Investment Climate

Episode 86: Royal Cosun: Jara van den Bogaerde on Corporate Open Innovation and surviving the 6-month Pilot timeline 

In this episode, I sit down with Jara van den Bogaerde, Open Innovation Manager at Royal Cosun, a 125-year-old Dutch food processor and cooperative representing 8,500 farmers. Jara pulls back the curtain on how a massive corporate player scouts and collaborates with early-stage AgriFoodTech startups. We discuss the difference between Cosun’s CVC arm (writing ~$5M Series A equity checks) and its Open Innovation division, which bypasses the equity table to focus on pre-seed and seed-stage pilots, joint ventures, and licensing. Jara details their specific 2026 mandate to find disruptive technologies in alternative proteins, fibers, and side-stream valorization, and explains why founders need to stop pitching with a "trust us, we're great" mentality. 
🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear Jara’s reality check on the timeline for securing a paid corporate pilot and why startups with only two months of runway are already too late.

Key Facts Royal Cosun:
Goal: To build a sustainable 10-year innovation pipeline by partnering with startups to co-develop, license, or scale technologies in alternative proteins, texturizers, and side-stream valorization.
Milestone: Operating with a pre-allocated R&D budget for Open Innovation, allowing them to bypass internal budget-hunting to rapidly execute paid POCs and pilots with startups.

Episode 85: Sprout Agritech: Sandhya Sriram on New Zealand’s massive government match-funding and escaping the Agri-Food VC winter

In this episode, I sit down with Sandhya Sriram, CEO of Sprout Agritech, a premier startup accelerator and early-stage investor based in New Zealand. Sandhya—a stem cell scientist and serial entrepreneur turned investor—explains how Sprout leverages heavy New Zealand government backing to radically de-risk pre-seed investments. We discuss their unique funding structure, which pairs private equity with $750k in non-dilutive government match-funding, making New Zealand one of the most capital-efficient ecosystems on the planet. Currently raising a new $55M–$60M NZD fund to expand across the APAC region, Sandhya reveals why they act more like co-founders than traditional VCs, actively handing research scientists their first corporate pilot customers, and why she is aggressively rebranding their thesis away from "Agri-Tech" to "Deep Tech."

Key Facts Sprout Agritech:
Goal: To act as "smart connected capital" for deep tech innovation across the Agri-Food value chain, bridging the gap between academic research and commercial pilot runs.
Milestone: Currently raising a new $55M–$60M NZD fund to expand APAC investments, building on a fully deployed $40M fund that saw 14 investments and two exits (including one 8x return).

Episode 84: Maia Ventures: David Bassani on Italy's "Untapped" AgriFood Market and the Private Equity Exit Strategy

In this episode, I sit down with David Bassani, Founding Partner of Maia Ventures, an Italy-based VC fund rapidly approaching its €60M hard cap. David details why he believes the Italian ecosystem is severely underfunded despite Agri-Food accounting for 15% of the nation's GDP. He reveals how Maia acts as a powerful bridge, bringing global AgriFoodTech startups to Italian corporates while simultaneously taking localized Italian innovation to the world stage. We also unpack David's highly contrarian strategy: dedicating a specific portion of the portfolio to "traditional" businesses with strong EBITDA (like their sous-vide vegetable company, Capellini) to explicitly target early Private Equity buyouts rather than relying solely on the elusive FMCG corporate acquisition. 🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear how a cold intro from a fellow VC led to their first US investment in the GLP-1 space (Lombos) and why Maia Ventures refuses to fund CapEx projects.

Key Facts Maia Ventures:
Goal: To invest globally in Seed-stage AgriFoodTech startups focusing on health, efficiency, and resiliency, while acting as a strategic bridge to the Italian corporate and CDMO ecosystem.
Milestone: Currently managing €55M with a final close of €60M targeted by the end of the year; writing initial checks between €500K and €1.5M.

Episode 83: The Footprint Firm: Jonas Ahm-Lundgren on the Hybrid VC-Advisory Model and the Art of the Hard Pivot 

In this episode, I sit down with Jonas Ahm-Lundgren, Partner at the Footprint Fund, which recently announced the first close of their €76M pre-seed and seed climate tech fund. Jonas breaks down their highly unusual structure—operating a venture fund under the same roof as a major sustainability advisory firm—and how this "army of smart folks" gives them an unfair advantage in corporate networking and due diligence. We dig into their investment in Octarine Bio, detailing how the founders executed a brilliant hard pivot from medical psilocybin to bio-based colorants for textiles and food. Jonas also explains why tackling deeply fragmented, high-pollution markets like textile dyeing requires a 12-year fund structure and an immense amount of founder resilience. 
🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear Jonas's "whaling ship" analogy for venture capital and why startups should never ignore unsolicited inbound interest from Fortune 500 companies.

Key Facts The Footprint Fund:
Goal: To invest €0.5M to €2M checks in early-stage climate tech companies across Northern Europe, prioritizing deep impact aligned with massive financial returns.
Milestone: Closed a €76M debut fund backed by a highly condensed roster of top-tier Danish LPs, including Novo Holdings, Northeast Family Office, and the Danish government fund EIFO.

Episode 82: Evergreen Select: Jim Miller on Big Pharma execution, 3D scaffolding, and the Hybrid Meat strategy 
In this episode, I sit down with Jim Miller, President and CEO of Evergreen Select, a cultivated meat company that has raised roughly $55M to date, backed heavily by lead investor S2G. Jim brings over 30 years of Fortune 500 biotech and Big Pharma execution (including COVID vaccine commercialization) to the cultivated meat sector. He breaks down why Evergreen abandoned complex plant-based hybrid blends in favor of a direct "drop-in" strategy: blending their 100% lean, non-GMO cultivated beef biomass directly with traditional ground beef. We dive into the science behind their 3D bovine scaffolding that allows them to harvest solid chunks instead of a liquid slurry—achieving massive titers north of 350 grams per liter—and how they are positioning their product as a hedge against the volatile spot prices of the traditional beef industry. 
🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear Jim’s masterclass on extreme board transparency and why daily scrums are vital for startup survival.
Key Facts Evergreen Select:
Goal: To supply meat processors with a highly scalable, non-GMO cultivated lean beef biomass that blends seamlessly with traditional ground beef to stabilize costs and supply.
Milestone: Successfully raised ~$55M to date (with a recent $8M injection) while advancing regulatory dossiers for commercialization in both the US and Singapore.