Investment Climate

Episode 78: Ora Biotics: Jens Eklöf & Ida Krogh Sjöholm on winning Pre-Seed funding with the "Low Inclusion" fiber thesis 
In this episode, I sit down with Jens Eklöf (CEO/CTO) and Ida Krogh Sjöholm (Commercial Officer), the co-founders of Ora Biotics, a Danish startup developing the next generation of precision prebiotics. They share the tactical playbook of how they cold-called their way to a €300k pre-seed round led by Rockstart and Delphinus Venture Capital, specifically designed to fund their critical €300k US-based human clinical trial. We discuss why they pair a commercial co-founder with a technical lead from day one, how they utilized €60k in Danish government grants to survive their first year, and the exact science of why "low inclusion" fibers bypass the heavy CapEx traps that destroy other ingredient startups. 
🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear how they navigated the delicate "founder spouse" conversation regarding runway and salary expectations.

Key Facts Ora Biotics:
Goal: To produce a highly targeted, precision prebiotic fiber for metabolic health that does not cause bloating and remains 100% stable in challenging applications like acidic beverages and gummies.
Milestone: Raised a ~€300k pre-seed round (post-money cap below €2M) from Rockstart and Delphinus Venture Capital.

Alex’s Top Findings: 
The "Low Inclusion" Margin Moat. The fundamental problem with most fiber startups is that they require massive doses to be effective, which forces brands to alter recipes and forces the startup to build massive, CapEx-heavy production facilities to hit volume targets. Ora Biotics solves this by targeting specific gut bacteria, meaning their fiber requires a very low dose to be effective. This "low inclusion rate" means they can command high margins while relying entirely on asset-light Contract Manufacturers (CDMOs). "If you have lower inclusion, it's also easier to make it a drop-in solution to whatever product you just happen to have... The dose is certainly our key to get really nice margins already from the beginning. We are producing with contract manufacturers, right? We are not building a big optimized production line ourselves."
De-Risking with the "Gold Standard" Clinical Trial. While fiber can be sold legally as a food ingredient without a clinical trial, major FMCG brands will not risk their reputation (or lawsuits, a la Olipop) on unsubstantiated health claims. Orbiotics specifically raised their €300k round to fund a randomized, placebo-controlled human study in the US. This data is the exact milestone investors demanded to unlock the next funding round. "If you want to say anything about the health benefits in almost all markets in the world, you need to substantiate that... if you are a big brand and you want to know and you want the integrity to know that the ingredient you put in there gives the benefits... you want a human study. And that's also what we want to go for."
The Power of the Commercial Co-Founder at Pre-Seed. Many deep-tech startups fail because they are led by purely technical founders who wait years to speak to customers. Ora Biotics brought Ida (Commercial Officer) on board at the very beginning. Her ability to define the B2B strategy, handle investor storytelling, and secure Letters of Intent (LOIs) for food-grade sample testing before the product was even finalized was critical to winning their pre-seed funding. "I worked more on the storytelling and the market positioning and all of that, which is my background, right? I have a commercial background, I'm not a scientist... We have a few companies now who have said that they've signed the LOAs. They want to test it in their applications. So I think that is an opener."

Episode 77: Delphinus Venture Capital: Mathias Brink Lorenz on the Evergreen Advantage and the "Low Inclusion, High Margin" thesis 

In this episode, I sit down with Mathias Brink Lorenz, CEO and Managing Partner of Delphinus Venture Capital, a newly formed €80M evergreen fund backed exclusively by four major Danish corporates and a university endowment. Mathias pulls back the curtain on the perverse incentives of the traditional "10+2" VC model, explaining how the pressure to generate management fees often forces GPs into bad deals and inflated valuations. He breaks down why Delphinus operates as an evergreen structure focused solely on long-term Net IRR and why they are hyper-focused on the Danish ecosystem. Finally, Mathias delivers a masterclass on FoodTech unit economics, explaining why commodity alternatives (like cocoa or bulk protein) struggle, and why the real venture returns lie in "low inclusion, high margin" ingredients like enzymes and complex savory flavors.

Key Facts Delphinus Venture Capital:
Goal: To deploy an €80M evergreen fund into Danish research-focused startups (Pre-Seed to Series B) across AgriFood, Bioeconomy, MedTech, and Dual-Use tech.
Milestone: Successfully launched the fund with an unusual and highly aligned LP base of three major Danish corporates (Norlys, Heartland, Salling Group) and Aarhus University Research Foundation (AUFF).

