Investment Climate Podcast

Episode 95: UNOVIS Asset Management: Kim Odhner on navigating the Alt-Protein pivot and why startups can't disrupt Nestlé  

In this episode, I sit down with Kim Odhner, Managing Director at UNOVIS Asset Management, one of the most experienced and earliest venture funds in the alternative protein space. Kim pulls back the curtain on how UNOVIS manages its portfolio during the FoodTech winter, detailing the exact thesis behind their recent follow-on investments in Green Rebel Foods, The Protein Brewery, and Alpine Bio. We discuss why trying to change the habits of meat-eaters is a "lost cause," how molecular farming startups are pivoting to high-value medical-grade ingredients, and why the next era of FoodTech requires abandoning the Silicon Valley playbook of trying to overthrow legacy FMCG giants. 
🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear Kim's insights on why the massive Southeast Asian market requires prioritizing shelf-stability over cold-chain logistics. 

Key Facts UNOVIS Asset Management:
Kim Odhner: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kim-anders-odhner/
Website: https://unovis.vc/
Headquarters: New York, US 
Goal: To invest in and scale transformative food technologies, transitioning from a strict alternative-protein focus to a broader growth-stage mandate targeting functional, healthy, and asset-light ingredients.
Milestone: Raised a €150M European fund and successfully guided multiple early-stage portfolio companies through critical commercial and regulatory pivots.

Blurb
Unovis Asset Management is the global leader in alternative protein investing, backing purpose-driven entrepreneurs building the future of food. Through its flagship New Crop Capital funds (NCAP I and NCAP II), Unovis provides seed-to-growth capital to founders developing plant-based, fungi, fermentation, and cultivated replacements to meat, seafood, dairy, and eggs. But Unovis goes beyond capital — partners bring deep culinary expertise, consumer behavior insight, food manufacturing experience, and a global network to help founders build companies that last. Their north star: transform the global food system by reducing dependence on animal proteins and catalyzing the kind of sustained behavioral change that makes a well-fed, sustainable world possible.

Episode 94: Kilter: Kristoffer Magnor on securing a 6.5M strategic round, partnering with Kubota, and the 1-to-2 year farmer ROI 

In this episode, I sit down with Kristoffer Magnor, Managing Director at Kilter, a Norway-based AgTech startup building an autonomous precision-weeding robot. Kristoffer details the anatomy of their recent 6.5 million strategic investment round led by global manufacturing giant Kubota. We discuss why they spent two full years pressure-testing their relationship with Kubota in the field before finalizing the round, how they successfully pushed back when Kubota wanted to turn their autonomous robot into a standard tractor implement, and how they calculate a rock-solid 1-to-2 year ROI for farmers. 
🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear how Kilter’s machine learning platform reduces herbicide use by 96.6% and why capturing premium supermarket pricing is the hidden value-add of their technology. 

Key Facts Kilter:
Kristoffer Magnor: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristoffermagnor/
Website: https://www.kiltersystems.com/
Headquarters: Viken, Norway 
Goal: To optimize agricultural land by deploying autonomous robots (the AX1) that use machine learning to distinguish crops from weeds, printing micro-droplets of herbicide with 6x6 millimeter precision.
Milestone: Raised a 6.5 million strategic investment round led by Kubota to transition from direct sales to a massive distribution-led scaling model across Germany, the Netherlands, and eventually globally.

Blurb
Kilter is an agri-robotics company developing autonomous field robots that eliminate weeds with surgical precision — plant by plant. Powered by AI-driven crop recognition and its patented Single Drop Technology, Kilter replaces the blunt instrument of blanket spraying with ultra-targeted treatment, dramatically reducing chemical inputs while improving crop performance. The result is a new standard for sustainable farming: full field control, lower costs, and agriculture that works in balance with nature rather than against it.

Episode 93: Plug and Play: Alex Davisson on "Venture Math", B2B Corporate Synergy, and the Pre-Regulatory Playbook 

In this episode, I sit down with Alex Davisson, Senior Associate at Plug and Play, a globally recognized venture fund and open innovation platform. Alex breaks down how Plug and Play leverages its network of over 600 multinational corporate partners (like PepsiCo and Mars Wrigley) to act as a hyper-strategic investor for early-stage FoodTech startups. We discuss why his bread and butter is pre-revenue, pre-regulatory companies, and why they explicitly pass on pure B2C consumer brands like Poppi or Huel. Alex also delivers a sobering reality check on FoodTech exit multiples and explains why he is aggressively pushing his team to invest at sub-$10M valuation caps. 
🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear how Plug and Play can add massive commercial value to your startup through their corporate ecosystem, even if they end up passing on writing a check. 

