In this podcast series, co-produced by vegconomist, Alex Shandrovsky interviews investors about benchmarks for funding Alt Proteins in 2024 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs.
Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is a strategic advisor to numerous global food tech accelerators and companies, including alternative proteins and cellular agriculture leaders. His focus is on investor relations and post-raise scale for agrifood tech companies.
Episode 16: Emil Munck de Voss of Reduced
In this episode, Alex talks to Emil, co-founder and CEO of REDUCED, founded in 2020, aims to tackle food waste by creating flavor solutions from food side streams. These flavor solutions, such as intense stock or broth, are sold to food professionals and manufacturers for use in products like ready meals, meat alternatives, soups, and sauces. Email emphasizes the importance of preparation, relationship building, and understanding both the financial and operational aspects of fundraising in closing the round. He highlights several important techniques and strategies for securing funding, especially in the food tech sector.
Key Facts REDUCED:
- Goal: To reduce food waste by using vegetables, protein and other sources of nutrition left over from the conventional food industry.
- Raised €8 million in August 2024
- Investors: Novo Holdings, ECBF
Link to Spotify:
Alex’ Top Findings:
- Investor Relationships: Emil emphasizes the importance of networking and building relationships within the food industry through advocacy groups and boards, which led to several key investor introductions.
- Fundraising Approach: Emil prepares thoroughly for investor meetings, recognizing that one bad meeting can kill an opportunity. He stresses the importance of clear, truthful communication in all dealings with potential investors and partners. He also encouraged demonstrating the product’s value by bringing samples to investor meetings and inviting investors to see the production facility firsthand.
- Fundraising Strategy: Build momentum by creating a wide funnel of potential investors. Prioritize face-to-face or voice meetings over emails to build relationships and gain insights. Provide information in steps to maintain engagement and better understand if the investor is a good fit. Respond quickly to maintain momentum and create urgency in the fundraising process. Practice pitches with less likely investors to refine the presentation before approaching key prospects.
- VCs vs. Corporate Investors: VCs provide valuable insights into metrics and scaling, fostering an operational mentality focused on growth and performance. Corporate investors contribute by bringing industry knowledge and commercial insights, which are vital for innovation in food tech. Both types of investors can complement each other on the cap table.
The link to the full series is here.
