Disco Cow Won the Second Annual Midwest Dairy Accelerator Grand Prize

Disco Cow was named the winner at the closing event of Midwest Dairy’s second annual accelerator programme. The live pitch competition took place at the Green Acres Event Center, a barn-based events venue in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, near Minneapolis.

The Illinois startup received $20,000 in prize funding. Kate Colehour, its founder, said the money would support a shift from production led by the founder to scaled manufacturing, as the brand expands its retail presence and brings whipped cottage cheese to more consumers.

Midwest Dairy developed the ten-week virtual programme with VentureFuel, an innovation advisory firm. It was intended for emerging food and beverage companies whose products use Midwest dairy as a central ingredient.

Participants attended workshops, received individual mentoring and worked with people from across the dairy industry. The programme included ingredient specialists, processors, manufacturers, retailers, academics and food-industry executives. Its subjects covered consumer research, product development, manufacturing, distribution, retail planning, marketing and pitching businesses.

“The Midwest Dairy Accelerator has connected Disco Cow with an incredible network of experts, resources, and people who are genuinely excited about the future of dairy,” Colehour said. She added that the prize would help the company move to scaled manufacturing.

Corey Scott, chief executive of Midwest Dairy, said the programme gave new dairy brands expertise, connections and resources. Fred Schonenberg, VentureFuel’s chief executive, said Disco Cow had shown a combination of vision and execution and described the partnership with Midwest Dairy as a way to support entrepreneurs working with dairy products.

Midwest Dairy represents 3,600 dairy-farming families across a ten-state area comprising Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. VentureFuel says it has facilitated more than 100 partnerships between established companies and startups and helped create more than $1bn in enterprise value for clients.