Episode 95: UNOVIS Asset Management: Kim Odhner on navigating the Alt-Protein pivot and why startups can't disrupt Nestlé  

In this episode, I sit down with Kim Odhner, Managing Director at UNOVIS Asset Management, one of the most experienced and earliest venture funds in the alternative protein space. Kim pulls back the curtain on how UNOVIS manages its portfolio during the FoodTech winter, detailing the exact thesis behind their recent follow-on investments in Green Rebel Foods, The Protein Brewery, and Alpine Bio. We discuss why trying to change the habits of meat-eaters is a "lost cause," how molecular farming startups are pivoting to high-value medical-grade ingredients, and why the next era of FoodTech requires abandoning the Silicon Valley playbook of trying to overthrow legacy FMCG giants. 

🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear Kim's insights on why the massive Southeast Asian market requires prioritizing shelf-stability over cold-chain logistics. 

Key Facts UNOVIS Asset Management:

• Kim Odhner: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kim-anders-odhner/
• Website: https://unovis.vc/
• Headquarters: New York, US 
• Goal: To invest in and scale transformative food technologies, transitioning from a strict alternative-protein focus to a broader growth-stage mandate targeting functional, healthy, and asset-light ingredients.
• Milestone: Raised a €150M European fund and successfully guided multiple early-stage portfolio companies through critical commercial and regulatory pivots.

Blurb

Unovis Asset Management is the global leader in alternative protein investing, backing purpose-driven entrepreneurs building the future of food. Through its flagship New Crop Capital funds (NCAP I and NCAP II), Unovis provides seed-to-growth capital to founders developing plant-based, fungi, fermentation, and cultivated replacements to meat, seafood, dairy, and eggs. But Unovis goes beyond capital — partners bring deep culinary expertise, consumer behavior insight, food manufacturing experience, and a global network to help founders build companies that last. Their north star: transform the global food system by reducing dependence on animal proteins and catalyzing the kind of sustained behavioral change that makes a well-fed, sustainable world possible.

Episode 94: Kilter: Kristoffer Magnor on securing a 6.5M strategic round, partnering with Kubota, and the 1-to-2 year farmer ROI 

In this episode, I sit down with Kristoffer Magnor, Managing Director at Kilter, a Norway-based AgTech startup building an autonomous precision-weeding robot. Kristoffer details the anatomy of their recent 6.5 million strategic investment round led by global manufacturing giant Kubota. We discuss why they spent two full years pressure-testing their relationship with Kubota in the field before finalizing the round, how they successfully pushed back when Kubota wanted to turn their autonomous robot into a standard tractor implement, and how they calculate a rock-solid 1-to-2 year ROI for farmers. 

🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear how Kilter’s machine learning platform reduces herbicide use by 96.6% and why capturing premium supermarket pricing is the hidden value-add of their technology. 

Key Facts Kilter:

• Kristoffer Magnor: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristoffermagnor/
• Website: https://www.kiltersystems.com/
• Headquarters: Viken, Norway 
• Goal: To optimize agricultural land by deploying autonomous robots (the AX1) that use machine learning to distinguish crops from weeds, printing micro-droplets of herbicide with 6x6 millimeter precision.
• Milestone: Raised a 6.5 million strategic investment round led by Kubota to transition from direct sales to a massive distribution-led scaling model across Germany, the Netherlands, and eventually globally.

Blurb

Kilter is an agri-robotics company developing autonomous field robots that eliminate weeds with surgical precision — plant by plant. Powered by AI-driven crop recognition and its patented Single Drop Technology, Kilter replaces the blunt instrument of blanket spraying with ultra-targeted treatment, dramatically reducing chemical inputs while improving crop performance. The result is a new standard for sustainable farming: full field control, lower costs, and agriculture that works in balance with nature rather than against it.

Episode 93: Plug and Play: Alex Davisson on "Venture Math", B2B Corporate Synergy, and the Pre-Regulatory Playbook 

In this episode, I sit down with Alex Davisson, Senior Associate at Plug and Play, a globally recognized venture fund and open innovation platform. Alex breaks down how Plug and Play leverages its network of over 600 multinational corporate partners (like PepsiCo and Mars Wrigley) to act as a hyper-strategic investor for early-stage FoodTech startups. We discuss why his bread and butter is pre-revenue, pre-regulatory companies, and why they explicitly pass on pure B2C consumer brands like Poppi or Huel. Alex also delivers a sobering reality check on FoodTech exit multiples and explains why he is aggressively pushing his team to invest at sub-$10M valuation caps. 

🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear how Plug and Play can add massive commercial value to your startup through their corporate ecosystem, even if they end up passing on writing a check. 

Key Facts Plug and Play:

• Alex Davisson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-alexander-davisson/
• Website: plugandplaytechcenter.com
• Headquarters: California, USA
• Goal: To invest globally in pre-seed and seed stage AgriFoodTech startups (specifically B2B ingredients and enabling tech with strong IP moats) that offer strategic synergy with their multinational corporate partners.
• Milestone: Rapid deployment capability, writing $50K–$100K initial checks from their family office with an average 4-to-6 week due diligence cycle, backed by larger follow-on capacity through their LP-driven sustainability funds.

Blurb

Plug and Play is a global innovation platform that bridges the gap between large corporations and high-potential startups. By matching strategically aligned emerging companies to their partners' specific technology challenges, Plug and Play gives enterprises firsthand visibility into the trends shaping tomorrow — while connecting them to a world-class network of industry leaders and change-makers. With a mission to make innovation open to anyone, anywhere, Plug and Play has built one of the world's most active ecosystems for driving growth, unlocking new opportunities, and embedding a culture of continuous transformation inside the organizations that need it most.

Episode 92: Forever Harvest: Mick Riley on spinning Plant Cell IP out of the university and the B2C trap  

In this episode, I sit down with Mick Riley, Co-founder and CEO of Forever Harvest, a New Zealand-based plant cell culture startup that recently closed a $1.2M pre-seed round. Mick details how he stepped in as the commercial CEO to spin out "high seven-figure" IP from a public research institute, taking raw lab science and turning it into a commercial biotech platform. We discuss why growing commodity nuts in a bioreactor makes zero economic sense, and how their strategy shifted to accelerating high-value traits (like Vitamin K2) for corporate B2B partners. 

🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear Mick's candid admission about wasting six months trying to build a B2C brand and why pitching themselves as a horizontal platform ultimately secured their VC funding.  

Key Facts Forever Harvest:

• Mick Riley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mick-riley-205a78276/
• Website: https://www.foreverharvest.co/
• Headquarters: New Zealand
• Goal: To utilize plant cell culture (growing fruit and nuts "without the tree") to supply FMCGs with highly tailored, premium B2B ingredients, specifically focusing on almond and citrus.
• Milestone: Spun out of the Bioeconomy Science Institute (a NZ public research organization) and successfully raised a $1.2M pre-seed round backed by deep-tech incubator Sprout Agritech.

Blurb:

FOREVER HARVEST is a New Zealand-based cellular horticulture company producing custom fruit and nut ingredients via plant cell culture. Working directly with industry partners, they develop proprietary cell lines and growth media to deliver ingredients with tailored flavour and functional profiles — available year-round, on demand, with no seasonal or supply chain constraints. Key differentiators: minimal land/water footprint, zero pesticides, enhanced bioactive concentration versus conventional produce, and batch-to-batch consistency. 

Episode 91: Zintinus: Fabio Ziemssen on the Growth Investor Mindset and the B2B vs. B2C Scale-Up Playbook 

In this episode, I sit down with Fabio Ziemssen, Founding Partner at Zintinus, a Berlin-based growth-stage FoodTech fund managing €135 million. Fabio outlines the strict commercial metrics required to secure their €2M to €5M checks, explaining the distinct differences between evaluating B2B ingredient stickiness versus B2C retail velocity. We dive deep into their recent investments, including the Austrian healthy snacking brand NEO (leveraging a massive B2B sugar-replacement play) and Planet A Foods. Most notably, Fabio breaks down why Zintinus invested in KÄÄPÄ Mushrooms, defying the current venture capital exodus from vertical farming by focusing on high-margin functional crops over low-margin commodities like basil. 

🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear why Fabio believes there is never a "too early" time to start building a relationship with a growth-stage fund.  

Key Facts Zintinus:

• Fabio Ziemssen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabio-ziemssen-food-innovation/
• Website: https://zintinus.com/
• Headquarters: Berlin
• Goal: To lead €2M–€5M growth-stage investments in alternative proteins, functional foods, and food waste reduction technologies across Europe and the US.
• Milestone: Managing €135M in assets and exclusively deploying capital into startups that have moved beyond the lab and achieved proven commercial traction.

