
Michael Steib
Partner
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- Full Name
- Michael Steib
- Title
- Partner
- Firm
- Melitas Ventures (formerly Nebari Ventures — the source of the nebari.us email domain)
- Firm Type
- Early-stage venture capital (consumer/CPG); invests seed–Series A, a stage often overlapping with angel/seed rounds
- Investment Stage
- Seed to Series A (early-stage)
- Check Size
- Not publicly disclosed
- Target Company Profile
- Early-stage, "better-for-you" branded consumer companies with authentic brands and founders innovating across the everyday consumer experience
- Sector Focus
- Food & beverage, personal care, beauty, wellness, vitamins & supplements, food technology, and ingredient innovation
- Geographic Focus
- Primarily U.S. (New York–based firm)
- Location
- New York, NY (Melitas Ventures, 333 Hudson St, Unit 703)
Background
Michael Steib is a Partner at Melitas Ventures, a New York–based early-stage venture capital firm investing in "better-for-you" consumer brands across food, beverage, personal care, and wellness. The fund was founded in 2017 by Alex Malamatinas and previously operated under the name Nebari Ventures — the origin of Steib's [hidden] email address. (Note: this Michael Steib is a career consumer-sector investor and should not be confused with the similarly named Mike Steib, the former CEO of XO Group/Artsy and current CEO of TEGNA — a different person.)
Steib brings close to three decades of global financial-markets experience to the firm, with a career concentrated on the consumer sector. He began at Morgan Stanley in Mergers & Acquisitions in London, and went on to lead Morgan Stanley's European consumer investment research team. He later relocated to New York, where he served as a Managing Director at Credit Suisse heading U.S. Consumer Products equity research, and subsequently as a Global Consumer Investment Analyst at Artisan Partners.
He joined the Melitas/Nebari team roughly six years ago (circa 2019) as a Partner, applying his public-markets consumer-analyst background to sourcing and diligence on early-stage food, beverage, and CPG deals. He holds an MBA from ESCP Europe in Paris.
Investment Thesis & Focus
- Invests at the seed to Series A stage in early-stage consumer companies — the firm has made a deliberately concentrated ~19 investments over roughly eight years, signaling a selective, high-conviction approach.
- Sector focus on "better-for-you" branded consumer products: food & beverage, personal care, beauty, wellness, supplements, food tech, and ingredient innovation.
- Melitas backs "visionary founders who innovate and transform everyday consumer experiences," prioritizing authentic brands with positive societal and environmental impact.
- Steib's edge is a deep consumer-analyst lens — decades evaluating consumer-products companies at Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, and Artisan Partners — applied to brand quality, category dynamics, and growth trajectory in early-stage CPG.
Notable Investments
- Nom Nom — fresh dog-food brand; exited to Mars, Inc. (the firm's headline outcome)
- MUD\WTR — coffee-alternative wellness beverage brand
- Beekeeper's Naturals — clean, bee-derived wellness and immunity products
- Verb Energy — low-calorie caffeinated energy snack bars
- Lemon Perfect — cold-pressed lemon water beverage
- RIND Snacks — upcycled whole-fruit snacks
- Abbot's Butcher — plant-based meat alternatives
- Nurture Life — fresh, ready-to-eat meals for kids
- Nuts.com — online specialty food and snacks retailer
- Solely — organic whole-fruit snacks and pastas
- Dose — liver-support / wellness shots
- Craize Snacks — corn-and-rice toasted crackers
- Material — kitchen tools and cookware brand
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