Investment Climate

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McWin Capital Partners: Martin Davalos shares how to get funded in 2026
McWin Capital Partners: Martin Davalos shares how to get funded in 2026Investment Climate Podcast: Fundraising Playbooks From Food Tech CEOs and VCs In this podcast series, Alex Shandrovsky interviews investors about benchmarks for funding Alt Proteins in 2025 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs.Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is a strategic advisor to numerous global food tech accelerators and companies, including alternative proteins and cellular agriculture leaders. His focus is on investor relations and post-raise scale for agrifood tech companies. This podcast is syndicated through our media partners, Foodtech Weekly and Vegconomist.Episode 61: McWin Capital Partners: Martin Davalos shares how to get funded in 2026In this episode, I sit down with Martin Davalos, Partner at McWin Capital Partners, to unpack how a serious food-tech investor actually thinks about this market. We talk about McWin’s unique model of combining one of Europe’s largest restaurant platforms with a focused food-tech fund, and how that creates real “farm-to-fork” synergies for portfolio companies. Martin uses The EVERY Company as a live case study—why McWin led both the Series C and now the Series D, what convinced them the tech and regulatory risk were truly de-risked, and why starting with bakery applications and egg replacement is such a powerful commercial wedge (price stability, guaranteed supply, and “better-for-you” fortification in products like high-protein donuts). We then dive into the hard stuff: down rounds, pay-to-play, milestones, follow-on decisions, and how founders should approach their existing investors long before runway gets short. Martin also explains why food-tech can still deliver solid VC-style returns—if you’re realistic about exits, obsessive about unit economics, and willing to build deep, hands-on relationships between founders and investors.Key Facts McWin Capital Partners:Goal: Lead the food industry through positive change and create value on behalf of investors and portfolio companies by leveraging its scale, network, and experience to deliver outstanding returns.Alex’s Top Findings:How McWin Decides on Follow-On: “What Needs to Be True?” For follow-on investments, McWin basically reruns IC from scratch: revisit the original thesis, examine what happened since, and ask, “What needs to be true for us to keep backing this?” Sometimes that means a full support round; sometimes a more cautious bridge, but it’s always a deliberate, structured decision. ” So, for follow-on, we look at our initial investment thesis on that company, what has happened since our investment thesis, and then the second piece is what needs to be true for us to continue supporting this company.”Why EVERY Became a Conviction Bet (Series C and D Lead). McWin first led EVERY’s Series C and then doubled down to lead the Series D because, in their view, the company has crossed a major inflection point: tech risk reduced, regulatory boxes ticked, real customers, and a serious IP moat. For Martin, this is the transition from “R&D project” to “real business” — exactly when he wants to size up. “We find EVERY is in a fantastic inflection point… It’s moved from an R&D company to now producing and selling a product.”What Happens After Your First VC Call (and What You Should Ask). Inside McWin, an initial call is followed by an immediate internal calibration session: different team members (tech, finance, digital, ops) compare notes, decide if it fits their themes, and, if yes, move it to a structured pipeline + IC process. Martin wishes founders would be more proactive in asking how McWin can help beyond the check. “After that call, we figure out… does this company fit within our strategy… and what is the
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Chromologics: Gerit Tolborg shares how to get funded in 2026
Chromologics: Gerit Tolborg shares how to get funded in 2026Investment Climate Podcast: Fundraising Playbooks From Food Tech CEOs and VCs In this podcast series, Alex Shandrovsky interviews investors about benchmarks for funding Alt Proteins in 2025 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs.Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is a strategic advisor to numerous global food tech accelerators and companies, including alternative proteins and cellular agriculture leaders. His focus is on investor relations and post-raise scale for agrifood tech companies. This podcast is syndicated through our media partners, Foodtech Weekly and Vegconomist.Episode 60: Chromologics: Gerit Tolborg shares how to get funded in 2026In this episode, I sit down with Gerit Tolborg, co-founder & CEO of Chromologics, to unpack how you turn a PhD discovery—a fungus that naturally makes a brilliant red pigment—into a venture-backed ingredient company on the brink of FDA/EFSA submission. We talk about why Chromologics chose to raise a fully insider round instead of going back to the market, how weird and “all-or-nothing” the regulatory world is for food colorants, and why red is both the biggest commercial