Specialist investor Lever VC has held an $80m final close for its inaugural fund to back early-stage plant-based and cultivated meat and dairy companies. The firm said it is already actively speaking with investors to start raising for Fund II early next year.
Lever VC Fund attracted big players in the industry, including meat companies from the US, China and southeast Asia. Other backers include ingredients and food commodities companies from the US and Europe, an European fermentation company, two AgriFeed companies from China and SE Asia.
The fund has already built a portfolio of 19 companies from the US, Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Nick Cooney, managing partner of Lever VC, said, “We’re pleased with the strong growth in value, sales and technology of our current portfolio, and we’ll continue to invest in more stellar companies over the next year.
“We’re grateful to be partnered with some of the biggest food companies from the US, Europe, China and Southeast Asia, as well as value-add family offices. We also look forward to beginning the raise of Lever VC Fund II early next year on the back of large pre-commitments from existing LPs and strong interest from institutional investors.”
Lever VC tracks over 2,000 alternative protein companies and has made investments in companies with valuation caps from 1.1x to 44x.
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