Food System 6 Accelerator

Food System 6 (FS6) is a dynamic business accelerator for entrepreneurs who are innovating and designing solutions to transition us to a just and regenerative food system. The Accelerator primarily serves entrepreneurs that live and work in frontline communities that are disproportionately affected by the social, health, and environmental inequities of our current industrial food system – specifically Black, people of color, immigrants, women, people with lower incomes, those in rural areas, queer and indigenous people – and have historically lacked access to business accelerator programs and traditional finance opportunities. FS6’s high-touch program is designed to equip frontline entrepreneurs with sophisticated business modeling support, custom financial coaching, a national network of diverse industry mentors, and a trusted community to heal financial trauma and build entrepreneurial stamina. While traditional business accelerators often focus on a singular goal of ensuring that start-up food and beverage companies are able to raise venture capital and ultimately exit by acquisition, the FS6 approach is to build community, educate on the variety of capital options available to entrepreneurs, provide a path on how to secure it, and ensure that the entrepreneur is ready – strategically and personally – to take on funding. In the fall of 2022, FS6 is hosting a series of webinars resourcing entrepreneurs on fundraising and financial management. In Spring of 2023, FS6 will be launching its next national Accelerator program. Each cohort is multicultural, multi-racial, and multi-generational, comprising 10-12 entrepreneurs from across the United States who are designing alternative business solutions (including non-profit, for-profit, worker-owned, and cooperatively-owned entities) that serve children, families, seniors, and entire communities by returning cultural and economic sovereignty to their local and regional food systems. Typically, its entrepreneurs are early-stage, with fewer than 25 employees and less than $1M in revenue. In addition to the Accelerator program, FS6 synthesizes the data it pulls from its selection process and programming to provide learning about how and why community food system innovations and alternative business models are working across the country. These are shared with its community of innovators and ecosystem of capital providers through transparent and open-sourced platforms.