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Over the last five years we’ve been building and investing in fast-growth companies with a positive impact on the planet and its people. With our new Food Fund, we’re now doubling down on these efforts, by investing into the smartest people solving the most pressing challenges along the entire chain of the food industry.
As the leading European Early-Stage investor in this industry, we know that food can be done better. And we know that solving such a complex problem requires an army of dedicated, passionate, creative thinkers who are empowered to work free of constraints, with access to the ideal resources to nurture their seedling ideas through to full bloom.
Going forward, we will continue to focus on our purpose-for-growth approach. We see huge opportunities in building outlier companies that pave the way for healthier nutrition, sustainable agriculture, better access to food - and which therefore have a positive impact while delivering high financial return.
The world is facing a food and health crisis. By 2050, we’re expecting 2.4 billion extra people on the planet[1]: that’s an increase of more than 30% on current population levels. To feed this burgeoning populace, we must double our current production of protein[2]– and yet, we are using 80% of our agricultural land for livestock already[3]. What’s more, in the EU alone, some 20% of the food that we produce is simply discarded[4], while globally, the food supply chain is responsible for 26% of all man-made emissions[5].
At the same time, our growing and ageing population is suffering from escalating levels of chronic disease, such as diabetes, which has quadrupled from 108 million to 422 million cases between 1980 and 2014.[6]
The current food system is messy, wasteful and unsustainable, and human health is suffering the nutritional fallout. We need a fundamental transformation. FoodLabs strongly believes that entrepreneurship holds the key to tackling the food industry’s key issues at scale, and fast.
Having backed some of the most seminal FoodTech companies across Europe - such as Formo, MushLabs, and Gorillas- we see today an abundance of Early Stage opportunities and exceptional entrepreneurial talent. We’re impressed by the new generation of founders we’re meeting: By their hunger to build exceptional ventures, global category leaders, and by their purpose to make a difference.
There is great momentum in the European tech ecosystem, and we’re convinced that Europe will be at the core of innovation in the food industry, with its renowned universities and research institutions, talent and industry leaders. It’s our mission to connect these players and build the leading European Early Stage platform for FoodTech, a community of entrepreneurs, founders and scientists, based on a shared purpose.
To that end, we’re reinforcing our commitment to our core investment strategy, which is, broadly speaking, twofold. Firstly, we seek teams that build on strong intellectual property, who use science and biotech to enable food innovation; secondly, we look for companies that are using technology to address specific issues related to efficiency, as well as digital business models in order to make the food industry more efficient and sustainable. The ideas and innovations we come across are breathtaking, and we feel honored to be in the presence of such original thinkers. We’ll continue to explore uncharted territory, pursue unseen opportunities, and to make bold bets, very early.
We’ll keep focusing on leading and co-leading Pre-Seed and Seed rounds. And following our proven early-stage playbook, we’ll invest in a maximum of 50 startups, cherry-picking outstanding teams and empowering them to achieve exceptional growth.
Of course, foreach of our startups we provide much more than money. When FoodLabs invests, we are founder-centric, giving the people behind the ideas as much practical help as we can to build their business. We will network and connect, put them in touch with relevant partners, and ask the difficult questions, with the aim of getting the business the success and the follow-on funds it is striving for.
This is not an easy line of work to be in. Deciding which companies have what it takes to drive industry change is a privilege and a responsibility. We couldn’t do it if we didn’t have years of experience, sharp foresight and strong intuition. We’re also not afraid of placing bold bets very early, as soon as we recognize real potential.
With the right support and with enough conviction, we believe there are boundless opportunities for positive change. It is our hope that by investing today, we can transform the efficiency, sustainability and nutritional value of food, for a brighter 2050 and beyond.
FoodLabs is a pan-European Early-Stage VC investor and venture studio for food, sustainability and health. We strongly believe that entrepreneurship holds the key to pushing the boundaries in the food industry. Based in Berlin and founded by Christophe F. Maire, FoodLabs has built and invested in more than 30 Early-Stage FoodTech companies since 2016. We’re backing the most ambitious, purpose-driven entrepreneurs, who are committed to changing the world’s largest industry. With a thesis-driven and purpose-for-growth approach, FoodLabs invests in companies along the entire value chain of the food industry - 'from earth to earth'. FoodLabs has been an early investor in some of the most seminal, fastest-growing European FoodTech startups including Infarm, Meatable, Mushlabs, Sanity Group, Formo and Gorillas. In our FoodLabs studio we identify new opportunities to change the food industry, along with the most daring entrepreneurs and scientists that have what it takes to empower the transformation.
Please visit https://www.foodlabs.com/for more information.
[1] https://population.un.org/wpp/Publications/Files/WPP2019_PressRelease_EN.pdf
[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5532560/
[3] http://www.fao.org/animal-production/en/
[4] https://ec.europa.eu/research-and-innovation/en/horizon-magazine/food-scraps-become-dairy-and-meat-substitutes
[5] https://josephpoore.com/Science%20360%206392%20987%20-%20Accepted%20Manuscript.pdf
[6] https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/diabetes
