brands featured in this episode: Bawi Agua Fresca, Poppi, Goodles, Bubble Skincare, Siete Foods and Bachan’s. 

Enjoy this new episode here and wherever you listen to your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple and Google podcasts.   

Interested in being a guest on The Natural List? Email us at [email protected]

Our guests

Adam Spriggs, Founding Member
The Angel Group  

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Adam Spriggs is the founding member of The Angel Group, a syndicate of industry professionals who invest in emerging CPG brands. He has discovered and invested in fast-rising brands such as Poppi, Siete, Loverboy and Bubble Skincare. Prior to founding The Angel Group, Adam operated creative agencies that specialize in brand development, product positioning and innovation. Adam resides in Toledo, OH with his wife and daughter where they are able to spend quality time with their families. 

Chris Robb, Managing Partner
The Angel Group

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Chris Robb is a brand strategist and entrepreneur in the North American natural food industry. Chris is a managing partner in The Angel Group, and executive for Dirty Hands, a national sales and merchandising company specializing in store level execution for the highest velocity brands in premium natural food retail. Chris has been advising and investing in early stage brands since 2014. Chris is a strategic advisor and investor personally to multiple early stage brands, and is also a mentor for Endeavor Detroit. Chris lives in Michigan with his wife Lindsay and their two kids Maddie and Archer. 

Your hosts 

About Jessica Rubino  

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Jessica Rubino is a natural products industry expert and content strategist with more than 15 years experience in media, events and natural products. As New Hope Network’s vice president of content, Jessica oversees digital and print content, conference programming and branded content for CPGs, retailers, investors and service providers. Jessica is passionate about using innovation as a force for good and leveraging content to spark the changes we want to see in the world.  

About Adrienne Smith  

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Adrienne Smith is the director of content for newhope.com and the editor-in-chief of Natural Foods Merchandiser magazine where she helps ideate and produce content for natural products retailers, brands and entrepreneurs. Before coming to New Hope Network, she spent nearly two decades writing about food and beverage products and trends for the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Trade in Madrid, Spain, as well as for publications including the International Herald Tribune/New York Times and El País. 

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