French Food + Tech

Health

Melody Violton holds a Double Degree in Business Management from EDHEC Business School and a Master of Science from Aston University. She began her career as an Investment Banking Analyst at Nomura, where she specialized in the Consumer & Retail sector. During her time at Nomura, Melody worked on notable transactions, including the sale of Gail’s Bakery by Bain Capital Credit and McWin Capital, gaining significant expertise in mergers, acquisitions, and financial strategy.

After her experience in investment banking at Nomura, she moved into the tech ecosystem by joining the investment team at Heroes where she focused on sourcing and analyzing acquisition opportunities, further developing her skills in deal origination and investment evaluation.

Currently, Melody serves as an Senior Investment Associate at CPT Capital, the venture capital arm of a leading private family office. In her role, she oversees a portfolio of over 70 investments in the alternative protein sector, and is responsible for originating, evaluating and executing investment opportunities.

Juliette holds an engineering degree in agronomy from AgroParisTech. Her journey into science began during her preparatory studies, where she was inspired by a former student conducting research on a vaccine for HIV. This sparked her initial interest in the field, leading her to an internship in immunology in 2014.

Despite a fascinating start in research, Juliette was eager for new challenges and decided to pivot towards the venture capital space. In 2016, she joined Seventure Partners, where she worked as an analyst in the Health for Life fund. Here, she discovered her passion for venture capital, engaging with brilliant founders and innovative projects, particularly in the health sector. Her experience in health investments solidified her desire to work at the intersection of innovation, sustainability, and impact.

In 2021, Juliette took the next step in her career by joining Capagro, a venture capital firm focused on agtech and foodtech. She began as a financial analyst and, through her dedication and expertise, quickly advanced to her current role as senior associate. At Capagro, Juliette supports innovative entrepreneurs working on sustainable food systems, actively fostering impactful solutions that can shape the future of agrifood. She specialized in alternative proteins, packaging for food and ag robotics. Her deep passion for the sector is evident in her drive to create lasting change, supporting projects that address global challenges in food security, health, and sustainability.

Carlos Morales is the technical manager of the R&D Accelerator Network, enabling the teams to get new products to market in 6 months. He has 30 yrs of experience in the FMGC Industry working on innovation across more than 70 different countries and supply chains in P&G and Nestlé. Since 2019 he has been part of the team that develop and run the R+D Accelerator of Nestlé, he has coached projects to ensure they can bring ideas to shop in 6 months, and supported the establishment of accelerator network globally.

After earning a Master’s degree in Marketing and spending five years as a project manager at BNP Paribas, working between Paris and New York, she decided to change course and pursue her passion: pastry.

Following a year of R&D with Jeffrey Cagnes and obtaining a Pastry Chef certificate in Paris, she joined Algama to embark on a new adventure. Wanting to step away from the conventional pastry world, she found the perfect opportunity at Algama to innovate by baking with algae.

Hélène Briand, originally from Saint-Malo, Brittany, is an agronomist with a specialization in sustainable feed and food production methods. With six years of entrepreneurial experience in Asia, she focused on reducing antibiotic use to develop more efficient and environmentally friendly agricultural models. Hélène has also worked with companies in regulatory affairs to advance probiotic solutions. Recognizing the transformative potential of alternative proteins, she joined Entofood, an insect farm powered by Veolia, where she spearheaded efforts to scale up insect farming operations. In 2021, fueled by her passion for sustainable innovation, Hélène co-founded Bon Vivant with Stéphane Mac Millan (formerly of McKinsey) to produce dairy proteins through fermentation.