Promoting innovative solutions for sustainable food production – this is the mission of the newly founded AgriFoodTech Venture Alliance. The alliance builds on the existing activities of BayWa Venture, a subsidiary of BayWa AG. The investment arm was launched in 2018 to provide early-stage investments of up to five million euros to innovative companies. Since then, the Munich-based VC has twelve investments invest in international agrifoodtech startups.
“Further expand our pioneering role as an active driver of agricultural and food transformation”
In addition to BayWa Venture, the family-run Bindewald and Gutting milling group and Multivac, a provider of processing and packaging solutions, are now participating in AgriFoodTech Venture. As part of a capital increase of almost €10 million, they are acquiring equal shares in BayWa Venture GmbH, which has been renamed AgriFoodTech Venture GmbH. BayWa remains the majority shareholder with a 51 percent stake. Marcus Pöllinger, CEO of BayWa AG, says:
"The fact that our work with startups has now resulted in this alliance is a great success. With the AgriFoodTech Venture Alliance, we are becoming a strategically important investor in the market and can further expand our pioneering role as an active driver of agricultural and food transformation."
The existing BayWa Venture startup portfolio, comprising twelve companies from Europe, Israel, and the USA, will be brought into the alliance. With the help of the joint investment, the portfolio will be expanded to around 20 startups. The new alliance will focus on financing startups that use new technologies to make food production and packaging more economical and sustainable. These focus areas include agtech & biotech, foodtech, the circular economy, and automation & digitalization.
The AgriFoodTech Venture Alliance aims to act both as a financial investor and as a supporting cooperation partner. In addition to traditional financing, startups will also benefit from the global network and the entrepreneurial and technical expertise of the participating alliance partners. At the same time, the alliance partners will be able to leverage the startups' innovative strength and speed into their own companies. The common goal is to advance new technologies for food production of the future.
“Specialized and focused early-stage investor”
“With Germany’s largest family-run mill group and a market leader for food processing and packaging solutions, we are taking our existing innovation activities with startups to a new level,”
says Kristal Golan, Managing Director of AgriFoodTech Venture. She continues:
"Our merger is unique in Europe and makes us a specialized and focused early-stage investor in Europe in the agrifoodtech sector. We leverage the potential of our parent companies and generate real added value for startups. Market and customer access is exactly what young companies need to actively shape the transformation."
Michael Gutting, Managing Director of the Bindewald and Gutting Mill Group and representative of Bindewald and Gutting in the Investment Committee of the AgriFoodTech Venture Alliance, adds:
"For me, the alliance is more than an investment tool; it's a catalyst for change. Together, we're investing not only in startups, but also in a better future for our agriculture, our food supply, and our planet."
And Alexander Hauschke, Executive Vice President Corporate Strategy and Multivac representative on the Investment Committee of the AgriFoodTech Venture Alliance, says:
"Based on this alliance, we, as a leading provider of holistic solutions, have the opportunity to actively support and shape the future developments of our customers in the food sector together with them."
The merger is still subject to approval by the relevant antitrust authorities.
