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The Plantbase Foundation is a non-profit institution run by entrepreneur and impact investor Willem Blom based in The Netherlands. Most of the Plantbase activities are backed by donors. At least 80% of the donations are used to support enterprises that facilitate the shift from animal agriculture to a vegan lifestyle. The foundation has invested in foodtechs involved in the meat, fish and dairy industries; as well as food delivery and apps. Its portfolio includes fast-growing startups like Heura, Meatable, Livekindly and Mission Barns. It also works with investment partners like Kale United, Mile High Vegan Network, Vegan Entrepreneurs Network and GlassWall Syndicate.

KEEN Growth Capital is an impact VC focusing on early-stage investments in companies that generate revenues of $200,000–$2m in the F&B, health or wellness sectors with an addressable market size above $300m. Investments in food segments include clean snacking, healthy eating and science tech-driven health products.Since 2017, the VC has been managing two capital funds. The KGC Fund I has yielded exits and late-stage valuations with returns of six to 75 times. The $40m KGC Fund II is directed at companies with a social and environmental impact in nutritional well-being, disease mitigation and life science technologies.

Orkla ASA is an Oslo-based supplier of branded consumer products to major markets in the Nordic and Baltic regions and Central Europe. Selected product categories are also available in India, known as MTR Foods brand. Popular brands include Felix, Toro, Panda and Abba.Originally founded in 1654, Orkla is one of Norway’s oldest business conglomerates and became public-listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (ORKLY) in 1929. Orkla Foods accounts for 39% of the group’s operating revenues. Two other subsidiaries, Orkla Care and Orkla Food Ingredients generate about 43% of the group’s operating revenues. The Orkla Confectionery & Snacks division contributes about 15%.

Founded in 2003 in New York, Vast Ventures has invested in over 70 early-stage companies, with a focus on companies tackling global problems or which are rooted in sustainability. It has managed 22 exits to date. It currently has 45 companies in its portfolio, the overwhelming majority of which are based in the Americas. Its most recent investments include participation in the May 2021 $8m seed round for Chilean rental management proptech player Houm, as well as the April 2021 $17m Series A round of MedChart, a Canadian healthcare data systems startup.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is an international NGO operating across over 100 countries with projects initially focused on the protection of endangered species, which later expanded into other areas like the preservation of biological diversity, protection of natural resources, and the mitigation of climate change. It is considered the world's largest conservation organization, working with a network of different NGOs, governments, scientists, companies, local communities, investment banks, fishermen and farmers. The WWF was founded in 1961 and 55% of its funding comes from individuals and bequests, 19% from government sources, and 8% from corporations. With more than $1bn in investment capital, WWF has supported more than 12,000 conservation initiatives with over 5m supporters worldwide. The institution has been often criticized for not campaigning objectively because of its strong ties with multinational corporations such as Coca-Cola, Lafarge, and IKEA. In 2019 the institution reported 4% of its total operating revenue coming from corporations. 

Sky Ocean Ventures is a £25m impact investment fund and part of the Sky Media Group. It was launched in 2018 with the goal of accelerating businesses that can tackle global plastic pollution with innovative ideas and disruptive technologies. The firm has backed 20 startups that have developed solutions that help mitigate plastic disposals in the environment, such as disposable bottles made of paper, reusable delivery boxes, sachets made from seaweed and packaging made from wood chips. Sky Ocean Ventures also partners with, among others, The National Geographic and the Imperial College in London. 

Founded over 110 years ago from several small agricultural cooperative banks, the Dutch commercial banking group Rabobank has over 10m customers across 47 countries. The banking group’s Rabo Investments vehicle manages Rabo Ventures with a €120m fund investing globally in early-stage fintech and agtech startups. There is also a €30m fund-of-funds to partner with leading VCs in other funding rounds like the $12m funding round of Dutch e-scooter company GO Sharing.The Rabobank Food & Agri Innovation Fund specializes in supporting enterprises involved in creating sustainable solutions for diverse food and agricultural sectors including livestock farms. Rabo F&A Innovation Fund currently has 11 agri-foodtech startups in its portfolio, including participation in a $12m Series A round of Vence, US-based virtual fencing tech company for livestock management.

Based in Brussels, Astanor Ventures is an impact investor specializing in foodtech, agritech and blue ocean economy with focus on the environment and sustainability. Founded in 2017 by Eric Archambeau and George Coelho, Astanor has invested in more than 20 startups in Europe and the US. Archambeau and Coelho launched Balderton Capital in Europe and were early investors in Spotify, Betfair and LoveFilm.Astanor invests according to the principles for responsible investment (PRI), prioritizing technology-led solutions that connect the value chain, innovate on nutrition and accelerate regenerative agriculture. In November 2020, the firm closed fundraising for its $325m Global Impact Fund focused on food and agriculture technology that comply with the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs).

