Two former executives, from SoBe Beverages and Fiji Water respectively, have teamed up with Sherbrooke Capital to form a venture capital group set to focus on investment in leading early stage health and wellness companies.
Masachusettes-based Quest Capital will focus on consumer goods such as clothing, food, and personal care items as well as other healthy lifestyle products, revealed John Bello, the founder and former CEO of SoBe Beverages, in a statement yesterday. He added that targeted companies will be at any stage of development, but will generally have less than $10 million in annual revenues.
Quest Capital is a portfolio company of Sherbrooke Capital, a venture capital fund with $100 million of committed equity capital in the rapidly growing health and wellness industry. Bello and Ed Slade, the former president of Fiji Water, said they were launching in the health and wellness arena "because of its untapped wealth of breakthrough ideas and products".
"There are so many entrepreneurs just waiting for someone to be a constructive catalyst in the early stages of their company's development. With Quest, they now have a dedicated and receptive place to turn for both financing and guidance during that critical period," said Bello.
To help identify companies for investment, Quest Capital has created a program specifically dedicated to the search for viable businesses called Venture Quest. Venture Quest will be organizing a tour in November and December of 2003 in key cities across the country to meet with prospective entrepreneurs and review submitted business plans for potential funding.
"Most entrepreneurs don't know where to go for funding, guidance and support," continued Bello. "We want to be a financial and intellectual resource for entrepreneurs to help them turn bright ideas into profitable and socially responsible enterprises. We want to make it easy for them to find us."
Quest Capital will be accepting business plan submissions via mail at 2344 Washington Street, Newton Lower Falls, MA 02462 and email at damkot@sherbrookecapital.com.