opportunity and the hardest technical problem. Gerit walks through the real economics of natural colors (performance vs price vs supply chain risk), why their non-GMO fermentation process is a quiet superpower with regulators and consumers, and how she thinks about scaling via CMOs first instead of betting the company on a big CapEx plant. If you care about where the next generation of clean-label ingredients will actually come from—and what investors really underwrite in these plays—this conversation goes deep.Key Facts Chromologics:Goal: Develop fermentation-derived, natural food colors to replace unstable, supply-constrained, and animal-derived redsRecently raised €7 million from Novo Holdings, EIFO, Döhler Ventures, Collateral Good, and The Synergetic Group, bringing its total funding to nearly €20 million.Alex’s Top Findings:When Your Biggest Risk Is Invisible: Fundraising Around Regulation. Chromologics deliberately raised a €7M internal round from existing shareholders (Novo Holdings, EIFO) instead of going to market. They’re at a sensitive regulatory inflection point where colors are “all or nothing” until dossier submission—something incumbents who’ve watched the journey can underwrite more easily than new VCs. This path lets Gerit focus on building and de-risking instead of burning months on data rooms and external DD for a hard-to-price stage. ” So from an outside investor, the risk-reward balance is maybe not so easy to grasp as from someone who's actually been following our journey all the way and really seen us step-wise, maturing and de-risking the regulatory process along the way. So if there's enough capital around the table that we actually would need to bring the company from where we are today, it would have been a really big next value inflection point. Why waste valuable time and maybe risk unfavorable valuation if we can just manage on our own?”CDMOs Now, Strategic Exit Later. In today’s market, Gerit sees little sense in raising huge CapEx for a plant before proving commercial pull. Chromologics has already lined up a CDMO and designed its process to work at standard 100 m³ fermentation scale, where the economics make sense. Long term, she expects the real upside to be in a strategic exit: a large ingredient or food company plugging Chromologics’ IP and regulatory dossiers into its own, cheaper capacity. “ I think there's no investor right now that is willing to invest a hundred million euros into a CapEx project before I even have proof of business that might actually sell. I think that's not really a realistic right no
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Maia Farms: Gavin Schneider shares how to get funded in 2026
Maia Farms: Gavin Schneider shares how to get funded in 2026Investment Climate Podcast: Fundraising Playbooks From Food Tech CEOs and VCs In this podcast series, Alex Shandrovsky interviews investors about benchmarks for funding Alt Proteins in 2025 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs.Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is a strategic advisor to numerous global food tech accelerators and companies, including alternative proteins and cellular agriculture leaders. His focus is on investor relations and post-raise scale for agrifood tech companies. This podcast is syndicated through our media partners, Foodtech Weekly and Vegconomist.Episode 59: Maia Farms: Gavin Schneider shares how to get funded in 2026In this episode, I sit down with Gavin Schneider, CEO and co-founder of Maia Farms, one of the most capital-efficient and rapidly scaling players in the mushroom and mycelium ingredient space. Gavin walks me through how Maia raised $6.5M—not from a planned target list, but from a warm intro by a larger fund that passed on leading and instead connected them to a perfect-fit Vancouver climate investor, leading to one of the fastest close cycles I’ve seen. We get into how Maia built momentum through major Canadian grants, strong customer references, and a data room ready for instant due diligence, and why staying asset-light and profitable matters more than ever in food-tech today. Gavin also shares the real challenge ahead: keeping up with demand as Maia moves from hundreds of tons to thinking in millions of tons of mushroom protein by 2050. This conversation is a masterclass in disciplined scaling, capital strategy, and building a food company that actually feeds people—and I’m excited for you to hear it.Key Facts Maia Farms:Goal: Support food makers with versatile, scalable solutions that outperform soy and mold-based alternatives.Recently raised $6.5M with Protein Industries Canada and Greater Vancouver Food Bank (GVFB) as investors.Alex’s Top Findings:Your Lead Investor Might Not Be on Your Original List. Gavin’s lead investor came via a warm intro from a larger fund that ultimately passed on Maia as “too early”—but then made the perfect connection to a local Vancouver climate-focused fund. He underscores the importance of always asking for feedback and referrals when a fund says no, because the best-fit investor may be one degree away, not already on your spreadsheet. ” It was actually an introduction from a larger fund with who we had been engaged and had some discussions. They