London-based Sustainability Ventures is one of the UK’s leading early-stage investors in Cleantech. It comprises a group of successful entrepreneurs with a track record in building and investing in high-growth start-ups. It has created Europe’s largest ecosystem for cleantech and sustainability startups, as a business founder and investor, provider of accelerator and support services and provider of shared workspaces. Active since 2011, Sustainability Ventures has raised £250m in total equity funds to date. Its focus is on agritech and food, building technology, circular economy, future energy and mobility. It has established 10 companies, invested in 30 and supported the development of over 250 more enterprises as of 2021 and aims to develop 1,000 sustainable startups by 2025.  

Enlightened Hospitality Investments (EHI) is a New York-based growth fund launched by Danny Meyer and his Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG). The fund leverages USHG's network of chefs, IT, marketers, and industry experts.Active since the early ’90s, it currently has $220m under management. To date, EHI has made eight investments bringing technology into the hospitality sector through companies operating in the food and beverage space.

Future Positive Capital is a Paris-based VC with a second office in London. Its investments cover deep-technology companies applying AI, biotechnology, synthetic biology, as well as robotics. Co-funded in 2016 by ex-Index Ventures associate Sofia Hmich along with Alexandre Terrien and Michael Rosen; it has made 18 investments to date. In 2019 Future Positive raised over $57m pan-European impact investment fund, claiming that most European VCs are continuing to staying focused on sectors, such as consumer, fintech, and marketing, or web and mobile technologies. Future Positive’s belief is that there is instead, a long-tail of investment opportunities to back businesses that actually tackle “the world’s most pressing problems”.Through this fund, it will back throughout Seed and Series A stages, with the possibility to follow up on Series B investing between around €300,000 and €5m. Since then the company has backed startups in the like of BioBeats, an AI company focused on preventative mental health, cell-based startup Meatable, and more recently NotCo, the Chilean unicorn disrupting the food and beverage sector with AI-enabled plant-based products.The team counts on an extensive network of mentors, innovators, impact angel investors and entrepreneurs such as F1 pilots Nico Rosberg, the MD of Alibaba France Sebastien Badault, the Omid Ashtari the President of Citymapper amongst others.

Ahmir Khalib Thompson, better known as Questlove, is an American DJ, songwriter and filmmaker. He is the drummer and joint frontman of the hip-hop band the Roots and has also made several appearances in movies and television. He has been also a musical director at the 2020 and 2021 Academy Awards ceremony. The plant-based food investor was reportedly behind President Barack Obama’s upcoming birthday celebration in 2021. Questlove has backed plant-based food companies Impossible Foods and NotCo.Also in 2021, Questlove directed a film about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, the Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), which won the US Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award for documentary at the Sundance Film Festival.

Founded in 2020 in Boulder, Colorado, Trailhead Capital is a specialist agtech and foodtech investor that focuses on startups in the US, Canada, Australia and Israel. The VC’s regenerative agriculture portfolio includes investments in food ingredients traceability, food supply chains, reducing food waste and soil health environmental management.Recent investments include in the $12m Series A round of Vence, a US-based producer of virtual fencing wearables for livestock management in May 2021. In February 2021, it also participated in the $6m funding round of foodtech HowGood that specializes in rating the sustainability of grocery products.

Founded in Bayern in 2009, SevenVentures GmbH provides Media-for-Equity and Media-for-Revenue investment models to companies with a minimum turnover of €5m. The firm secures TV media coverage and cash payments for its investees, as the investment arm of German media group ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE that has a total monthly TV audience of 60m across seven free channels.In 2019, SevenVentures provided 1,000 advertising hours to 70 businesses. The firm’s media contributions are worth the equivalent of €3m–30m over a period of two to four years. SevenVentures also runs the SevenAccelerator and currently has 18 active portfolio companies. Recent investments in 2021 include the $54m Series B round of Austrian refurbished electronics goods marketplace Refurbed in August and the €35m funding round for German telemedicine platform Wellster Healthtech Group in June.

Founded in 2017 in Hong Kong, Happiness Capital invests in seed to growth stage companies in the US, Europe, Israel, and China, with a focus on issues affecting global happiness within the areas of citizen trust, food, health, climate change, and reduced inequalities. It hosts its own annual contest, the Super Happiness Challenge , a global open innovation contest to fund individuals and startups with ideas and new products or services that tapped into unmet needs to achieve happiness, with a possible $1m in total investment on offer. The VC currently has 37 startups in its portfolio, around half of which are in foodtech and agtech. Its most recent investments include leading the $4.7m July 2021 seed funding round of NovoNutrients, the US-based biotech producer of alt-protein from fermentation using CO2 and other emissions, and co-leading the $29m February 2021 Series A round of Israeli 3D printed alt-meat startup Redefine Meat.

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