La Huerta de Elisa
2023 Winner
La Huerta de Elisa
La Huerta de Elisa (Elisa’s Orchard), founded by Roxana Antohi (KC 2011), is an enterprise dedicated to combating the child obesity pandemic in Latin America caused by the consumption of ultra-processed foods. Its mission is to transform child nutrition by providing fresh, locally sourced, and nutritious meals. Through their initiative, they aim to instil healthy eating habits, promote well-being, and create a positive social impact on the lives of millions of children across the region.
Progress - 8 months on
KEY UPDATES
- WALMART: Over the past few months we worked with Walmart’s Operations team to install electricity in the baby food area. This step was fundamental for installing our refrigerators and launching the “fresh baby food” category in their stores. The fridges have been purchased and the branding has been finalised, so we are ready to proceed with the installations.
- FORBES: The business magazine Forbes selected us as one of their “30 Startups to Watch” in 2024 and I was personally selected to be on the front cover, which was extremely exciting! I attach photos of the cover and our feature - the digital article can be found here.
- OTHER AWARDS: We won the Harvard Alumni New Venture Competition (NVC) Grand Prize of $75,000 - this is the biggest competition Harvard University has for alumni-led startups and Rosalino made us all very proud!
- FUNDRAISING: We’ve gathered quite a lot of interest from investors following the above achievements - as a result we’ve launched a formal Seed round of US $1.5 million to help us scale. NVC judges have made exciting intros to new investors, which include the COO of Deliveroo!! We also launched an SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) for smaller check investors, in case any of the KEP judges would also be interested.
ADDITIONAL 2024 INITIATIVES
- NEW PRODUCTS: we are expanding our line of purées buy adding new products that are focused on plant-based protein (the main request we’ve been receiving from parents) and local grains (like quinoa and amaranth), as well as local exotic fruits such as dragon fruit and starfruit.
- PLANT CERTIFICATIONS: we are working on receiving both the local Mexican organic certification, as well as the USDA organic certification this year.
April 2024