€75M sustainable food fund to reward first-mover food firms

The fund aims to invest in 15 to 25 Western European companies operating within the sustainable food, nutrition, foodtech or agritech markets, founder and managing partner Patrick Driessen told FoodNavigator.com.

The fund management expects to turn its portfolio of companies into international players and market leaders, he said.

Driessen explained that the fund hopes to make 10-15 early-stage investments of less than €1m, ten follow-on investments of €1-2m and five later-stage investments of €2-10m.

€15m investments​

The fund will be mostly focused in The Netherlands and Western Europe, but the rest of Europe will be considered and maximum investment per company will be approximately €15m.

The fund will be the first of its kind in Europe to focus on investing in innovative and growing companies that will make the food and nutrition supply chain healthier, safer, more efficient and more sustainable, Driessen said.

Companies must have the potential to provide a valuable and profitable contribution to a healthy, transparent and sustainable food chain in order to qualify for investment.

Sustainable food​

Driessen said that as the world population continues to grow healthy and sustainable food is becoming increasingly scarce: “The market for healthy food will grow with over 20% annually and will reach US$ 1 trillion by 2017…​ The new fund is one of the first specialised funds in this growth market and as such offers a fruitful basis for healthy returns on investment. Besides a financial return, the Sustainable Food Fund also offers a Return-on-Impact in four areas: sustainability, social entrepreneurship, innovation and health​.”

To qualify, companies must be active in the food, nutrition, foodtech, agritech, health or sustainability sectors with a strong, balanced, passionate, ambitious and experienced management team.

Products must be innovative or niche or first-mover with potential in the international/global growing market and a potential market size of greater than €500 million.

The company’s cash-flow must be positive with proven turnover and significant growth for the next years.

The fund has a 10-year lifespan with a four to five-year investment period, with the possibility of a two-year extension, it will not make seed investments.