Investment Climate Podcast

Episode 102: Branch Venture Group: Lauren Abda on the Strength of the Syndicate Model and De-Risking AgriFood Investing
In this episode, I sit down with Lauren Abda, Co-Founder of Branch Venture Group, a Boston-based angel investment network and syndicate deployed heavily into the future of food. Lauren delivers a masterclass on why the syndicate model has outperformed traditional mega-funds during the current "AgriFood winter," explaining how pairing early-stage founders with highly strategic operators creates durable competitive moats. We discuss the shifting macroeconomic landscape, why food infrastructure remains dramatically undercapitalized despite essential demand, and how Lauren leverages a 10-year-old vetting process to filter thousands of inbound deals into 29 high-performing investments.
🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear Lauren’s take on uncovering "unfair advantages" in early-stage startups, the unique acquisition dynamics of top food corporations, and how she manages the psychological grit required to back unconventional innovation before consensus forms.
Key Facts: Branch Venture Group
Lauren Abda: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenabda/
Website: https://www.branchventuregroup.com/
Headquarters: Boston, Massachusetts.
Goal: To back the brightest founders building the future of the food system, delivering venture-scale returns by combining visionary innovation with strict operational discipline.
Milestone: Over a decade in the space; 29 unique investments made since 2017. The portfolio boasts two unicorns, multiple markups, and nearly half (50%) of the portfolio is currently cash-flow break-even.
Blurb
BRANCH VENTURE GROUP is an angel investment network and syndicate specializing in early-stage food and agriculture innovation. Evolving out of Branch Food—a premier Boston-based innovation platform—the syndicate serves as a bridge between early-stage founders and a powerful network of experienced industry operators, executives, and strategic partners.

Episode 102: Champel Capital: Amir Weitmann on why the "Plant-Based Meat" thesis failed and pivoting a $50M fund to Defense Tech 
In this episode, I sit down with Amir Weitmann, Managing Partner at Champel Capital, an Israeli venture fund that deployed heavily into FoodTech across its first two funds (backing standouts like Remilk and Aleph Farms). Amir delivers a brutally honest post-mortem on the alternative protein sector, explaining exactly why Champel avoided investing in plant-based meat companies like Beyond Meat, opting instead for breakthrough Deep Tech. We discuss the shifting macroeconomic landscape that caused FoodTech funding to collapse to 15% of its 2021 peak, and why Champel's upcoming third fund is pivoting entirely away from AgriFood into Defense and Security. 
🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear Amir’s unapologetic take on why ESG should be about human prosperity, not "worshipping Mother Earth," and the terrifying psychological burden of managing LP money. 

Key Facts Champel Capital:
Amir Weitmann: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirweitmann/
Website: champelcapital.com
Headquarters: Israel
Goal: To deliver outsized venture returns (targeting 5x fund return / 25%-35% IRR) by backing true technological breakthroughs, transitioning from early FoodTech investments into Defense and Security.
Milestone: Raised over $50 million across two funds, backing major FoodTech players like Remilk and Aleph Farms, and is currently actively fundraising for Fund III.

Blurb
CHAMPEL CAPITAL is a Swiss venture capital firm specializing in Israeli deep tech — physical-world innovation over software-only plays. They back founders building defensible, hard-to-commoditize technologies across defense & security, medtech, insurtech, watertech, foodtech, agritech, and mobility. Investment thesis centers on three pillars: exceptional founders with genuine market vision, deep tech with durable competitive moats, and large addressable markets. Stage and check size not specified; primary value proposition is serving as a gateway between European capital and Israel's startup ecosystem.

Episode 101: Planetary: Charles Pontvianne on the 16M CHF Series A, licensing IP to sugar giants, and bypassing CapEx 
In this episode, I sit down with Charles Pontvianne, CFO of Planetary, a Swiss biotech startup that recently announced a massive 16 million CHF Series A co-led by Radical Capital and Oetker Group. Charles breaks down their highly unusual "middleman" equity story: instead of building their own massive fermentation facilities, Planetary licenses their biomanufacturing IP directly to legacy sugar producers, utilizing their existing infrastructure to upcycle sucrose side-streams into high-protein B2B ingredients. We discuss how Planetary successfully navigated the dreaded "Food-for-Fuel" ethical bottleneck by producing "Food-for-Food," and how getting retail giant Aldi to reorder their vegan chicken fillet was the ultimate commercial derisking mechanism for their Series A investors. 
🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear Charles explain the exact structure of their data room and why treating your fundraise like selling a house is critical to creating VC FOMO. 