Blurb:

ZINTINUS is a European venture capital fund singularly focused on food system transformation. They invest in Series A–B rounds across four verticals: alternative protein (plant-based, fermentation, cell-based), clean nutrition (functional beverages, free-from products), functional food (personalized nutrition, novel ingredients), and food waste reduction (shelf-life extension, side-stream valorization, data analytics). Their thesis targets scalable models with strong unit economics, and beyond capital, they offer portfolio companies access to deep sector networks and operational expertise.

Episode 90: Planet A Foods: Max Marquart & Jürgen Keil on surviving the CapEx leap, supply chain economics, and building a Corporate inside a Startup  

In this episode, I sit down with Maximilian Marquart (CEO and Co-founder of Planet A Foods) and Jürgen Keil (former Cargill Executive and current Supply Chain Advisor) to discuss the brutal reality of scaling a deep-tech food company. Planet A Foods is renowned for executing on one of the hardest challenges in the industry: manufacturing its proprietary cocoa-free chocolate entirely in-house. Max explains why they were forced to build their own factory when legacy co-manufacturers refused to run their product, and why hiring a seasoned corporate supply chain veteran like Jürgen was the only way to survive the transition from lab-scale to commercial delivery. We also dive deep into Jürgen's 33 years of agribusiness experience, dismantling the myth of the "sustainability premium" and explaining why value chains must be designed backward from strict cost constraints.

🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear Max’s exact math on why an expensive supply chain executive pays for themselves after preventing just two ruined 24-ton shipments. 

Key Facts Planet A Foods:

• Maximilian Marquart: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-maximilian-marquart-24a802107/
• Jürgen Keil: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juergen-keil-7ab34a31/
• Website: https://planet-a-foods.com/
• Headquarters: Germany
• Goal: To build a next-generation food ingredient champion by manufacturing a proprietary, highly scalable, and sustainable cocoa-free chocolate alternative.
• Milestone: Successfully transitioned from lab-scale production (100 grams) to fulfilling multi-ton line trials by building and operating their own vertical manufacturing facility in 2022.

Blurb:

Planet A Foods is building the next generation of ingredients for the global food industry. Through a scalable fermentation platform, we create resilient, future-ready B2B ingredient solutions that tackle the defining challenges of our time — climate change, supply chain disruption, and the growing demand for sustainable food at scale. Our ingredients deliver exceptional taste and cost efficiency without compromise, enabling food producers to reduce millions of tons of carbon emissions each year. We don't just adapt to the transformation underway in the food world — we're leading it. Our mission: protect the planet we love by making sustainable, high-quality ingredients the new standard for mass market products worldwide.

Episode 89: ICL Group: Ziv Kohav on securing paid POCs and why marketing claims are noise to a $7B corporate 

In this episode, I sit down with Ziv Kohav, Head of the Open Innovation Program (ICL Open) at ICL Group, a $7 billion specialty minerals giant headquartered in Israel. Ziv outlines exactly how early-stage (even TRL3) startups can secure paid Proof of Concept (POC) projects with ICL across their Plant Nutrition and Food Specialties divisions. We discuss why founders need to stop pitching the "market need" and focus strictly on scientific data and strategic fit. Ziv also breaks down the internal corporate timeline, revealing why startups operating on a 3-month runway are setting themselves up for failure when trying to close a corporate licensing deal that requires agricultural growing seasons to validate. 

🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear Ziv’s advice on how to price your POC without triggering red flags in the corporate procurement department.

Key Facts ICL Group:

• Ziv Kohav: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zivkohav/
• Website: https://www.icl-group.com/
• Headquarters: Israel
• Goal: To scout, fund, and license external technologies (TRL3 and up) focusing on advanced plant nutrition, abiotic stress reduction, and clean-label functional food ingredients.
• Milestone: Transitioned away from a standalone CVC structure to a highly integrated Open Innovation model where paid POCs directly lead to licensing agreements managed by core business units.

Blurb:

ICL is a global specialty minerals and chemicals company operating across four core segments — Growing Solutions, Phosphate Solutions, Potash, and Industrial Products. With innovation at the core of its strategy, ICL develops advanced agricultural inputs that strengthen food security worldwide, alongside next-generation energy storage systems designed to improve lives at scale. From feeding a growing planet to powering a cleaner future, ICL combines deep mineral expertise with forward-looking R&D to drive sustainable growth across the industries that matter most.

