Investment Climate Podcast

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 Agr...

Episode 85: Sprout Agritech: Sandhya Sriram on New Zealand’s massive government match-funding and escaping the Agri-Food VC winter In this episode, I sit down with Sandhya Sriram, CEO of Sprout Agritech, a premier startup accelerator and early-stage investor based in New Zealand. Sandhya—a stem cell scientist and serial entrepreneur turned investor—explains how Sprout leverages heavy New Zealand g...

Episode 84: Maia Ventures: David Bassani on Italy's "Untapped" AgriFood Market and the Private Equity Exit Strategy In this episode, I sit down with David Bassani, Founding Partner of Maia Ventures, an Italy-based VC fund rapidly approaching its €60M hard cap. David details why he believes the Italian ecosystem is severely underfunded despite Agri-Food accounting for 15% of the nation's GDP. He re...

Episode 83: The Footprint Firm: Jonas Ahm-Lundgren on the Hybrid VC-Advisory Model and the Art of the Hard Pivot  In this episode, I sit down with Jonas Ahm-Lundgren, Partner at the Footprint Fund, which recently announced the first close of their €76M pre-seed and seed climate tech fund. Jonas breaks down their highly unusual structure—operating a venture fund under the same roof as a major susta...

Episode 82: Evergreen Select: Jim Miller on Big Pharma execution, 3D scaffolding, and the Hybrid Meat strategy  In this episode, I sit down with Jim Miller, President and CEO of Evergreen Select, a cultivated meat company that has raised roughly $55M to date, backed heavily by lead investor S2G. Jim brings over 30 years of Fortune 500 biotech and Big Pharma execution (including COVID vaccine comme...

Episode 81: Doen Ventures: Tom Doornik on the Regenerative Economy and why VCs are wrong to ignore Consumer Brands In this episode, I sit down with Tom Doornik, Investment Associate at Doen Ventures, an Amsterdam-based early-stage impact VC backed by the Doen Foundation. Tom walks us through their thesis on the "regenerative economy" and why they write €350K to €700K pre-seed and seed checks for b...

Episode 80: Verley Food: Hélène Briand on closing a $38M Series A without a bridge round and executing on time  In this episode, I sit down with Hélène Briand, Co-founder and Chief Innovation & Commercial Officer at Verley Food, a French precision fermentation company that recently made headlines by closing a massive $38M Series A led by Alvin. Hélène reveals the disciplined, milestone-obsesse...

Episode 79: Arla Foods: Gilai Nachmann on Open Innovation, the AI Nutrition Threat, and How to Pilot with a €15B Dairy Giant  In this episode, I sit down with Gilai Nachmann, Senior Project Manager of Open Innovation & Partnerships at Arla Foods, the largest dairy cooperative in Europe with €15 billion in annual revenue. Gilai breaks down Arla’s aggressive new mandate: sourcing 30% of all inno...

Episode 78: Ora Biotics: Jens Eklöf & Ida Krogh Sjöholm on winning Pre-Seed funding with the "Low Inclusion" fiber thesis  In this episode, I sit down with Jens Eklöf (CEO/CTO) and Ida Krogh Sjöholm (Commercial Officer), the co-founders of Ora Biotics, a Danish startup developing the next generation of precision prebiotics. They share the tactical playbook of how they cold-called their way to...

Episode 77: Delphinus Venture Capital: Mathias Brink Lorenz on the Evergreen Advantage and the "Low Inclusion, High Margin" thesis  In this episode, I sit down with Mathias Brink Lorenz, CEO and Managing Partner of Delphinus Venture Capital, a newly formed €80M evergreen fund backed exclusively by four major Danish corporates and a university endowment. Mathias pulls back the curtain on the perver...

Episode 76: Proba: Sijbrand Tieleman on raising an Extension Round and dominating a hyper-niche market  In this episode, I sit down with Sijbrand Tieleman, Co-founder and CEO of Proba, an Amsterdam-based startup tackling the massive footprint of fertilizer emissions. Sijbrand walks us through his recent €1.25M ($1.5M USD) extension round, which was led by existing investor Future Food Fund. We dis...

Episode 75: ID Capital: Isabelle Decitre on the "Anti-Fund" model and the harsh realities of expanding into Asia  In this episode, I sit down with Isabelle Decitre, founder of ID Capital, a Singapore-headquartered venture investment and innovation advisory firm. Isabelle reveals why she deliberately chose not to raise a traditional VC fund, opting instead to invest her own capital (writing tag-alo...

