EIT Food

Astanor brings together capital, deep sector knowledge and a strong network of entrepreneurs, impact investors, technologists, scientists, farmers, chefs, policy makers and food lovers to give rise to a future of food that is nourishing, regenerative, scalable, trusted and delicious. Mission-driven investors, from soil to gut Astanor is an impact investor, delivering financial, social and environmental returns in equal measure. We believe in the future of an agrifood system that provides affordable nutrients for 10 billion people, preserves and regenerates natural resources, actively contributes to decarbonization and protects land and ocean biodiversity. At Astanor, we are driven by a pressing urgency to combat climate change, biodiversity loss and improve the health of humanity and the planet. Sustainability and impact were part of the firm’s founding principles and remain an area we are committed to excel in. Our mission as impact investors is to find, support and scale the most disruptive, impactful solutions to accelerate progress towards global sustainability targets. Our priorities Only highly disruptive, scalable new technology guided by a deep understanding of, and respect for, nature will revolutionize the agrifood sector. Astanor is founded on the thesis that a healthy food system starts from the soil, is connected, transparent and local, nurtures diversity and grows food that is our and the environment’s best medicine. Accelerating regenerative agri/aquaculture finding innovative solutions that enable the global regenerative use of resources, soil & ocean stewardship and scalable agroecology. Connecting the value chain implementing sustainable supply chains, fair remuneration, traceability & transparency, circularity and eliminating waste. Innovating agrifood transformation processes facilitating the sustainable production of food, textiles & agriculture- based materials and restore human and planet health. Astanor’s investment process is guided by 6 principlesRegeneration: Soil is the new black. Health starts, and is sustained for the long-term for people and the planet, from fertile soil and healthy oceans. Food integrity: Insight breeds intelligence. Traceability, transparency, fair labor and supply chain practices will restore trust, decrease risk and strengthen communities. Sustainable diet: Resilience rooted in diversity. New sources of food are required to end overreliance on a few species, monoculture systems and climate-destructive diets. Fresh & delicious: Quality led innovation. New approaches are needed in distribution, packaging that preserves without polluting and urban agriculture to put great tasting food on the table. Nourishment: Food as medicine. Sustainably grown and minimally processed foods protect and promote health. Protection: Waste not, want not. Greater care and efficient use of natural capital, alongside new methods to repurpose waste, are needed to repair the planet.

Mudcake is a microfund run by ex-founders dedicated to making the world a better place for the next generation. We invest in the strongest founders reshaping the way we produce, distribute, and consume food. Our typical ticket is $200k-$800k in pre-seed and seed rounds globally. As startup founders, we saw how technology has the potential to tackle the biggest challenges that worry us as parents. Mudcake nurtures founders shaping the way our children’s generation will produce, distribute and consume food. Nurturing means supporting something while it grows. Children, startups, and the food that sustains us, all need optimal environments to develop - and the future of all three is interlinked.

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.

Nourish Ventures is on a mission to partner with and scale the industry trailblazers leading the food system of the future. Nourish Ventures is the corporate venture capital fund of Griffith Foods. Griffith Foods is an innovative, global, product-development company that has been solving problems in the food industry for more than 100 years. At Nourish we invest in, and partner with, innovative start-up companies that are shaping a healthy and sustainable food system. We are committed to forming partnerships with entrepreneurs who share our aspiration to blend care and creativity while nourishing the world. From smarter alternative proteins to safer ecologically-sound farming methods, it’s our mission to actualize and scale the development of tomorrow’s food system.

RPV is the $100 million corporate venture fund for Rich Products, a $4.5B family-owned food company that operates in 100+ countries and sells across a range of channels from food service to retail. Our fund invests in companies across the value chain that will shape the future of food through technology and innovation. We have investments across three core areas (1) Nutrition and Sustainability (2) Next Generation of Retail and Food Service and (3) Digitization of the supply chain. Our portfolio includes market leading companies like Future Meat (cell-based meat), The Every Company (animal-free egg proteins), Strella (food-waste reduction) and Kitchen United (ghost kitchens). We measure success on financial returns while we also seek to bring strategic insights to the broader organization. RPV is in its 5th year and we continue to be very active targeting 4-5 investment per year.

We are a for-profit, evergreen investment firm on two continents helping entrepreneurs solve the most pressing food system challenges for future generations. We have invested in the green transition of the food system since 2015 and have more than two decades of work experience in leading roles in the food industry. We believe in paradigm shifts, not incremental solutions Our cheap calories come at a steep price. With the population growth there is an increasing number of mouths to feed. Still, food production is already the primary contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, loss of species, and soil degradation. The equation doesn’t add up, but it’s solvable. Bold entrepreneurs with transformative innovations have started the redesign of our food system into a biodiverse carbon sink feeding the billions with nutritious food. The outcome is resilience, regeneration, and abundance. We invest in category defining companies driving the reformation of the global food system. Our investment focus areas Sustainable supply chains: Revalorize resources in shorter and circular supply chains that minimize lost nutrients, material, and energy. Healthy diets: Revitalize health with nutritious, delicious, and personalized diets that prevent disease. Sustainable proteins and fats: Rethink where delicious, economically scalable, and resource-efficient food comes from. Healthy soils: Redesign farming techniques to improve our soils' capacity, health, and productivity.