Key Facts Plug and Play:
Alex Davisson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-alexander-davisson/
Website: plugandplaytechcenter.com
Headquarters: California, USA
Goal: To invest globally in pre-seed and seed stage AgriFoodTech startups (specifically B2B ingredients and enabling tech with strong IP moats) that offer strategic synergy with their multinational corporate partners.
Milestone: Rapid deployment capability, writing $50K–$100K initial checks from their family office with an average 4-to-6 week due diligence cycle, backed by larger follow-on capacity through their LP-driven sustainability funds.

Blurb
Plug and Play is a global innovation platform that bridges the gap between large corporations and high-potential startups. By matching strategically aligned emerging companies to their partners' specific technology challenges, Plug and Play gives enterprises firsthand visibility into the trends shaping tomorrow — while connecting them to a world-class network of industry leaders and change-makers. With a mission to make innovation open to anyone, anywhere, Plug and Play has built one of the world's most active ecosystems for driving growth, unlocking new opportunities, and embedding a culture of continuous transformation inside the organizations that need it most.

Episode 92: Forever Harvest: Mick Riley on spinning Plant Cell IP out of the university and the B2C trap  

In this episode, I sit down with Mick Riley, Co-founder and CEO of Forever Harvest, a New Zealand-based plant cell culture startup that recently closed a $1.2M pre-seed round. Mick details how he stepped in as the commercial CEO to spin out "high seven-figure" IP from a public research institute, taking raw lab science and turning it into a commercial biotech platform. We discuss why growing commodity nuts in a bioreactor makes zero economic sense, and how their strategy shifted to accelerating high-value traits (like Vitamin K2) for corporate B2B partners. 
🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear Mick's candid admission about wasting six months trying to build a B2C brand and why pitching themselves as a horizontal platform ultimately secured their VC funding.  

Key Facts Forever Harvest:
Mick Riley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mick-riley-205a78276/
Website: https://www.foreverharvest.co/
Headquarters: New Zealand
Goal: To utilize plant cell culture (growing fruit and nuts "without the tree") to supply FMCGs with highly tailored, premium B2B ingredients, specifically focusing on almond and citrus.
Milestone: Spun out of the Bioeconomy Science Institute (a NZ public research organization) and successfully raised a $1.2M pre-seed round backed by deep-tech incubator Sprout Agritech.

Blurb:
FOREVER HARVEST is a New Zealand-based cellular horticulture company producing custom fruit and nut ingredients via plant cell culture. Working directly with industry partners, they develop proprietary cell lines and growth media to deliver ingredients with tailored flavour and functional profiles — available year-round, on demand, with no seasonal or supply chain constraints. Key differentiators: minimal land/water footprint, zero pesticides, enhanced bioactive concentration versus conventional produce, and batch-to-batch consistency.

Episode 91: Zintinus: Fabio Ziemssen on the Growth Investor Mindset and the B2B vs. B2C Scale-Up Playbook 

In this episode, I sit down with Fabio Ziemssen, Founding Partner at Zintinus, a Berlin-based growth-stage FoodTech fund managing €135 million. Fabio outlines the strict commercial metrics required to secure their €2M to €5M checks, explaining the distinct differences between evaluating B2B ingredient stickiness versus B2C retail velocity. We dive deep into their recent investments, including the Austrian healthy snacking brand NEO (leveraging a massive B2B sugar-replacement play) and Planet A Foods. Most notably, Fabio breaks down why Zintinus invested in KÄÄPÄ Mushrooms, defying the current venture capital exodus from vertical farming by focusing on high-margin functional crops over low-margin commodities like basil. 
🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear why Fabio believes there is never a "too early" time to start building a relationship with a growth-stage fund.  

Key Facts Zintinus:
Fabio Ziemssen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabio-ziemssen-food-innovation/
Website: https://zintinus.com/
Headquarters: Berlin
Goal: To lead €2M–€5M growth-stage investments in alternative proteins, functional foods, and food waste reduction technologies across Europe and the US.
Milestone: Managing €135M in assets and exclusively deploying capital into startups that have moved beyond the lab and achieved proven commercial traction.

Blurb:
ZINTINUS is a European venture capital fund singularly focused on food system transformation. They invest in Series A–B rounds across four verticals: alternative protein (plant-based, fermentation, cell-based), clean nutrition (functional beverages, free-from products), functional food (personalized nutrition, novel ingredients), and food waste reduction (shelf-life extension, side-stream valorization, data analytics). Their thesis targets scalable models with strong unit economics, and beyond capital, they offer portfolio companies access to deep sector networks and operational expertise.