Investment Climate

Alex Shandrovsky

We are uncovering the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs.

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Episodios disponibles

5 de 31

Inform Ag: Steven Lockyer
Inform Ag: Steven Lockyer 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 15: Inform Ag: Steven Lockyer shares how to get funded in 2025In this episode, Steve Lockyer from Informag shared insights about their journey in helping the farming industry achieve sustainable opportunities to reduce costs and increase yields. Fresh off a successful $7 million capital raise in August, Steve highlighted how being profitable before the raise gave them a position of strength when engaging with investors. He also detailed the unique journey of securing their lead investor, Rural Funds Management, one of their largest clients, and the challenges and considerations of opening their business to a customer-turned-investor.Key Facts Inform Ag:Goal: Future-Proofing Farming through Innovation and Advanced Tech: Smart Irrigation, Farm Management, and Harvest Efficiency.Recently raised $7 million led by Rural Funds Management.Alex’s Top Findings:Bootstrap Beginnings. The business was initially bootstrapped using personal funds and side industrial projects. “ We bootstrapped it with their own cash for a period. So, my background being industrial automation, one way we funded the business was every 6 to 12 months. We'd take on a large industrial project. For example, the last one we did, we had a 500 ton crane puller. A 50 ton oven that made banana bread out of a factory and blocked a whole six lane highway, moving it into a new facility. So that's how we built up a war chest of cash that we could then use to be the basis of running projects and generate cash flow. So we avoided external investment really by doing that.” Steven shared.Full Round Taken by One Investor. Allowing a single investor to take the entire round simplified the process and strengthened the partnership. "They were keen to take the full round... it just worked. They were the right fit for us, you know we had common values, common kinds of aspirations for the industry goals for where we saw the technology going."Seeking Advice Led to Opportunity. Seeking guidance from trusted connections can lead to unexpected opportunities. " When I was in their office one day, I was actually looking for some advice and that turned into a subsequent meeting with their CEO, who then invited us to Canberra and asked us to present the opportunity to them." Steven revealed.
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31:49
Endless Food Co: Maximillian Bogenmann
Endless Food Co: Maximillian Bogenmann 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 2024 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 14: Endless Food Co: Maximillian Bogenmann shares how to get funded in 2025In this episode, Alex talked to Maximillian, CEO & Co-Founder at endless food co., which safeguard the future of chocolate while tapping into the flavor and value potential of overlooked resources. In this conversation, Max shares insights into the journey of launching an alternative chocolate company. He talks about how they built relationships with investors through genuine outreach and advisory support, despite lacking experience in food scaling and B2B sales. Max also touches on leveraging the hospitality network to validate their product and the importance of having advocates and early partners to support their growth. The talk also dives into strategic decisions like B2B vs. B2C models and future partnerships with major retailers like 7-Eleven.Now, stay tuned as Max takes us through the full story of how Endless Food Co. is shaking up the chocolate world with sustainability at the core.Key Facts Endless Food Co:Goal: To future-proof the existing chocolate industry.Recently raised pre-seed of €1 million led by Nordic FoodTech.Alex’s Top Findings:Overcoming Objections through Self-awareness and Support. Address lack of experience by surrounding yourself with trusted advisors and demonstrating the ability to learn and adapt. "I was able to interact with some of these people who offer their expertise. It is a long, slow process of really developing and fostering relationships with people, because I think at the end of the day, what we realize is that if you're really genuine with people and you are seeking help, most people are generally willing to offer you their own experience or advice from their own philosophy." Max noted.Leveraging Genuine Interactions for Goodwill. Authenticity and kindness can help establish meaningful connections without significant monetary investment. As Emile shared, " I think we were able to get a lot of goodwill out of people because I think we were quite genuine in what we were trying to achieve, what we didn't know. I think that being hospitality professionals we were pretty good at sort of helping people with meals and a nice bottle of wine here and there."Partnership with 7-eleven. The partnership with 7-Eleven developed slowly, through a B2B approach, rather than a direct consumer-facing product. " I think we've always envisioned being a B2B product. ... we met the procurement manager ... and it took months before anything sort of happened. 7 Eleven has always, or at least in the recent time, been sort of pretty strong with their innovation front ... wanting to sort of push the boundary in certain areas and also be first in certain markets. 7 Eleven came down and said, “we'd really love to make these cookies.” with a one to one swap with THICC, which is our product."
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34:24
Zymofix: Emile Redant
