Julia Collins (entrepreneur)

Julia Collins is a food tech entrepreneur who has spent her career building food companies, including Zume Pizza where she became the first Black woman to co-found a unicorn company.^[1]

Julia Collins
Born	San Francisco, California
Nationality	American
Education	Harvard University, Stanford University
Occupation	Food tech entrepreneur
Notable work	Co-Founder of Zume, Planet FWD

Early life and education

Collins was born in San Francisco, California.^[2] She earned her Bachelor’s from Harvard University in 2001^[3] and her Master of Business Administration from Stanford University in 2009.^[4]

Career

Collins first started in the New York restaurant industry, co-creating a restaurant chain, Mexicue in 2010 and serving as director of Murray's Cheese in 2012.^[1] In 2015, Collins helped develop Zume Pizza as a co-founder with Alex Garden.^[4] Zume Pizza is a robot-powered pizza-making business that uses robotics and automation to create pizza.^[5] As of 2018, the Zume Pizza is worth 2.25 billion.^[5][6] Through Zume, Collins became the first Black woman to co-found a unicorn company.^[1]

In 2019, Collins also founded Planet FWD,^[2] a carbon management platform for consumer brands to help understand their carbon footprint.^[7] Some of the major brands Planet FWD has worked with are: Clif Bar, Blue Apron, Kashi, Numi Organic Tea.^[6][1] They also sell their own brand of carbon neutral snacks called Moonshot Snacks, with a focus on regenerative agricultural practices, local suppliers and recycled packaging.^[7][2][8]