Episode 88: Zubi Capital: Johan Morales on Spain as the Go-To-Market Hub and the death of "Consumer Behavior" pitches

In this episode, I sit down with Johan Morales, an investor at Zubi Capital, a Spanish asset management firm operating three distinct vehicles: a Venture Debt fund for impact scale-ups, an early-stage (Pre-Seed/Seed) Diversity Catalyst VC, and a highly specialized Type 1 Diabetes fund. Johan reflects on the $50 billion of wealth destroyed in the first wave of AgriFoodTech and explicitly outlines why pitches relying on changing consumer behavior are dead on arrival. We explore Zubi’s thesis on hardware-plus-software "add-on" solutions, why securing an ROI for farmers from day one is non-negotiable, and how international founders can use Spain as the ultimate fragmented market testing ground by setting up a local subsidiary. 

🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear Johan’s masterclass on how to spot (and avoid) "impact washing" and why regulatory tailwinds are a bonus, not a business model.

Key Facts Zubi Capital:

• Johan Morales: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johan-morales-impact/
• Website: https://zubicapital.com/
• Headquarters: Spain
• Goal: To deploy impact-driven capital across three vehicles (Venture Debt, Early-Stage VC, and a dedicated Type 1 Diabetes fund) targeting solutions with intrinsic "lockstep" impact models.
• Milestone: Actively deploying €200K–€500K initial checks from their early-stage fund, with a mandate to back digital solutions and software-enabled hardware in the Spanish ecosystem.

Blurb:

Zubi Capital is an independent asset manager at the forefront of impact investing. We design high-performance investment strategies across asset classes — targeting market-rate returns while addressing the world's most pressing social and environmental challenges. Our approach combines rigorous financial analysis with deep triple impact expertise, delivering long-term value without compromise. At Zubi Capital, impact is our guiding light and financial performance is our edge — because investors should never have to choose between profitability and purpose.

Episode 87: Tomorrow, Inc.: Dr. Alec Lorenzo on bootstrapping SynBio, the "Functional Assay" of sales, and First Principles valuation 

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Alec Lourenco, CEO and co-founder of Tomorrow, Inc., a biotech platform engineering proteins that bind to taste receptors to replicate—and evolve—the experience of sugar and salt. Alec shares the scrappy origin story of how they bootstrapped a hand-canned soda company just to demo their initial FDA-approved sweet protein blend, a hustle that ultimately landed them a $1M round led by Carbon Silicon Ventures. We dive deep into why early-stage founders must rely on "first principles" rather than pattern matching for their valuations, the danger of investors mistaking a biotech platform for a CPG brand, and how to survive the SynBio winter through extreme capital efficiency. 

🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear how Alec navigated asking a former boss for an angel check and why he believes the ultimate laboratory test is a paying customer.

Key Facts Tomorrow, Inc.:

• CEO & co-founder: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alec-lourenco-353610a5/
• Goal: To engineer novel flavor proteins that replace unhealthy ingredients like sugar and salt, creating healthy and "whimsical" taste experiences using a proprietary "tongue-in-the-loop" discovery system.
• Milestone: Raised a $1M round led by Carbon Silicon Ventures, generated early revenue through a prototype D2C soda to prove market demand, and is currently seeking challenger brands for co-development partnerships.

Blurb:

Weekend is making anything taste like anything using engineered protein binders that activate your sweet, fat, and salt receptors to replace unhealthy ingredients like sugar, salt, and fat.

Episode 86: Royal Cosun: Jara van den Bogaerde on Corporate Open Innovation and surviving the 6-month Pilot timeline 

In this episode, I sit down with Jara van den Bogaerde, Open Innovation Manager at Royal Cosun, a 125-year-old Dutch food processor and cooperative representing 8,500 farmers. Jara pulls back the curtain on how a massive corporate player scouts and collaborates with early-stage AgriFoodTech startups. We discuss the difference between Cosun’s CVC arm (writing ~$5M Series A equity checks) and its Open Innovation division, which bypasses the equity table to focus on pre-seed and seed-stage pilots, joint ventures, and licensing. Jara details their specific 2026 mandate to find disruptive technologies in alternative proteins, fibers, and side-stream valorization, and explains why founders need to stop pitching with a "trust us, we're great" mentality. 

🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear Jara’s reality check on the timeline for securing a paid corporate pilot and why startups with only two months of runway are already too late.

Key Facts Royal Cosun:

• Goal: To build a sustainable 10-year innovation pipeline by partnering with startups to co-develop, license, or scale technologies in alternative proteins, texturizers, and side-stream valorization.
• Milestone: Operating with a pre-allocated R&D budget for Open Innovation, allowing them to bypass internal budget-hunting to rapidly execute paid POCs and pilots with startups.