Founders of the five startup brands participating in SKU’s (CPG) Dallas accelerator celebrated the culmination of the rigorous 12-week program with the premiere of the virtual pitch event. The brands span multiple categories, from beverages to women’s sexual health.

“In addition to being our first cohort of all female-founded brands, these were some of the most innovative brands ever to participate in SKU,” says SKU Managing Director Emily Kealey. “They are truly disrupters in the market.”

Watch the virtual pitch event below:

During SKU’s program, founders participated in classes presented by some of the industry’s top experts invaluable to CPG entrepreneurs, including channel strategy, positioning and branding, packaging, labeling and safety, operations, and fundraising. 

One of the most valuable aspects of SKU’s program is the customized mentor teams that are hand-picked for each founder’s unique needs and are focused on helping them scale their businesses. The mentor community is a who’s-who in the CPG industry and includes successful entrepreneurs, investors as well as top executives from some of the most successful consumer product companies, including 7-Eleven, Coca-Cola, and General Mills.

Learn more about the five companies that participated in SKU Dallas ’22

Mortal Ventures: Becca Schepps launched Mortal Kombucha to appeal to people who love soda and other functional energy drinks but might never try kombucha. Mortal Kombucha is a rebel kombucha brand with both hard kombucha and non-alcoholic kombucha. In addition to kombucha, Mortal sells functional sparkling water.

Nakey: Founded by Shawna Watterson and Hannah Rose, Nakey is a female-owned sexual wellness and body product company challenging conventional standards of beauty and sexuality. Its flagship offering is the playfully named Muff Masque, which is a fragrance-free sheet mask for your vulva. 

Omni Bev: Founder Tammy Huynh created the first ready-to-drink authentic Vietnamese cold brew coffee. From the grower to the roaster, the single-origin coffee beans are harvested directly from her family farm in Vietnam. OMNI Bev, would like to introduce the rest of the world to the Vietnamese coffee culture through their coffee products as well as virtual tasting experiences.

Pippy Sips: After facing her own problems when pumping breast milk, Amberlee Venti created Pippy Sips to develop pumping accessories that improve upon the status quo. The first product, Maia™, is a patented, award-winning system for storing, cooling, and monitoring breastmilk.

True Scoops: Founded by Kelly Williamson and Shelly Marshall, True Scoops makes DIY ice cream and topping mixes that create an easy and fun ice cream-making experience at home. The ice cream can be made with a blender or an ice cream maker and requires only 1 added ingredient, Half & Half. It is a true scoop of fresh, premium ice cream

About SKU

SKU was founded in 2011 by lawyer Shari Wynne Ressler and serial entrepreneur Clayton Christopher, founder of Sweet Leaf Tea and Deep Eddy Vodka, with the mission of accelerating CPGs. It has been a catalyst in establishing Austin as a CPG powerhouse. Since it was founded, more than 50 companies have completed the SKU program. SKU was named one of the nation’s top natural foods product accelerators in an August 2020 article by New Hope Media, which puts on Expo West and Expo East, the industry’s largest trade shows. A Forbes magazine column identified SKU as one of the country’s top three accelerators. Learn more here.