Key Facts Planetary:
Charles Pontvianne: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlespontvianne/
Website: https://www.planetarygroup.ch/
Headquarters: Switzerland 
Goal: To act as the missing link between industrial agriculture and FoodTech by licensing biomanufacturing IP to global carbohydrate/sugar producers, upcycling their sucrose side-streams into Mycoprotein ingredients for the B2B market.
Milestone: Closed a 16 million CHF Series A (co-led by Radical Capital and Oetker Group) while successfully scaling up a 50 cubic meter fermentation plant in Switzerland and launching a Mycoprotein-based vegan chicken fillet in Aldi.

Blurb
PLANETARY is a Swiss full-stack fermentation platform building and operating a global network of biomanufacturing facilities. Their proprietary BioBlocks™ fermentation and AI platform handles scale-up, process optimization, and production across three verticals: mycoprotein ingredients, precision fermentation-derived products, and bio-based materials. They are infrastructure-as-a-service for the bioeconomy — clients access Planetary's facilities, platform, and expertise to get fermentation-based products to market with optimized COGS and sustainability metrics.

Episode 101: Planetary: Charles Pontvianne on the 16M CHF Series A, licensing IP to sugar giants, and bypassing CapEx 
In this episode, I sit down with Charles Pontvianne, CFO of Planetary, a Swiss biotech startup that recently announced a massive 16 million CHF Series A co-led by Radical Capital and Oetker Group. Charles breaks down their highly unusual "middleman" equity story: instead of building their own massive fermentation facilities, Planetary licenses their biomanufacturing IP directly to legacy sugar producers, utilizing their existing infrastructure to upcycle sucrose side-streams into high-protein B2B ingredients. We discuss how Planetary successfully navigated the dreaded "Food-for-Fuel" ethical bottleneck by producing "Food-for-Food," and how getting retail giant Aldi to reorder their vegan chicken fillet was the ultimate commercial derisking mechanism for their Series A investors. 
🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear Charles explain the exact structure of their data room and why treating your fundraise like selling a house is critical to creating VC FOMO. 

Key Facts Planetary:
Charles Pontvianne: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlespontvianne/
Website: https://www.planetarygroup.ch/
Headquarters: Switzerland 
Goal: To act as the missing link between industrial agriculture and FoodTech by licensing biomanufacturing IP to global carbohydrate/sugar producers, upcycling their sucrose side-streams into Mycoprotein ingredients for the B2B market.
Milestone: Closed a 16 million CHF Series A (co-led by Radical Capital and Oetker Group) while successfully scaling up a 50 cubic meter fermentation plant in Switzerland and launching a Mycoprotein-based vegan chicken fillet in Aldi.

Blurb
PLANETARY is a Swiss full-stack fermentation platform building and operating a global network of biomanufacturing facilities. Their proprietary BioBlocks™ fermentation and AI platform handles scale-up, process optimization, and production across three verticals: mycoprotein ingredients, precision fermentation-derived products, and bio-based materials. They are infrastructure-as-a-service for the bioeconomy — clients access Planetary's facilities, platform, and expertise to get fermentation-based products to market with optimized COGS and sustainability metrics.

Episode 100: Scannabull: Dan Bull on non-dilutive government hacks, dodging the OpenAI threat, and the $1.1M pre-seed pitch 
In this episode, I sit down with Dan Bull, CEO of Scannabull, a New Zealand-based AgTech startup utilizing 3D imagery and edge-device machine learning to accurately weigh livestock. Dan breaks down the exact timeline of their $1.1M NZD pre-seed round, explaining how an early introduction from their first major customer (Silver Fern Farms) unlocked backing from Sprout AgriTech and Enterprise Angels, which subsequently triggered a highly favorable, non-dilutive $750k government loan. We dive into the tactical ways founders can handle the inevitable "won't OpenAI just crush you?" objection, and why targeting farmers as a primary customer is a mistake. 
🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear how Dan plans to monetize Scannabull by selling data directly to massive meat processors rather than charging cash-strapped farmers. 

Key Facts Scannabull:
Dan Bull: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danjbull1/
Website: https://scanabull.com/
Headquarters: New Zealand 
Goal: To illuminate the "black box" of the beef supply chain by allowing farmers to weigh 600kg animals instantly using 3D imagery on edge devices (iPhones and custom paddock hardware).
Milestone: Raised $1.1M NZD via a combination of VC backing (Sprout AgriTech), an Angel syndicate (Enterprise Angels), and a non-dilutive 3% revenue-repayable loan from the New Zealand government’s Callaghan Innovation Fund.

Blurb
Scanabull is a New Zealand AgTech company making cattle weighing effortless. Based in the Waikato region — one of the world's most storied livestock innovation hubs — Scanabull brings together a proven team with genuine rural roots, AgTech expertise, and deep software capability. Their technology delivers clear, actionable weight intelligence that helps farmers and processors maximize value while keeping animals healthy and well-managed. Simple premise, significant impact: when you know the weight, you know the animal.