LI execs pitch investors for expansion capital

When Marisa O'Donnell's daughter, Bella, was 10 months old, O'Donnell decided she did not like the baby food she found on supermarket shelves.

"It tasted like fast food," O'Donnell said.

So she began making her own and nearly four years later has a company, Bella Baby Food Llc of Massapequa, that produces organic baby food sold in about 500 stores, including Stop & Shop and Shaw's supermarkets in the Northeast.

On Friday, O'Donnell was one of several business executives appealing for funding at the quarterly meeting of the Long Island Capital Alliance in Melville. She told investors there she wants $1.5 million -- in rounds of $750,000 each -- to replenish inventory because demand has been strong.

The baby food, made in a California plant, comes in 1.5-ounce packets and a variety of flavors. A box that includes nine packets sells for $4.99. O'Donnell came up with the food formulas.

O'Donnell said her second child, Frankie, now 18 months, has grown up on Bella Baby food. "I felt something was missing in the market," she said.

Another executive seeking capital last week was Billy Keyserling, mayor of Beaufort, S.C., and president of Glen Head-based Grip-Free Technologies Llc, which makes a fitness device that provides "grip-free" exercise routines. Keyserling said the company is seeking $500,000 to expand.

Mandisa Turner Watkins, chief executive of Bownce.com, a social networking tool that facilitates relationships between colleges and athletes, was looking for $400,000 to increase brand awareness.

Investors listening to the pitches were noncommittal. But Jeff Bass, chairman of the alliance, said the organization has a pretty good track record in funding companies. It has raised more than $150 million for companies over the past 27 years.