David Barber, co-owner of New York state-based Blue Hill Farm and Stone Barns restaurant, and advisor to S2G Ventures and Acre Investments has launched Almanac Investments, a $30 million venture capital vehicle to invest in agriculture and hospitality technologies, cutting-edge CPG companies, and experiential retail endeavors.
The firm plans to make early-stage investments in the six-figure range, but unlike other funds, plans to also act as an operational partner with hand-selected companies; using capital and a curated group of experts to provide a deep pool of resources in data, marketing, supply chain, operations, distribution, analytics, and branding expertise to its portfolio companies.
“I found it shocking that [service providers] don’t talk to each other that much about the companies that they are simultaneously working on. They are working adjacently but they aren’t actually collaborating. So our idea is to get them collaborating on our behalf,” Barber told Project Nosh. “It’s a huge value add to the entrepreneur.”
Although not labeling Almanac as an impact venture, the fund’s investment thesis will play upon the tenets of sustainability and stewardship – something that has been integral to Barber’s business interests such as his farm-to-table restaurant, Blue Hill Farms, and the non-profit Stone Barns Center for Agriculture, where he is a member of the Board of Directors.
“I fervently believe that the long term value and best returns and best opportunities that positively affect the food system all lie in elements and principles of sustainability and regenerative agriculture,” Barber told BevNet.
A Healthy Start
Serving as managing director of Almanac will be Zoe Feldman, a former intern with Stone Barn, former executive with PepsiCo, and former managing director for Chicago-based venture capital firm Cleveland Avenue.
Feldman told Project Nosh that Almanac’s process will eliminate many of the stressors faced by young companies who, due to capital restraints, may find that they would have to choose between which needs to fund.
“What we’re doing is eliminating the barriers for them to both find and afford these resources,” said Feldman.
Because the fund is looking toward its investment being longer, more involved plays, Almanac has plans to seek out only one or two Seed or Series A investments per year, and an active portfolio of about six companies at any one time.
Well on its way, the fund has made its first three investments. The first in PilotWorks – a nationwide culinary incubator; the second, in Nona Lim – a California-based food startup backed by Echo Capital, that produces Asian-inspired, non-GMO, non-dairy, and gluten-free soups, broths, prepared meals, and noodles that have no preservatives or additives, and are low sodium and low sugar; and BlueCart, a mobile and web-based management platform for suppliers, wholesalers, and distributors in the hospitality industry.
-Lynda Kiernan
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