By Gerelyn Terzo, Global AgInvesting Media
Lever VC, which invests across the food and agtech sectors, has achieved first close of its Fund II, amassing $50 million to back agri-food-tech startups. In conjunction with this milestone, the VC firm, with dual headquarters in the U.S. and Hong Kong, has also announced Fund II’s first handful of investments into tech startups across North America, Europe and Asia.
Founded by industry pioneer Nick Cooney, Lever VC’s investment team has been active in the food and ag space since 2014, deploying over $500 million across over 100 deals over the past decade. Cooney alongside partner emeritus Lawrence Chu were early movers in the plant-protein space, backing brands like Beyond Meat, Kite Hill, Impossible Foods, Aleph Farms and Memphis Meats via a family office. After closing on Fund I with $80 million at the height of the pandemic, Lever VC launched Fund II in 2022 with a reported target size of $250 million attached.
Lever VC’s Cooney stated, “With their massive category sizes, compelling CAGR, and consistently strong exit environments, food and agtech represent areas of significant opportunity for those with the right expertise. We look forward to working to continue driving outsized returns for our investors, as well as to bringing direct deals, insights, and business development opportunities to LPs with strategic goals in the sector.”
Lever VC’s Fund II, which remains open to new investors and is expected to reach final close sometime in 2025, has attracted a wide range of LPs, including institutional investors, funds of funds and family offices, as well as leading food and agriculture companies spanning five continents. Through Fund II, Lever VC has so far invested in novel fats producer Gavan, novel sugar replacement developer Oobli, and meat replacement ingredient producer Mush Foods, as well as agtech software/digitization companies Flox AI and HerdDogg.
Alternative proteins and plant-based foods, which can be sourced from foods like legumes, grains, nuts, seeds and vegetables, has ballooned to an $8 billion industry, $3.2 billion of which was invested between 2018 and mid-2024. Meanwhile, global food production is facing a 56 percent “food gap” in calories produced compared with calories needed to feed the global population by 2050, per Lever VC. Alternative proteins and plant-based foods are helping to bridge that gap in a sustainable way while reshaping the $15 trillion global good and ag market.
Lever VC Fund II company Gavan recently secured $8 million in A-round funds to bring its plant-based fat dubbed Fatrix, which can act as a one-to-one replacement for butter, to commercialization. Led by Israeli VC firm MoreVC, and in addition to Lever VC, the fundraising also extended to the EU’s EIT Food and PE firm DarkBoot Group, which supported Gavan’s incubation.
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