"May you live in interesting times."
This quote certainly resonates with the present-day upheaval and turmoil. We also live in an uncommon time — for the first time in decades, unprecedented advances in technology can be applied in the food industry to fundamentally improve human and planetary health, and positively redefine wealth creation opportunities in venture capital.
This moment of confluence is well captured this October with the UC Davis Innovation Institute for Food and Health ("IIFH") Partner Summit (“Summit”), and the 2024 Nobel Prizes announcements in Chemistry for protein design enabled by AI and in Physics for enabling the development of AI itself via the design of artificial neural networks. The uncommon convergence between these exponential technologies and the food industry was palpable to the record number of the Summit attendees, particularly because of the deep connection between two of the speakers and two of the Nobel Prize winners; Dr. Justin Siegel with Dr. David Baker in Chemistry, and Dr. Ilias Tagkopoulos with Dr. John Hopfield in Physics. Dr. Siegel and Dr. Tagkopoulos are world leaders in applying these Nobel Prize-winning technologies to the food industry. TMG is fortunate to work closely alongside them and other world-class technological pioneers to enable uncommon deal pipeline and investment opportunities to unlock the potential for outstanding venture capital returns in the multi-trillion USD global food sector.
The present reality is that the food industry has been relatively stagnant for several decades with respect to unlock disruptive innovation required to reliably deliver exponential financial returns for early-stage venture capital investors. The past decade of “Food Tech” hype has been especially disappointing and painful largely because of alternative protein. The Summit speakers candidly affirmed this Food Tech folly while highlighting better and more attractive investment opportunities in the food sector enabled by exponential technologies — These investment opportunities have been foreshadowed by massive wealth creation during the past decade enabled by the 2024 Nobel Prize winning areas. Companies such as Nvidia, Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, OpenAI, etc., are redefining industry sectors and capital markets by applying protein design and AI to developing products such as Ozempic, Mounjaro, ChatGPT, GPUs, APIs, etc. VC investors in the food sector are now positioned to take advantage of analogous opportunities leveraging exponential technologies.
Christian Tillegreen, the Summit keynote speaker from the Novo Nordisk Foundation’s BioInnovation Institute, discussed the new era of metabolic health being ushered in via Ozempic and other pharmaceuticals based on GLP-1 receptor agonist activities. This and subsequent panel discussion framed the paradigm shift underway in the global food sector as consumers can simultaneously access opportunities to lose weight and prevent diabetes, while eating healthier foods to maintain their muscle mass, gut health, and energy levels.
In this context, a breakthrough insight for technology investors will be deep understanding of the mass consumer desire for better protein rather than alternative protein, with the concept of “better” integrating requirements for better taste and affordability alongside better health. Other speakers and panels focused on technology-based opportunities and breakthrough insights in the circular bioeconomy to convert inexpensive biomass into better food products, better food products to address unmet needs in women’s health, and technology-based business models that make sense for VC investors interested in better food. The Summit closed with a formidable panel of CEOs from Celsius, Annie’s Organics and Once Upon a Farm, and AG1 sharing their views on how food and consumer health companies navigate the so called “valley of death” and successfully deliver outstanding returns to investors. They each described heroic episodes of uncommon resilience, agility, and commitment to mission and ethics, each a solemn reminder that companies succeed because of its leaders and people.
In contrast to the disappointing returns delivered by Food Tech during the past decade, TMG believes its portfolio of investments is well positioned to deliver outstanding investor returns going forward. This firm conviction is based on its unique combination of uncommon collaborations with the world’s top technological leaders coupled with uncommon domain expertise specific to the food sector. In doing so, TMG aims to be the VC leader in positively redefining wealth creation opportunities via the food industry focused on improving human and planetary health.
IIFH’s vision is to bring together large food companies, investors, foundations, family offices, other academics, and startup food companies to drive interdisciplinary research and accelerate the commercialization of innovative technologies, addressing global challenges in food and health.
Read the original IIFH article here