Zymofix: Emile Redant 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 2024 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 13: Zymofix: Emile Redant shares how to get funded in 2025In this episode, Alex talked to Emile Redant, co-founder and CEO of Zymofix, an agtech company developing a new way to produce microorganisms which are mainly being used in agriculture and other non food, non animal feed type of application. Emile shares how Zymofix raised $2 million in seed funding from High Tech Gründer Fund and two regenerative agriculture-focused family offices. The initial connection to the investors was through an accelerator program, Biotope, where Emile was mentored by Johan Boterman, a former Bayer executive.Key Facts Zymofix:Goal: Turning biomass residues into fit-for-purpose microbial fertilizers, biostimulants and biocontrols.Recently raised $2 million led by High Tech Gründer Fund.Alex’s Top Findings:Rejection of Product Development Objections. Many investors wanted Zymofix to focus on product development, but the founder resisted this in favor of a more sustainable, lower-risk approach. “ Everybody wanted us to do product development...I was very, very strongly against that. It is really a high risk type of investment. A lot of those companies never make it, never actually bring products to the market. I've worked at a couple of those companies and it's something I didn't want to do because it takes a tremendous amount of investment money to do that with a really low chance of success.” Emile said.Realistic Business Vision. Zymofix avoids high-risk product development, choosing instead to collaborate with corporates to manufacture their top-selling products using innovative methods. As Emile shared, "We are not developing a product by ourselves. We are doing joint development with these corporations to show we can make it with better quality at a way lower cost."Low-Cost Manufacturing Strategy. Zymofix’s strategy to keep CAPEX low while still developing a scalable manufacturing process differentiates them from other biotechs that require massive investments for large-scale plants." We’ve designed it in a way where we can be economical at a small scale of three to four million... and that gives us a lot more flexibility to just go ahead and do it."
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24:25
Jan Rune Nordhagen - Vestland Pharma / Jon Trygve Berg - Sarsia
Vestland Pharma x Sarsia: Jan Rune Nordhagen and Jon Trygve Berg shares how to get funded in 2024Investment 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 2024 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 12: Vestland Pharma x Sarsia: Jan Rune Nordhagen and Jon Trygve Ber shares how to get funded in 2024In this episode, Alex talked to Jan, CEO of Vestland Pharma, and Jon Berg, Venture Partner of Sarsia. Vestland Pharma is a startup that is focusing and wants to make the first all natural medicine against sea lice- the biggest problem for fish farming in Norway. Jan highlighted the pivotal role of external partners in structuring the company and aligning it with market demands. The startup partnered with brokers who bridge the gap between farmers and international markets, ensuring better adoption of their solution. The discussion also emphasizes the importance of government grants, like those from Innovation Norway, in funding high-risk, environmentally friendly projects. On the other hand, Jon Berg opened the conversation that underscores how venture capitalists are now prioritizing solutions that integrate into current systems rather than completely replacing them.Key Facts Vestland Pharma:Goal: To make the first all natural medicine against sea lice- the biggest problem for fish farming in Norway.Recently raised NOK 12M from Sarsia and Coast Seafood.Alex’s Top Findings:Your initial target investors are often wrong. “ We tried to get investment from fish farmers in Norway and they have quite a lot of capital, but they did not know and did not grasp what we tried to do. When you are into fish farming, you usually invest in low risk projects and making medicine is highly risky. It is cost intensive and it has a high risk. I think we did try to reach out to the wrong investors, basically, the first time.” Jan shared.Strategic Government Grants Accelerate High-Risk Projects. Government support, such as grants, plays a pivotal role in funding innovative but risky projects, helping mitigate financial risks for investors. As per Jan, “It was Innovation Norway. They give grants to good ideas that are helping the industry, and you need to show it’s helpful and does not harm the environment. These are grants, not equity, and they’re very useful for slightly higher-risk projects.”Evolving VC Trends: From Replacement to Sustainability. The focus of venture capital has shifted from disrupting supply chains to improving sustainability and efficiency within existing frameworks. As the Venture Partner of Sarsia, John Berg said that, " Three to four years ago, the emphasis was on replacing existing farming infrastructure with plant-based products or cellular agriculture. Now, it’s much more about embracing current supply chains and making them sustainable and regenerative. As a VC with a thesis and a perspective, is that something that you've also seen your colleagues have, improving supply chains rather than replacing."
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36:26
Orbisk: Olaf van der Veen
Orbisk: Olaf van der Veen shares how to get funded in 2024Investment 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 2024 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 11: Orbisk: Olaf van der Veen shares how to get funded in 2024In this episode, Alex talked to Olaf, co-founder and CEO of Orbisk, who help professional kitchens to reduce the food service sector and parallel industries of their food waste issues and thus improve their sustainability and profitability. Olaf's talk provides valuable insights into navigating venture capital, building trust with investors, creating strong customer relationships, and using innovative business models to fund hardware in the SaaS space. It highlights how clarity, purpose-driven action, and strong stakeholder relationships contribute to successful fundraising.Key Facts Orbisk:Goal: To make the world food system more sustainable.Recently raised €8M lead by Regeneration VC and PeakbridgeAlex’s Top Findings:Having strong product traction and growth helps in securing investors, even when there are setbacks in fundraising. “ We were in a fortunate position that we're on a pretty good growth trajectory. That makes a whole lot of conversations a lot easier. Even irrespective of this series A, we were in a position where we would have the company go well without the investment. We are at a point that's not far from cashflow neutrality and positivity. It's just that our growth ambitions wouldn't be met. So that makes the conversation a whole lot easier.”The importance of choosing the right lead investor who actively participates in fundraising and provides clear structure. " That is basically what I should have recognized earlier. As a lead, you expect to really take the lead in this round, to provide clarity in the round, sort of boundaries, process, provide structure and clarity."Being hyper transparent is important. " As a company and as a founder, I always promised myself and everyone around me also that hyper transparency that I'm asking for in others." Olaf promised.
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