Coast Capitala new Danish venture capital fund, aims to provide better food to more people.
General partner Bodil Sidén started the company with LPs Kasper Hulthin, Christian Tang-Jespersen, Mark Emil Hermansen and Jacob Lee Ørnstrand.
Kost, which means “diet” in Scandinavian, however, would be difficult to stick to one while working there. This is because Kost Capital shares space with Kost Studio, a food development studio that also serves as a test kitchen for universities and markets to collaborate and develop new food products.
Seiden declined to disclose the amount raised so far, which is 25 million euros, but said that backers include the Danish sovereign fund EIFO and Coast’s limited founding partners.
Kost Capital invests in pre-seed and seed stage startups across Europe, with a focus on B2B input into the future of food. It has already made three investments: Estonian palm oil replacement company Äio, Numi, a French infant formula company, and Danish ingredients company Nutrumami.
Sidén’s journey into venture capital began in a unique place. She was involved in Swedish politics as a member of the National Council of the Moderate Party, a press secretary for Fredrik Reinfeldt’s government and worked with Swedish ministers.
“I’ve always been very passionate about societal change — my parents are immigrant teachers, so I’ve always been very exposed to justice and global issues,” Seiden told TechCrunch. “I then joined the world of technology, working in communications in the Nordics for Uber where I learned all about big tech and how to scale technology companies and markets from a local environment.”
She then partnered with two Uber colleagues to form a venture capital fund in Stockholm that built the company hands-on. For example, working with technology companies that lack a way to market.
After creating two funds, Sidén reached out to the investors behind Kost, who were looking for a general partner to help build the platform and develop the strategy. That’s what they’ve been doing for the past year with the help of Senior Fellow Paul Archambault, she said.
Coste’s investment thesis takes a nod from Sedin’s political origins and from the idea that food depends on the bioeconomy. Recognizing the growing population, climate change, food waste, health issues and policy changes, Seiden says more funding is needed in food technology.
“Looking at the next five years, all the macro trends are talking about, and it’s underinvested in,” she said. “If you look at where the money has gone, it’s actually like logistics and branding and not even food. It’s a huge opportunity, and we also hope that general VCs will come back into this space. They took some hits initially with a lot of B2B deals And consumers, it has been difficult to evaluate different types of business models, but I think this may change now.
However, one of Sidén’s milestones is for Kost to be “Europe’s top co-investor” with food technology investors and general investors looking for a company with wide-ranging experience and specialist food capabilities.
Meanwhile, food technology is having a moment in Europe. Not only are we seeing larger than average investments in, for example, Infinite Roots, which makes proteins from mycelium, but we’re also seeing more money raised. This week, Eatable Adventures, an accelerator that helps create and support food tech in Spain and Italy, said this week Closed half of an investment vehicle worth €30 million The European Food Technology Acceleration Fund is called I SCSp.
We are also seeing more government support. For example, the United Kingdom £2 billion sunk In the field of biotechnology, especially in relation to food. The European Union has its own Plans worth 50 million euros to scale up micro-fermentation, while Aleph Farms received regulatory approval in Israel for cultured meat.