Alex’s Top Findings: 
The Flaw in the Traditional VC Model. Mathias offers a candid critique of the standard 10-year venture capital structure. He argues that traditional VCs are incentivized to optimize for management fees and short-term paper markups to raise their next fund, rather than focusing on the long-term health of the startup. Delphinus uses an evergreen structure with a lower management fee, tying GP compensation almost entirely to carry, ensuring alignment with the founders' actual path to profitability rather than artificial valuation bumps. "A traditional VC is under pressure to invest at a certain pace no matter if the deal is good or not... What is it you are solving for at seed stage? A high evaluation... just to get to the next fund. So all of those behaviors inherent in the ecosystem of VCs, we're trying not to go to."
The "Picks and Shovels" Strategy for FoodTech. Startups building massive, capital-intensive indoor farms or attempting to replace bulk commodities often suffer from terrible gross margins. Mathias advises focusing on the technology that enables the industry—the "picks and shovels." He looks for B2B solutions and enabling technologies that offer high-margin support to the broader AgriFood ecosystem. "Often it's better to put on the picks and shovels approach... those would be the great sort of VC bets rather than the individual miner going into the mountain and maybe striking silver or gold... And I think I see the same in agri-food tech... betting on the high-tech solutions, high-margin supporting technologies."
The "Low Inclusion, High Margin" Ingredient Thesis. Why did Delphinus invest in Reduced (savory flavors) and Orbiotics (prebiotics)? Because they follow the enzyme playbook. When your ingredient makes up only a tiny fraction of the end product's total volume (low inclusion rate) but is critical to the product's function, flavor, or label (high value), you can command massive gross margins without significantly impacting the FMCG's overall unit cost. "If you sell a loaf of bread, the actual cost assigned to the enzyme is minuscule. What really matters for your unit cost is the flour... So if the color [or flavor] makes all the difference for how the yogurt is perceived... you can charge a premium. It's really about how much of the total product cost do you constitute with your own ingredient."

Episode 76: Proba: Sijbrand Tieleman on raising an Extension Round and dominating a hyper-niche market 
In this episode, I sit down with Sijbrand Tieleman, Co-founder and CEO of Proba, an Amsterdam-based startup tackling the massive footprint of fertilizer emissions. Sijbrand walks us through his recent €1.25M ($1.5M USD) extension round, which was led by existing investor Future Food Fund. We discuss the strategic decision to raise from the current cap table rather than burning time chasing new investors, the reality of setting achievable milestones, and why agriculture startups cannot be measured by traditional SaaS ARR metrics. Most importantly, Sijbrand delivers a masterclass on finding a competitive moat by becoming the absolute world leader in a highly specific, hyper-niche use case before expanding into larger markets. 
🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear how Sijbrand navigated the delicate valuation negotiations with his existing investors to secure 18-24 months of runway.
Key Facts Proba:
Goal: To help the agri-food supply chain quantify and reduce greenhouse gas emissions specifically related to fertilizer use.
Milestone: Recently closed a €1.25M extension round, primarily funded by their existing investors, to focus entirely on business execution without the distraction of a protracted fundraising roadshow.
Alex’s Top Findings: 
The Power of the Hyper-Niche. Startups often fail by trying to solve too many problems across too many industries. Proba initially explored steel and cement before pivoting entirely to fertilizer emissions. Sijbrand explains that by picking a "vertical within a vertical," Proba created a monopoly. They didn't just target agriculture; they targeted the specific emissions effect of nitrification inhibitors used alongside urea fertilizer for coffee grown in the Minas Gerais region of Brazil. "The more opportunity you give yourself to become successful, that I think is kind of a lesson... just make it super small and then extend from there... You want to position yourself in a way that there's no competition. If somebody wants to solve the problem, they more or less need to come to you."
The "Insider" Extension Round. Instead of spending 8 months pitching 100 new VCs, Proba chose to raise an extension round directly from their current investors. Sijbrand reveals that they began discussing the need for this follow-on capital just two months after closing the previous round. By maintaining transparent communication and setting realistic milestones, they secured the cash needed to focus on the business rather than the roadshow. "We kind of took a bit of an implicit decision to say... we can go out there to the capital market and basically spend a lot of time finding a new investor without guarantee on success, or we spent a bit less time together with the existing investors and basically have more time to spend in the actual business."
Agriculture SaaS is Not Silicon Valley SaaS. Sijbrand highlights a critical disconnect between generalist VCs and AgTech startups. Generalist funds demand rapid Month-over-Month Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) growth. However, agriculture operates on physical, annual growing seasons. Proba partnered with specialized investors (Future Food Fund) who understand that growth in this sector is a compounding, season-by-season process, not an overnight software rocket ship. "Building a business in agriculture has a bit of a different speed... things need to grow in a physical world and they grow in one growing season... The normal SaaS investors who are used to [rapid] ARR levels are not interested yet.”

Episode 75: ID Capital: Isabelle Decitre on the "Anti-Fund" model and the harsh realities of expanding into Asia 
In this episode, I sit down with Isabelle Decitre, founder of ID Capital, a Singapore-headquartered venture investment and innovation advisory firm. Isabelle reveals why she deliberately chose not to raise a traditional VC fund, opting instead to invest her own capital (writing tag-along Series A checks up to $1M) to maintain flexibility and leverage deep "ecosystem intelligence." We discuss the brutal truth about expanding into Asian markets, why startups need to stop using "China is big" as a business plan, and how Australian startup AllG successfully pivoted from complex casein micelles to high-margin Lactoferrin to de-risk their commercialization. Finally, Isabelle throws down a spicy challenge to the industry, questioning if the Silicon Valley "Power Law" actually works in AgriFoodTech. 
🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear Isabelle’s unfiltered thoughts on funds that rely on a single lucky exit to show returns.
Key Facts ID Capital:
Goal: To invest in and advise Series A AgriFoodTech startups through a climate lens, focusing heavily on adjacent sectors like circularity and biomanufacturing.
Milestone: Rebranding their flagship 10-year annual conference from "Future Food Asia" to "Future Fit Asia," reflecting a shift beyond just food matrices into the interconnectedness of soil and human health.

