On the Rise: Consumer Brand Showcase by Plug and Play

This premier event spotlights our graduating cohort of early-stage consumer brands who are driving innovation across food & beverage, beauty, and more. Bringing together founders, investors, and corporate leaders, the showcase features: Panel with Industry Leaders: Gain insight from top experts shaping the future of commerce. Fast-paced Startup Pitches: See the most promising consumer brands pitch live. Hands-On Product Demos: Experience the next big products in food & beverage, beauty, wellness, lifestyle, pet, and more. Networking Reception: Connect with founders, investors, mentors, and corporate leaders over drinks and light bites. 📋 Agenda: 4:00 - 4:45pm: Doors Open & Welcome Networking 4:45 - 5:00pm: Opening Remarks: Plug and Play, SHOPLINE, and Silicon Valley Bank 5:00 - 5:20pm: Panel: From Shelf to Scale: What Makes a Consumer Brand Breakthrough (Thrive Market, Vibrant Consumer) 5:20 - 5:45pm: Startup Pitch Presentations 5:45 - 7:00pm: Networking Reception, Demo Tables, & Light Bites 👥 Panel Overview: Retail Ready: What Makes a Consumer Brand Break Through Hear from a leading retail merchant and a consumer-focused investor on what it actually takes for an emerging brand to break through: the proof points that signal retail readiness, the metrics that matter at each stage, and the mistakes that stall otherwise promising brands. Panelists: April Lane, Chief Merchandising Officer at Thrive Market Jarret Christie, Managing Partner and Investor at Vibrant Consumer 🚀 Presenting Brands: Sunny Side Up: Products that eliminate pain points for pets and their humans: 100K+ units sold, 20M+ organic views on $0 ad spend, and a hero skin ointment trusted by US military working dogs. Nalwaya Foods: Premium cultured dairy for modern wellness, from cultured ghee to A2/A2 paneer, made with milk from California regenerative farms, with its brown butter served at Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen through a gelato foodservice partner. Urania London: A London fragrance house creating unisex perfumes with molecules that support feel-good brain chemistry, stocked at Liberty London and other retailers across the UK and New York, with a recent launch shortlisted for The Fragrance Foundation Awards and press in the Financial Times and Dazed. Ojai Essentials: Functional fragrance inspired by California's native plants and botanicals, sold at the Ojai Valley Inn and independent boutiques nationwide, and featured in Sunset Magazine's Best of the West. No Consequence: A zero-sugar energy drink pairing 116mg of caffeine with a nootropic blend to cut the post-caffeine crash, scaling from a 220-can first order to 15+ retail doors in under a year. Brandage: Children's adhesive bandages with an integrated temporary tattoo that transfers as the bandage comes off, made on a custom-built production line and protected by a newly allowed US utility patent. MoboKey: Turns almost any car into a keyless one: a Bluetooth device plus an app that lets you unlock, start, and share your vehicle remotely. Used by 10,000+ paying customers and featured in Wired. Sooz: Sooz is the drink mix that tells the burn from spicy foods when to stop, advised by former Kraft Heinz and Nestlé leaders. In testing, a quarter of people offered free water paid for Sooz instead. Olas Coffee: A Brooklyn coffee roaster and cafe now bringing coffee to the energy category with Virbuna, a sparkling fermented drink made from green coffee and upcycled coffee fruit, featured in The New York Times. Adonis Arcana: High-performance skincare and cosmetics designed for every expression of masculinity, with a 24% repeat-customer rate and zero refunded orders over the past 12 months. Korjin: Korean Panax ginseng reinvented for Western audiences: a fermented black ginseng extract stick new to the US, bitter on purpose for potency, backed by an influencer partner with 3M+ followers. Vedari: Ayurvedic ritual skincare for modern life, turning an everyday routine into a moment of calm, launching through a Vedic wellness clinic partnership and an October experiential pop-up. Pablo's Fire: Chef-created small-batch hot sauce built for high heat and big flavor, where every bottle sold to date has been handmade by the founder, now preparing to scale with a co-manufacturer. StayLyte: Functional hydration built for shift workers, first responders, and healthcare professionals, ranked No. 15 on RangeMe's Top 50 Food & Beverage Brands with steady repeat sell-through across over a dozen Dallas-Fort Worth retail locations. 📌 RSVP Details: Please RSVP through this invitation to request attendance. Attendance is subject to confirmation by our team. 🚘 Parking: On-site parking is available in the gated but is limited and not guaranteed for guests. We encourage the use of Uber/Lyft or nearby street parking. Metered and residential street parking is available along surrounding side streets.-- Special thanks to our event sponsor Silicon Valley Bank!