?Tyson Foods Inc. launches new venture to fund food and agriculture startups
?Tyson Foods Inc. launches new venture to fund food and agriculture startups

Tyson Foods Inc., one of the world's largest makers and marketers of meat products, has announced the formation of a USD 150 million venture capital fund to back food and agriculture startups.

According to Tyson's Executive Vice President of Strategy and New Ventures, Monica McGurk, the fund will seek to invest in startups solving problems around food production, distribution, nutrition, food waste and safety.

The new venture arm will invest opportunistically in startups it is impressed by along these lines, and will not limit its deals to early-stage or mature companies only, nor to a particular product or technology-type.

Oxford researchers published a study earlier this year that forecast, "A global switch to diets that rely less on meat and more on fruit and vegetables could save up to 8 million lives by 2050, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by two thirds, and lead to healthcare-related savings and avoided climate damages of USD 1.5 trillion."

A Tyson spokesperson said, "Our interest in Beyond Meat reflects our desire to offer consumers choices and to consider how we can serve an ever-growing and diverse global population, while remaining focused on our core prepared foods and animal protein businesses."

While Tyson is based in Springdale, Arkansas its new fund, Tyson New Ventures LLC, will be headquartered in Chicago, a hotbed of activity for food tech startups since the rise of Grubhub and home to other food-and-ag venture firms including S2G Ventures and Cultivian Sandbox Ventures.

Mary-Kay James will lead the investment team at the new fund. Prior to joining Tyson, James was the Managing Director of Agriculture, Nutrition & Health investments for DuPont Ventures, and

"We have the ability to finance entrepreneurs and give them oxygen, but we have capabilities to help accelerate their growth and improve the odds of success for them," McGurk said.

Specifically, the new fund plans to help its portfolio companies, or other startups it is evaluating for investment, to connect with experts in various departments of Tyson Foods for everything from research and product testing to business development.

A startup working on technology to help restaurants reduce food waste may find it easy to meet one or two restaurateurs and test out new technology on a limited basis. But McGurk said, "It can be hard to make a technical solution work in a real operating environment at scale, especially if you have never been in the food service industry."

 
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