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Image Credits:PeakBridge VC / Nadav Berger and Erich Sieber, founding general partners at PeakBridge VC
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Image Credits:PeakBridge VC / Nadav Berger and Erich Sieber, founding general partners at PeakBridge VC
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clime change is not just about take out carbon from the atmosphere or making more fuel - efficient cars . It ’s also about the food we eat .
That ’s the focus ofPeakBridge , a world-wide fund manager in the agri - food technical school sphere . It late closed on $ 187 million in Washington commitments for its PeakBridge Growth Fund II to invest in innovation in those areas . That brings the firm ’s full assets under direction to over $ 250 million .
PeakBridge , based in Luxembourg , is a extremity of the Edmond de Rothschild Private Equity partnership . The firm was started by found universal partners Erich Sieber and Nadav Berger in 2020 .
“ We want to be ‘ the bridge ’ help those enterpriser to get to the ‘ peak , ’ ” Berger tell TechCrunch . “ We also can suffice as a bridge between the old food industry and the novel technology . We ’ve also started to invest in AI and nutrient , and now we have at least five company using AI . ”
clime variety is one focus for the firm , and the partners knew they could n’t tackle the climate challenge without addressing solid food . When they were upgrade the new fund , they had no bother convert larger institutional investors of the need .
The most late fund transcend the $ 100 million quarry sizeannounced in 2022 . Growth Fund II was launched with participation from spherical food and drink caller , including Grupo Bimbo , Royal Cosun and Arancia , as well as fiscal establishment , including Builders Initiative .
In terms of return , collaborator Nadim El Khazen told TechCrunch that PeakBridge ’s investment firm are just start up to see early results but those issue are forebode .
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PeakBridge intends to seat in between 16 and 20 companies , at around $ 10 million in each society . It has made eight investments so far . These include company like animate being - free dairy farm startupStanding OvationandVow , which has done some interesting cultured gist products , include more alien meats .
“ We started adorn in 2020 , so we ’re presently working on the first way out from our fund , ” El Khazen say . “ Unlike schematic VC and software or in biotech , it ’s not one or two companies that deliver the fund multiple times . alternatively , what we see in our portfolio is that a majority of companies would return , say , two to five times the investment . ”
The investor adds that its portfolio has “ less failures ” compared to the classic expectations of , say , a SaaS and software system investment trust . “ Where we see our returns are : between two to four time per investment company . This is where our portfolios are swap today . ”
Among the new food product that Sieber and Berger believe could be really world - changing is research laboratory - made chocolate .
One of their investment from the investment firm is in Win - Win . Sieber explained it ’s a cacao replacement that is taking reward of the immense spindle in cacao Leontyne Price . Though toll have come down a shade , theprice of cacaoper metric ton hit most $ 11,800 earlier this year due to heavy rains and disease involve craw .
“ One of the topics we guess about is climate variety , which will have more and more disturbance in commodities , ” Sieber say . “ We saw it with umber and vanilla . Right now , cacao is at an all - clock time senior high school , and we are learn a tangible wallop on the consumer . Win - Win and three or four other companies are trying to bring out something very standardised to cacao with the same texture and vividness of course . ”
Despite coffee being a favored snack , the cacao diligence is well - known forchild laboranddeforestationissues . Some caller , like Ayana Bio , which works on high polyphenol chocolate tree extract , havepledgedto accelerate the yield of Theobroma cacao bioactives through cellular cultivation .
Other companionship are also play here . Planet A Foods , which fire $ 15.4 millionearlier in 2024 , continues to rise a sustainable option to chocolate . True Essence Food secured$27.6 million in Series B fundingin late 2023 for its flavor symmetry technology , which uses dehydration as a proficiency to capture flavor , perfume , and nutrition . It is use that to chocolate . Companies like California Cultured and Voyage Foods are make cocoa - free chocolate ware . Voyage justraised $ 52 millionlast week .
“ What ’s interesting is that the big chocolate troupe are , because of the Leontyne Price of Theobroma cacao , replacing it with sugar , ” El Khazen said . “ Now even sugar has also quite importantly increased in terms of prices as a commodity . There ’s no manner around basically applying inflation to the product . This is why we imagine using satisfying - state tempestuousness can be a nice means , and an graceful way , to solve for these plight . ”
