We provide the most comprehensive data on emerging brands and trends so organizations can grow through innovation, expansion, and acquisition. By analyzing metrics from 1.4 million+ brands and 200+ data sources, Helio identifies trends before they go mainstream.
Helio originated as an internal software application that guided the decisions of CircleUp’s team of early-stage CPG investors and lenders. The insights extracted from the software enabled them to find and provide capital (investments or loans) into early-stage CPGs with tons of future promise.
CircleUp used Helio to inform more over $1.25B in loans and to deploy a top-performing venture fund which included early investments in winning brands such as Liquid IV, Supergoop, and many others.
As the industry heard about Helio’s ability to predict breakout success, the interest in getting access to the technology mounted. In 2022, we made Helio commercially available and turned 10 of the top 100 CPGs in the world into Helio superfans.
You know that person who loves going to the grocery store just to check out cool packaging? What about a friend who’s constantly trying products they’ve never seen before? That’s us. We’re passionately curious about all things CPG, but we’re also analytical. We’re data scientists, researchers, and strategists. We look forward to the future, and we know that data paves our path.
Danny Mitchell is the Chief Executive Officer at Helio, the leading insights platform for data on emerging brands and trends in the CPG industry, helping companies like Coca Cola, General Mills and others drive growth through innovation, investment and acquisition.
He previously served as CircleUp's Chief Financial Officer.
Prior to CircleUp, Danny was CFO and Head of Operations at Chargeback, a Saas FinTech company, where he was an integral player in securing acquisition by Sift.
He received a combined Bachelor of Science and Arts in Accounting and Economics from Bucknell University.
Originally from New York, Danny has lived in Salt Lake City for ten years. In his spare time, he enjoys skiing, golfing, mountain biking, and camping with his family.
Kathy Slowinski serves as Chief Product and Revenue Officer of Helio.
Kathy has spent a significant portion of her career in the data and analytics space specifically in the CPG industry working as the VP of Product for SPINS, building an importing and distribution company in Australia and as SVP of Product at InfoScout/Numerator.
Kathy graduated from Northern Illinois University with a Bachelor of Business Administration, she continued her education in Australia, graduating with a Master of Business Administration and Master of Marketing and a Master of Information Technology from the University of Newcastle, Australia.
In her free time, Kathy can be found enjoying water sports during the summer months and during winter finding deep powder for snow sports.
Erik Andrejko is the Chief Technology Officer at Helio.
Prior to joining CircleUp, Erik spent his career making a positive impact on the world through machine learning in a variety of domains. Most recently, he was co-founder and CTO of Wellio, an early stage startup applying AI to the intersection of food and human health. Wellio was acquired by Kraft Heinz where they built software technology to empower individuals to improve their lives through food by combining augmented intelligence in the food domain and consumer experiences.
Erik holds a number of patents across a spectrum of machine learning applications and has a PhD in Mathematics from University of Wisconsin Madison and a BS in Computer Science from Arizona State University.
When not analyzing interesting datasets, Erik can often be found riding a bicycle up some unpaved incline or cooking.
Our mission is simple: give CPG leaders the intelligence they need to make smarter, faster decisions, and grow their businesses. That means providing them with forward-looking, comprehensive data, so they never miss an opportunity to get ahead and stay ahead.