# Sandeep Patel

> Sandeep Patel is the chairman and CEO of Bettani Farms, the Berkeley plant-based cheese company that rebranded from Climax Foods in October 2025 alongside a $6.5 million Series A round led by S2G Investments. A former CFO at Califia Farms, president and CFO at PopSockets, and managing director at Goldman Sachs and Barclays, Patel was a Bettani advisor since 2021 before taking the top job. He is betting the company's proprietary Caseed ingredient - a casein-mimicking protein pulled from regenerative seed crops, free of dairy, soy and nuts - can finally give vegan mozzarella the stretch and melt that pizza demands. His pitch: do for pizza what oat milk did for coffee.

- **Role:** Chairman and CEO at Bettani Farms
- **Organizations:** Bettani Farms, Califia Farms, PopSockets, Goldman Sachs, Barclays
- **Nationality:** American
- **Known for:** Led the rebrand of Climax Foods into Bettani Farms with a $6.5M Series A in October 2025, Brought total capital raised to roughly $33.5 million over six years, Acquired three plant-based brands - Numu, Hungry Planet and Stockeld Dreamery - to build instant distribution

## Career timeline

- **earlier** — Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and Barclays, advising food, agriculture and consumer companies, entrepreneurs and investors
- **earlier** — President and CFO at PopSockets
- **earlier** — Chief Financial Officer at Califia Farms
- **2021** — Became an advisor to Climax Foods (later Bettani Farms)
- **2025-10** — Named chairman and CEO as Climax Foods rebrands to Bettani Farms and closes a $6.5M Series A led by S2G Investments
- **2025** — Oversees acquisitions of Numu, Hungry Planet and Stockeld Dreamery to solve the foodservice cold-start problem
- **2026** — Targets early-2026 launch of mozzarella and feta across San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Miami

## Achievements

- Led the rebrand of Climax Foods into Bettani Farms with a $6.5M Series A in October 2025
- Brought total capital raised to roughly $33.5 million over six years
- Acquired three plant-based brands - Numu, Hungry Planet and Stockeld Dreamery - to build instant distribution
- Refocused the company on Caseed, an allergen-free casein alternative delivering 12-20g protein per 100g of cheese
- Recruited senior talent including SVP R&D Rajiv Dave, SVP Sales Tom Zilligen and process engineer Maxwell Brown

## Latest updates

- **2025-10** — Named chairman and CEO of the newly rebranded Bettani Farms; closed a $6.5M Series A led by S2G Investments.
- **2026** — Targeting launch of Caseed-based mozzarella and feta and seeking $3-5M in additional funding to reach cash-flow break-even and scale manufacturing.

## Links

- Website: https://bettani.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/spatel1234

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/sandeep-patel
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-04