Unreasonable Collective has held the close of its first syndicate investment in Air Protein, a pioneer in producing nutritious, ultra-sustainable, alternative proteins that can feed the world’s growing population sustainably, founded by Dr Lisa Dyson.The Series A is led by ADM Ventures, Barclays, and GV (formerly Google Ventures).
Unreasonable Collective, a by invitation only members club, was recently launched by the Unreasonable Group. The membership offers individual accredited investors from diverse backgrounds, unique access to co-invest alongside top institutional groups, via managed syndicates, in high impact, high growth ventures operating at the intersection of impact and technology, generating societal and environmental impact as well as exceptional returns. The Collective syndicates investments into qualifying companies that are part of the Unreasonable Group’s global Fellowship, which is dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs leveraging business to solve pressing global problems.
“We founded Unreasonable Collective to facilitate the financing of breakthrough technologies which are solving environmental and societal challenges in a profitable and scalable way. Equally as important, we are dedicated to supporting a diverse investor base and require that at minimum 50 per cent of Collective Members are women, people of colour, and/or identify as LGBTQ. We specifically look for ventures within our Fellowship with diverse founders that are poised to disrupt a wide range of industries in a sustainable way. Air Protein and its founder Dr Dyson fit this thesis perfectly given their innovative approach to producing proteins in a sustainable manner,” says Pratibha Vuppuluri, Head of Investments, Unreasonable Group. “We are privileged to continue to support Dr Dyson and her team at Air Protein as they work to profitably tackle the climate crisis.”
“We are excited to have Unreasonable as a partner as we work to launch the Future of Meat,” says Dyson. “With this funding, we will be able to accelerate our work towards providing innovative, environmentally-friendly, highly nutritious alternatives that will play an important role in meeting the growing global demand for alternatives to animal protein. We are commercialising a novel technology platform that is capable of scaling to large-scale production to help feed the world’s 10 billion people by the year 2050, in the most sustainable approach available today.”
Unreasonable first began working with Dr Dyson when she was inducted into the Unreasonable Fellowship as a participant in the 2017 Unreasonable Impact Americas programme. The Unreasonable Impact programme is a multi-year partnership between Unreasonable Group and Barclays and is dedicated to scaling up growth-stage businesses that are rapidly creating new jobs and operating within the green economy.
Daniel Epstein, Founder and CEO of Unreasonable Group, says: “Barclays has demonstrated tremendous leadership in partnering with disruptive ventures dedicated to sustainability. The fact that Barclays led this investment round alongside ADM Ventures and Google Ventures is further evidence of their unique dedication to supporting impactful entrepreneurs like Dr Dyson.”
“Our goal is to redesign the investing experience to make it more accessible, inviting, and efficient for both investors and entrepreneurs. We were delighted with the speed at which the Collective syndicate in Air Protein was filled – a clear validation of the growing appetite from investors looking to invest in ventures operating at the nexus of profit and purpose,” adds Vuppuluri.
