At Mission Ventures, we accelerate food technologies, grow businesses and help our partners, like Warburtons, Impact on Urban Health and Sainsbury's, to exceed their potential. We're driven to build a healthier, fairer and more sustainable industry. We interact with more than 1,500 early-stage food technology companies each year.

I started my career with an eclectic mix of experience across education, property and business support. Before joining Mission Ventures, I was part of the team that built one of London's most respected incubators, and I now use this knowledge and investor network to support food and drink brands. I'm curious about the power business has to improve our planet and focus on supporting Founders and business leaders to create impact with brilliant consumer brands.

María is a Global Industry Manager at Euromonitor International with a focus on Food and Nutrition. Based in London, she has more than 10 years of experience in the industry.

María drives the content and quality of Euromonitor’s global food industry research, provides global expertise and forward-thinking insights and identifies latest product developments and key market trends.

María advises clients on food and nutrition trends and has a special interest in the dairy industry, plant-based eating and health and wellness trends.

She holds a PhD in Nutrition from Complutense University, Spain.

Morgan Oliveira is the founder and principal of Grounded, Etc., a consultancy specializing in helping startups in a number of ways, including communications, strategy, and more. She has worked with some of the country’s leading brands, including Apeel Sciences, sweetgreen, Calm.com (named app of the year for 2017 by Apple), just to name a few. Additionally, Morgan is as an advisor to a number of companies including the fast-growing CPG startup, Actual Veggies, FTW Ventures, amongst others. Prior to Grounded, Morgan was the first employee at Eat JUST, a globally-known food technology company known for its versatile and realistic egg made from plants. While here, Morgan worked to spread the company’s story and mission internationally, and was the driver behind the successful press campaign during the "Mayo Wars" lawsuit from Unilever in 2014. Additionally, she was named to the Business Insider list of Top 50 Best PR People in the Tech Industry later that year.

Morgan's previous experience was also in food, having worked at one of the first meal delivery companies, LA-based Fresh 'N Lean. While here, she not only helped to quadruple its revenue in just twelve months, but also developed an influencer co-branding strategy, securing deals with leading names such as P90X founder, Tony Horton, and Vega Nutrition co-founder, Brendan Brazier. An RI native, Morgan is now based in NY having spent more than eight years living in LA and San Francisco. When she’s not working, Morgan enjoys fitness in all forms, painting, and traveling to all corners of the world.

Silvia D’Alesio is a food ad packaging expert and an international scouter on food innovation, leading several projects regarding developing new food and beverage products and businesses. BSc. in Food Sciences and Technology and International MSc. in Food Innovation and Product Design. Currently, she can count on several collaborations, including research projects and scientific direction for Digital Food Ecosystem and FoodTech European Events; assistant professor at the University of Milan Department of Nutrition and Environment; and Professor of Futures Studies and Brand Packaging Design at NABA, Milan.

I'm a gastronomy and Marketing expert, with 12 years of experience in the food industry. My knowledge is focused on building business strategy, marketing and disruptive innovation. I'm passionate about developing concepts, understanding consumer needs and building strategies that help companies to increase their impact and fit into the market.

I'm currently working as a Business Hunter Manager, dedicated to look and hunt new opportunities based on food trends, consumer habits, market, sustainability and technology.

Also I'm inspired through culinary trends, this makes me understand the versatility of products, ingredients and packaging concepts and through this lens makes me consider the real experience for a consumer.

I´m so honoured and excited to see the new product pr

Having graduated as an Analytical Chemist, Steve completed a Research Masters on Maillard Reaction Flavours, with the University of Reading. This was followed by many years in commercial and technical roles with Nestlé, Northern Foods, Ashbury Confectionery and Leatherhead Food Research where he became a recognised food industry expert. The Aurora Ceres Partnership Ltd was established in 2015, and provides innovation management for the Food and Beverage industry. A key focus is technology scouting through the ‘ACTION’ technology scouting platform, and the ‘FoodDrinkACTION’ innovation portal. Steve is also a regular contributor to food and beverage industry events and has spoken on numerous topics from nutrition, including salt and sugar reduction to waste valorisation and the future of food themed discussions. He is also a regular invited expert judge for a number of food and beverage innovation awards panels.