Dive Brief:
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A venture capital firm co-founded by a former Mondelēz executive is on track to reach $80 million in funding to support food and agriculture startups from Europe and Israel.
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The Tel Aviv, Israel-based Flora Ventures said it secured $50 million in first closing investments with help from strategic partners Haifa Group, Harel Group and Sadot Kibbutzim, a cooperative of more than 185 agricultural communities in Israel.
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The firm is led by former Nielsen Innovate executive Esther Barak-Landes and Gil Horsky, who ran Mondelēz’s investment arm. It will focus on scaling early-stage startups that can address technology gaps in food security, digitization, sustainable agriculture and food as medicine.
Dive Insight:
Horsky and Barak-Landes say factors such as COVID-19, the Ukraine war and the climate crisis underscored an opportunity to support the $8 trillion global food industry. They created Flora by leveraging their skills and backgrounds to build a “healthier, more sustainable and resilient” system.
Horsky, who led teams at Nestle, PepsiCo and Kraft Foods, helped found Mondelēz investment arm SnackFutures to identify burgeoning food brands. Barak-Landes also has experience in venture capital, helping launch a number of investment funds, including one for Nielsen media group.
“I am excited to bring my skills to finding and fueling start-ups from Israel and Europe that are good for people and kind to the planet, while helping to build the next generation of AgriFood unicorns,” Barak-Landes said in a statement.
Flora’s efforts to build a new fund come as startups continue to navigate a difficult environment. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, venture capitalists are reluctant to continue funding “high-growth, high-burn” businesses and are urging companies to cut expenses and focus on product and profitability.
What sets Flora apart from other venture capital firms are its partners, according to the founders. The Saddot Kibbutzim, which has an agricultural output surpassing $3 billion in exports to more than 100 countries, along with fertilizer producer Haifa Group and insurance and finance firm Harel Group, have agreed to partner with Flora’s startups to help them test and scale their technologies.
“We are excited that Flora can provide our start-ups proprietary access” to these industry partners, Horsky said in a statement.
Flora already completed its first investment in Israeli startup Arrakis Bio, a developer of technology to produce animal-free collagen and gelatin.