FoodNerd's $7.5 million round will support the national expansion of a CPG co. looking to remove ultraprocessed foods from kids' diets.
Sharon Cryan has been preparing for this moment for six years.
The founder and CEO of FoodNerd is ready to put the world on notice.
FoodNerd has closed a $7.5 million Series Seed round which will allow it to finish outfitting its new 28,000-square-foot HQ/factory in the town of Newstead, embark on a nationwide retail and e-commerce expansion and launch a major marketing push.
This is exactly the kind of big vision Cryan had when she left her job as an attorney to build a company around nutritious food, a scalable alternative to ultra-processed foods.
Over the years, the company focused its energy on proprietary technology that could deliver true nutritional value in a form that babies and toddlers would love.
For Cryan, now the mom of a 3.5-year-old boy, this is personal.
“I’m really excited to build a brand that stands for something larger than just products,” Cryan said. “We think our shelf-stable products can crowd out ultra-processed foods and change a generation’s health and development.”
The round was led by Los Angeles-based Selva Ventures, run by Kiva Dickinson and Madeline Kaplan, and was supported by a variety of investors with ties to Buffalo. That includes the company’s largest investor, Joseph Neiman, the founder and former CEO of ACV Auctions, which was Buffalo’s first software unicorn; S2 Ventures, the active angel group led by Ron Faso and John Baldo; and other local angels.
FoodNerd moved last year into the large facility in Newstead, a signal of its intention to create manufacturing capacity that supports an expansive business. The company plans to launch its direct-to-consumer sales initiative – including the “25 Days of Nutrition” subscription bundle – this month. Cryan expects FoodNerd products to be sold at approximately 800 grocery retail locations in 2026.
FoodNerd, which has 15 fulltime employees right now, earned a $1 million investment from the 43North accelerator in 2024.
“The past six years of building this company has involved so much testing, science and engineering,” Cryan said. “Now FoodNerd is entering a brand new phase.”
FoodNerd’s success in breaking into national retail environments happens concurrently with the growth of another 43North portfolio company, Top Seedz, which moved into a 35,000-square-foot factory in 2024 to support the commercial-grade production of its popular artisan crackers.
Top Seedz, also led by a female founder and CEO, recently announced it grew revenue 50% last year and is expanding in 2026 into its first Costco account.
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