felt that we were just too early for their stage of investment. So they made an introduction to another group, and things actually happened in quite rapid progression from the time of introduction to closing the deal, and it happened within a matter of weeks. You never know who will get you where you need to go.”A Simple, Thoughtful Data Room Beats Fancy Software. For this round, Maia ditched expensive data-room platforms and ran everything through Google Drive, using its newer security features plus a clear structure and “checklist” mindset. Gavin stress-tested the data room with incubator mentors and updated it continuously based on investor objections, treating every “no” as an input to improve the next investor’s experience. “If you’re already paying for [Google], I think that groups that are paying an extra $1,500 for a specialized data room… you’re able to get to the same result and the same level of security today with Google Drive. Follow your standard checklists… and ask yourself as you’re going through it: if I were interrogating this company, what pieces of information would I also like to see here?”Valuation, Geography, and Reframing Dilution. Adam says the strongest CEOs today are ruthlessl
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EcoTech Capital: Adam Bergman shares how to get funded in 2025
EcoTech Capital: Adam Bergman shares how to get funded in 2025Investment Climate Podcast: Fundraising Playbooks From Food Tech CEOs and VCs In this podcast series, Alex Shandrovsky interviews investors about benchmarks for funding Alt Proteins in 2025 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs.Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is a strategic advisor to numerous global food tech accelerators and companies, including alternative proteins and cellular agriculture leaders. His focus is on investor relations and post-raise scale for agrifood tech companies. This podcast is syndicated through our media partners, Foodtech Weekly and Vegconomist.Episode 58: EcoTech Capital: Adam Bergman shares how to get funded in 2025In this episode, I sit down with Adam Bergman, Managing Director at Ecotech Capital and one of the most respected voices in global AgTech and FoodTech finance, for a brutally honest, data-driven look at the state of exits, valuations, fundraising, and what it will take for founders to survive 2025–2026. Adam breaks down why most exits today are distressed sales, why strategics have lost trust after years of overhyped promises, and why 2026 may be both the start of a new upswing and the highest-bankruptcy year in the sector. We dive into what real milestones look like now, which business models still attract capital, why robotics and automation are surging, the long-term future of cultivated meat, and how GLP-1 drugs and the MAHA movement could reshape global food demand. This is an unfiltered masterclass on what founders must do to stay alive—and what success will realistically look like over the next decade.Key Facts EcoTech Capital:Goal: Committed to offering strategic insight and financial direction to companies on key growth strategies, tactical initiatives, and strategic alternatives to help companies develop a strategy for continued growth and ultimately a successful future exit, whether through an IPO or M&A transaction.Adam has raised $1.5B+ across AgTech, FoodTech, and ClimateTech.Alex’s Top Findings:“The Exit Winter”: Why There Are Almost No Exits in Ag & Food Tech Today. Adam explains that the current lack of exits is rooted in unrealistic valuations, overfunding from 2018–2021, and stalled IPO/M&A markets. Most exits today are either fire sales or companies selling at invested capital, not valuation. Strategics feel burned, private equity can’t touch unprofitable companies, and the sector is stuck until real profitability appears. ”Very few companies in this industry have reached profitability — and if you don’t have profitability, you’re going to struggle to get anyone in PE. And so now, who are you left with from an M&A perspective? You're left with strategics. Strategics can be great buyers.”2026 Will Be the “Great Shakeout Year”. Adam predicts that 2026 will bring the highest wave of bankruptcies the sector has ever seen. Many companies have been surviving on safes from 2022–2025, and investors will soon need to decide which portfolio companies to continue supporting. This will expose zombie companies and force consolidation. “ By 2026, you’ll have companies that’ve done safes for three or four years. Investors will finally ask: Is this business actually close to scale and profitability? If we've been unable to get other outside investors to put money into the company in the last few years, has anything changed? Can we get any outside capital? What does the exit landscape look like for this company and others?”What Companies Should Do Now: Narrow Focus and Hit Real Milestones. Adam says the strongest CEOs today are ruthlessly narrowing scope, cutting burn, and focusing on a small number of milestones that can unlock revenue or strategic partnerships. The “go-big-
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Remilk: Ori Cohavi and Yochai Maytal Share How They Created Real Dairy Without Cows.