Send a text On unlocking Canada’s $7B AgTech boom and solving the scale-up "Valley of Death" - Mike Wolsfeld, AgWest Bio Investment Climate Podcast: Fundraising Playbooks From Food Tech CEOs and VCs  In this podcast series, Alex Shandrovsky interviews investors about benchmarks for funding Alt Proteins in 2025 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs. P...

Send a text Episode 73: CJ Foods: Auroni Majumdar on the Open Innovation Playbook and bypassing the Western retail trap  In this episode, I sit down with Auroni Majumdar, Vice President of R&D Global Open Innovation at CJ Foods. Auroni pulls back the curtain on how a global food giant evaluates external technology, revealing why it operates on a strict 6-to-24-month horizon rather than chasing...

Send a text Harmony Baby Nutrition: Del Afonso shares how to get funded in 2026 Investment Climate Podcast: Fundraising Playbooks From Food Tech CEOs and VCs  In this podcast series, Alex Shandrovsky interviews investors about benchmarks for funding Alt Proteins in 2025 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs. Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is a strateg...

Send a text Kost Capital: Bodil Sidén shares how to get funded in 2026 Investment Climate Podcast: Fundraising Playbooks From Food Tech CEOs and VCs  In this podcast series, Alex Shandrovsky interviews investors about benchmarks for funding Alt Proteins in 2025 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs. Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is a strategic adviso...

Send a text V5 Verde Equity: Kristian Bennetsen shares how to get funded in 2026 Investment Climate Podcast: Fundraising Playbooks From Food Tech CEOs and VCs  In this podcast series, Alex Shandrovsky interviews investors about benchmarks for funding Alt Proteins in 2025 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs. Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is a strate...

Send a text FLOCEAN: Alexander Fuglesang shares how to get funded in 2026 Investment Climate Podcast: Fundraising Playbooks From Food Tech CEOs and VCs  In this podcast series, Alex Shandrovsky interviews investors about benchmarks for funding Alt Proteins in 2025 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs. Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is a strategic adv...

Send a text FoodSparks: Yoni Glickman shares how to get funded in 2026 Investment Climate Podcast: Fundraising Playbooks From Food Tech CEOs and VCs  In this podcast series, Alex Shandrovsky interviews investors about benchmarks for funding Alt Proteins in 2025 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs. Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is a strategic adviso...

Send a text GOTA Ventures: Vincent Kuiper shares how to get funded in 2026 Investment Climate Podcast: Fundraising Playbooks From Food Tech CEOs and VCs  In this podcast series, Alex Shandrovsky interviews investors about benchmarks for funding Alt Proteins in 2025 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs. Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is a strategic ad...

Send a text Matr Foods: Randi Wahlsten shares how to get funded in 2026 Investment Climate Podcast: Fundraising Playbooks From Food Tech CEOs and VCs  In this podcast series, Alex Shandrovsky interviews investors about benchmarks for funding Alt Proteins in 2025 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs. Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is a strategic advis...

Send a text   Agronomics Limited: Jim Mellon shares how to get funded in 2026 Investment Climate Podcast: Fundraising Playbooks From Food Tech CEOs and VCs  In this podcast series, Alex Shandrovsky interviews investors about benchmarks for funding Alt Proteins in 2025 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs. Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is a strategic...

Send a text   The Yield Lab: Gentiane Gorlier shares how to get funded in 2026 Investment Climate Podcast: Fundraising Playbooks From Food Tech CEOs and VCs  In this podcast series, Alex Shandrovsky interviews investors about benchmarks for funding Alt Proteins in 2025 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs. Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is a strategi...

Send a text First Bight Ventures: Veronica Breckenridge shares how to get funded in 2026 Investment Climate Podcast: Fundraising Playbooks From Food Tech CEOs and VCs  In this podcast series, Alex Shandrovsky interviews investors about benchmarks for funding Alt Proteins in 2025 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs. Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is...

Send a text Oyster Bay Venture Capital: Felix Leonhardt shares how to get funded in 2026 Investment Climate Podcast: Fundraising Playbooks From Food Tech CEOs and VCs  In this podcast series, Alex Shandrovsky interviews investors about benchmarks for funding Alt Proteins in 2025 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs. Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is...