Alex’s Top Findings:
The "Anti-Fund" Ecosystem Model. Isabelle doesn't manage LP money; she invests from her own balance sheet. She argues that the traditional VC mold forces GPs to promise 20%+ IRRs that often aren't realistic in FoodTech. By remaining independent, ID Capital operates as a "one-stop shop" offering startups optionality: if a direct investment isn't the right fit, she can leverage her advisory arm to facilitate introductions to massive strategic corporate clients or showcase the tech at her conference. "We are not a fund... I'm investing my own money. We don't have any LP... I didn't see myself promising 20% plus IRR on a time period of six years... The way I wanted to see myself as a significant player was not just by being defined by my check size, but being defined by whom I could influence and bring around the table."
The Asia Expansion Reality Check: Stay in Your Habitat. Startups frequently pitch Asia expansion based solely on the region's massive population. Isabelle warns that entering Asia is a massive cost center long before it generates revenue. If a startup is thinly funded, her advice is blunt: stay home. You must have dedicated capital and a localized strategy, not just "wishful dreaming." "The best advice I can give you is just to remain in your natural habitat and ecosystem and don't waste your money traveling to China or Asia every other day. It will cost you a bomb... What looks good is when people start to have the awareness that developing Asia would be a cost first before it's a source of revenue."
Pivoting to High-Margin Optionality (The AllG Playbook). Investors today want startups to be as de-risked as possible. Isabelle highlights her investment in AllG to show what good pivoting looks like. Even though they had world-class expertise in precision fermentation for casein micelles, they didn't stubbornly stick to that narrative. They aggressively pivoted to a higher-value, faster-to-commercialize compound (Lactoferrin) and leaned into the Chinese market. "They didn't stay fixated on one application or one narrative. Although they were really very, very proficient in casein micelles... they thought very smartly of pivoting toward higher value compounds... It is really about not being wedded to your own science and your own narrative."

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On unlocking Canada’s $7B AgTech boom and solving the scale-up "Valley of Death" - Mike Wolsfeld, AgWest Bio
Investment 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 74: AgWest Bio: Mike Wolsfeld on unlocking Canada’s $7B AgTech boom and solving the scale-up "Valley of Death" 
In this episode, I sit down with Mike Wolsfeld, who manages the Techcom Fund at AgWest Bio. Operating as an equity investment fund ($50k–$300k checks) embedded inside a non-profit, Mike shares how they are turning Saskatchewan into a global magnet for precision fermentation and ag-tech startups. We discuss their unique mandate: attracting international deep-tech companies (like Argentina's Ergo) to the Canadian Prairies without forcing them to move their headquarters. Mike breaks down how their GAAP (Global Agri-Food Advancement Partnership) facility bridges the critical scale-up gap between bench science and commercial co-manufacturing, and why Canada’s crown corporations, like Farm Credit Canada (FCC), are deploying a historic $7 billion into the sector despite a broader VC downturn. 
🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear Mike’s advice on how foreign startups can tap into Canada's massive pools of non-dilutive capital.
Key Facts AgWest Bio:
Goal: To invest in and support early-stage ag-tech and food-tech companies by leveraging Saskatchewan's deep agricultural history, biotech talent pool, and specialized infrastructure.
Milestone: Actively deploying a $7M evergreen fund while scaling the GAAP facility to help international precision fermentation companies seamlessly enter the Canadian ecosystem.
Alex’s Top Findings:
The "Gateway to Canada" Geo-Arbitrage. AgWest Bio offers a highly founder-friendly entry into the Canadian ecosystem. Unlike many regional funds that demand a full headquarters relocation, Mike’s fund only requires a federally incorporated subsidiary and 1-2 local employees. This allows international founders to access Canada's massive non-dilutive grants and specialized infrastructure without disrupting their global cap tables. "We're not asking for companies to entirely reincorporate, move everything here, move families... really, at minimum, what it looks like is a federally incorporated company with at least one or two full-time employees here in the province... I'm not interested in forcing companies to move here; I'm interested in supporting companies in their existing strategy."
Bridging the Fermentation "Valley of Death". The hardest part of precision fermentation isn't the lab science; it's scaling from milliliters to commercial thousands of liters. AgWest Bio manages the GAAP facility to explicitly solve this missing middle step, providing heavily discounted, shared-use bioreactors (5L to 100L) to get startups ready for large-scale co-manufacturing. "We're really trying to fill what we saw as a gap between that lab scale, bench scale, and scale up... taking things out of an academic sort of research stage into that pre-commercialization... proving that it can scale up from milliliters to liters to 10 liters to sort of 20, 50."
The $7 Billion Crown Corporation Lifeline. While traditional VC fundrais