Lever VC

Sucden Ventures is a venture capital specialist formed by Sucden in 2020 to invest in innovative early-stage growth companies in the food and agricultural sector. Sucden Ventures aims to support disruptive and impactful technologies that can transform the food supply chain in the fields of sustainability, efficiency but also health and nutrition. Sucden Ventures will take advantage of the competitive benefits offered by the Sucden network of companies and partners, built over decades across many regions, and from Sucden’s industrial and agricultural assets. SPECIALIST AREAS We're looking to support innovation and development in three specialist and growing areas of the food tech and agri tech ecosystem. They are: alternative proteins, both cell-based and plant-based alternative or new ingredients plant and crop sciences. PORTFOLIO COMPANIES Sucden Ventures has already made, and currently maintains, several direct investments in new companies innovating in the field of new ingredients. Alongside its historical partner, Continental Grain, Sucden Ventures has also made co-investments in a dozen of companies. One of which uses natural fermentation of mushrooms to create novel plant-based ingredients and transformative technology, offering solutions for sugar reduction, food insecurity, sustainable protein, natural immune support and much more. Another company looks at leveraging plant and crop sciences to offer a clean alternative to synthetic nitrogen fertilizer. INVESTMENT APPROACH We make investments in relatively early-stage growth companies in the specialist sectors mentioned above, potentially anywhere in the world. We aim to be an active minority investor, looking to support our portfolio companies in: business development testing new solutions through our commercial, industrial and agricultural network growing internationally.

We are the corporate venture capital arm of Paulig, investing in startups that contribute to a tastier, healthier and more sustainable planet. We seek financial and societal impact in our investments, as well as a strategic link between Paulig and the startups we back. As an evergreen fund connected to a 150-year-old family-owned business, we don’t have a determined time for exit and always act in the best joint interest of the startup and investors. Our investment focus PINC was launched as Paulig Incubator in 2018 to help Paulig stay in the forefront of relevant innovations, as well as to contribute to a tastier, healthier and more sustainable planet. Today, our ambition is the same, but we have developed into a corporate venture arm. We aim for strategic, financial, and societal impact in our investments, fostering a sustainable food system for tomorrow. We are investing across the agrifood value chain in three primary impact themes: Improve planetary health and diet within the current food system: This includes innovations in agriculture and food security, such as advanced crop breeding or green fertilizers, innovative ingredients and next generation healthy foods, as well as solutions for tracking and improving climate and nature. Novel technologies to feed 10 BN people by 2050: Technologies needed to sustainably produce enough food for our growing population. This includes food production without land use change, such as precision fermentation and cell-cultivation. A circular system for food & materials: Regardless of whether we grow our food in soil or in bioreactors, the system needs to be circular. Some examples are upcycled ingredients, food from unused sources, new coating and packaging solutions, as well as technologies to prevent or make better use of side streams. We are looking for entrepreneurs in an attractive market space with an intrinsic drive to find a solution to the problem they are addressing, a clear and scalable plan for success, a complimentary team and partners whom we can trust and work closely with. We value collaboration and are proactively working with building strong investment syndicates, in which we’re flexible in our role as co-investor, co-lead, or lead investor, if there is a strong strategic link. As a corporate venture capital and evergreen fund, we always act in the best joint interest of the startup and investors. Investment criteriaPre-seed & seed Entry ticket €200k-€1M Focus on the Nordics & Europe Strategic link to Paulig preferred Flexible in the role as co-investor, co-lead, or lead investor Our offer We’re a value driven team with financial, operational, and strategic experience and capabilities. We have a hands-on approach and support founders when needed or actively through board roles. Our extensive Nordic and European network of investors and innovation-enablers can help to accelerate development and scale-up efforts. Moreover, PINC serves as an entryway to Paulig for collaborations, consumer insights, expert guidance in brand and product development, and access to a vast European sales and distribution network.

The ProVeg Incubator, backed by ProVeg International, is the world's leading Incubator for plant-based, fermentation, and cultured-food startups. We are shaping the future of food by exclusively supporting pioneering startups that are developing disruptive alternatives to animal-based products and services. Since its launch in November 2018, the ProVeg Incubator has worked with 55+ startups from all over the world, helping them to raise more than €100 million and launch products in over 15,000 stores. Our mission is to reduce the global consumption of animals by 50% by 2040.

We are a long-term strategic partner, with a desire to support pioneer innovations unlocking the potential of nature. We help the companies we invest in to accelerate the development of their projects and boost growth. Founded in 2015, we are part of the Roquette group, but we are led by a different Board of Directors and we operate independently. Roquette is a global leader in plant-based ingredients, a pioneer of plant proteins and a leading provider of pharmaceutical excipients. Its experience and knowledge are a key differentiating factor versus other venture capital funds. We investin inspiring, passionate and forward looking teams in projects that develop the best plant-based innovations for Food, Nutrition & Health markets, anywhere in the value chain in innovative companies with a strong growth potential throughout the world Our main focusPlant based-ingredients offering nutritional and functional benefits for Food, Nutrition and Health markets. Natural-based excipients for Pharma and Nutraceuticals markets. High performing plant-based specialties offering sensory and technological advantages for Cosmetics markets. Breakthrough Technologies that improve manufacturing processes. Rethinking business models for bringing plant-based innovations to the market.

Betagro Ventures is Betagro Group’s corporate venturing arm. We have an ambitious goal of creating a billion dollars in enterprise value by 2030 through establishing and scaling ventures that accelerate our communities’ access to better quality, more sustainable and fairly priced foods. Through both our venture building and venture capital efforts, we are dedicated to achieving three core missions: To improve customers and end-consumers access to high-quality foods To create new and sustainable sources of protein To optimize existing agro-industrial-food supply chains Beyond growth capital and leading scaling capabilities, we are uniquely positioned to tap into Betagro Group’s broader ecosystem to provide first customers, domain expertise, operational & customer insights and strategic partnership opportunities. Betagro Group is one of Thailand’s leading agro-industrial and food conglomerates, operating a vertically integrated supply chain from farm to fork. The Group operates across 6 key business units – Agro, Protein, Food, Pet, International Business and Restaurants – with more than 200 own retail outlets and 30,000 employees across Southeast Asia.

Pioneers in deploying venture capital into high impact agrifood tech since 2014, we back ambitious teams that are reconnecting and strengthening the link between human health and the health of the planet through innovative technology. Clay Capital was founded with the belief that food is both the cause of, and remedy to, some of today’s most urgent challenges: environmental degradation, societal inequity, and human health. We see these issues as interconnected.In Europe and Asia especially, there is a generation of entrepreneurs motivated to tackle the $12 trillion market opportunity that lies in restoring and reconnecting human and planetary health - and who have a toolkit fit for purpose: from farmers and chefs, to biotechnologists, computational biologistics, plant scientists, computer engineers and multidisciplinary teams merging these skillsets. There is no single silver bullet; transforming a system that has supported humanity in its evolution from Nomadic to Agrarian, and been the seed that rooted and grew societies around the globe, will not happen overnight. Therefore, there’s an urgent need for both transitional solutions and revolutionary new infrastructure. We aim to back both, and enable a healthier food system to co-exist with a healthier planet within our lifetimes. Clay Capital invests to strengthen and refocus how materials are produced and consumed through innovation to have sustainable, nutritious, and circular outcomes. This context presents us with unrivalled opportunities for smart investing - investments that address urgent issues today, for a better tomorrow.