Promoting innovative solutions for sustainable food production – this is the mission with which the newly named AgriFoodTech Venture alliance is launching. The alliance is based on the existing activities of BayWa Venture, a subsidiary of BayWa AG. The investment arm was created in 2018 to make early-stage investments of up to five million euros in innovative companies. In the meantime, the Munich VC has been able to make twelve investments in international agrifoodtech startups.
“Expand pioneering role as an active shaper of agricultural and food transformation”
In addition to BayWa Venture, the family-owned mill group Bindewald and Gutting and Multivac, a provider of processing and packaging solutions, are now participating in AgriFoodTech Venture. They are joining in the context of a capital increase of just under 10 million euros in equal shares in the BayWa Venture GmbH, which has been renamed AgriFoodTech Venture GmbH. BayWa remains the majority shareholder with 51 percent. Marcus Pöllinger, Chairman of the Board of BayWa AG, comments:
“The fact that our work with startups now culminates in this partnership is a major success. With the AgriFoodTech Venture alliance, we become a strategically important investor in the market and can further expand our pioneering role as an active shaper of agricultural and food transformation.”
The existing BayWa Venture startup portfolio with twelve companies from Europe, Israel and the USA will be brought into the alliance. Using the combined investment sum, the portfolio is to be expanded to around 20 startups. The focus of the new alliance should be on financing startups that are using new technologies to make food production and packaging more economical and sustainable. These focus areas include agtech & biotech, foodtech, circular economy and automation & digitalization.
The AgriFoodTech Venture alliance wants to act as both a financial investor and a supportive cooperation partner. In addition to traditional financing, startups should also benefit from the global network and the business and technical expertise of the participating alliance partners. On the other hand, the alliance partners should be able to bring the innovation power and speed of startups into their own companies. The common goal should be to advance new technologies for future food production.
“Specialized and focused early-stage investor”
“With Germany’s largest family-owned mill group and a market leader in 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 that are actively shaping the transformation.”
Michael Gutting, Managing Director of the Bindewald and Gutting mill group and representative of Bindewald and Gutting on the investment committee of the AgriFoodTech Venture alliance, adds:
“For me, the alliance is more than an investment instrument, it is a catalyst for change. Together, we are 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 representative of Multivac on the investment committee of the AgriFoodTech Venture alliance, says:
“Based on this alliance, as a leading provider of holistic solutions, we have the opportunity to actively accompany and help shape the future developments of our customers in the food sector.”
The merger is still subject to clearance by the competent antitrust authorities.
