European Food Tech venture capital firm Five Seasons Ventures has announced the final closing of a EUR180 million second fund.
The new Fund II will continue making Series A and B investments into the most promising European Food Tech companies, with an emphasis on fast-growing consumer-focused food with a quantifiable environmental or social impact. Fund II was raised on the back of a very successful Fund I portfolio of European Food Tech champions.
Five Seasons Ventures’ investment thesis is to prove that Food Tech startups can grow at the same speed as ‘traditional’ tech startups. Only the top 10 per cent of tech companies achieve hyper-growth – where a business reaches EUR100 million in revenues in four years. Five Seasons Ventures’ Fund I portfolio companies are on track to reach a combined revenue of over EUR350 million in 2021. This is more than a 20x growth since 2017 and half of the portfolio startups did not exist four years ago. For example, Air Up achieved a EUR100 million revenue run rate in less than two years.
Ivan Farneti, Co-founding Partner of Five Seasons Ventures, says: “There’s no doubt that Food Tech is experiencing a boom in Europe right now. When we launched Five Seasons in 2018, we were the first VC to focus on Food Tech in Europe, and we believe we contributed to making this an attractive asset class. Fund II was quickly oversubscribed as more investors wanted to get exposed to European Food Tech, seeking high growth and impact.”
Niccolò Manzoni, Co-founding Partner of Five Seasons Ventures, commented, “Food and Food Tech have the possibility to affect two of the most pressing issues of our time – climate change and human health. With this new fund, we continue to focus our attention on food companies that make healthier and cleaner products, that are manufactured and packaged more sustainably, with shorter supply chains and fewer emissions.”
Food Tech has grown exponentially in Europe. In 2020, EUR3 billion was invested into European Food Tech companies. The pandemic further accelerated consumer demand with shifts to e-grocery delivery and direct-to-consumer food brands, as well as increased interest in healthy food and nutrition.
Five Seasons Ventures’ portfolio stands to further benefit from this growth. The team backed companies like Butternut Box, the first direct-to-consumer fresh dog food company in Europe and Air-Up, the fastest growing Food Tech company in Europe, selling a re-usable smart water bottle that delivers flavour via retro-nasal scent. Fund I was also the first investor in This, the leading challenger brand of plant-based meat alternatives in the UK.
Four investments have already been made from Fund II, including female wellness supplements her1, which provides probiotics to tackle gut health and vly, a company using peas to provide a plant-based milk alternative filled with protein. Five Seasons Ventures also invested in Barkyn and The Nu Company.
In total, Five Seasons Ventures has backed 14 companies across six European countries: Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland, and the UK.
Since 2018, Five Seasons Ventures has grown to a team of nine, with the latest addition of a Head of Impact and Sustainable Investing to work alongside the investment team and provide experience and support to all portfolio companies. Helping them to quantify and increase the positive and sustainable impact they make on the environment and society.
Five Seasons Ventures recently published its 2020 Impact Report, which illustrates the commitment of its portfolio companies to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The report shows the leadership role played by Five Seasons Ventures in supporting its portfolio in this process through practice sharing, scientific reporting, and constant performance counselling. Results include 2 million Kg of avoided food waste and 20 million Kg of CO2 emissions reduced along the supply chain, with 60 per cent of all deliveries from the portfolio already carbon neutral.