Remilk: Ori Cohavi and Yochai Maytal Share How They Created Real Dairy Without Cows.Investment Climate Podcast: Fundraising Playbooks From Food Tech CEOs and VCs Today's episode is different in an investment climate. I usually interview founders right after they raise capital, but this conversation is about what matters even more: delivering on promises to investors, partners, and, most importantly, consumers. Remilk is moving from vision to reality. The company is officially launching in Israel, rolling out cafes, and then grocery store shelves across the country, producing real milk without cows. In partnership with God Dairies, one of Israel's most established dairy manufacturers and distributors, this is execution at scale. It might be the moment that redefines, revitalizes, and even saves food tech. This podcast is syndicated through our media partners, Foodtech Weekly and Vegconomist.Episode 57: Remilk: Ori Cohavi and Yochai Maytal Share How They Created Real Dairy Without Cows.In this episode, I sit down with Remilk Co-Founder & CTO Ori Cohavi and Upstream Bioprocess Lead Yochai Maytal for the most honest, behind-the-scenes deep dive yet into their groundbreaking cow-free dairy launch with Gad Dairies. We break down the blind taste tests (including my own), why their milk froths, cooks, and tastes indistinguishably from traditional dairy, how they achieved positive gross margins at an industrial scale, and the strategic JV model that’s letting them enter the market differently from any other precision-fermentation company. We also dig into past challenges, the truth behind the board shake-up, global expansion strategy, the path to competing with subsidized dairy, and what it will take for Remilk to reshape the global dairy industry.Key Facts Remilk:Goal: To create real dairy without a single cow, bringing a message of hope and joy to our planet, our body… and cows!Alex’s Top Findings:75% Less Sugar, Same Experience. By removing lactose, Remilk eliminates the natural milk sugar that quietly adds 5% sugar to every glass. They replace it with a much smaller amount of “table sugar,” leveraging its higher sweetness to keep the sensory profile while cutting total sugar by 75%. The result is a product that tastes like regular milk, with a similar sweetness perception but far less sugar load. This gives them a strong “better for you” angle without asking consumers to sacrifice taste. ” It's actually very similar to the level of sweetness of milk, but it has 75% less sugar. We do not use any lactose in the product. You can put in a quarter of the amount [of sugar] and get the same experience.”The JV Model: Tech & Brand as Equal Partners. Rather than just selling ingredients, Remilk built a full joint venture with Gad, one of Israel’s premium dairy brands (~₪1B+ business). Remilk brings the protein, formulations, and process know-how; Gad brings market knowledge, brand trust, and distribution. “ We are responsible for the technology, for supplying the end products, and Gad is mostly responsible for the marketing efforts for the distribution. But I think what we are doing is much more than co-branding, so it's much more than being an intel inside or remake inside. When I look at a partnership with Gad and why I think it's going to work, it's because each side brings its strength and each one is complemented by the other in its weaknesses.”Already Positive Gross Margins (Atypical in Food Tech). Unlike most novel food companies that subsidize early sales, Remilk says it wouldn’t launch if it weren’t already gross-margin positive. Milk is the hardest product economically, but they balance it with other higher-margin products in the portfolio. They emphasize that they waited until both taste and unit economics reached a minimum bar before going to market, and tha
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