Venture capitalist, Obama official launch fund to fix food system

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• FoodShot Global is a new fund for researchers and
  startups who are
  solving problems in food and agriculture that stem from
  
  soil degradation.
  
• Venture capitalist Victor Friedberg, former
  Obama-administration USDA official Sara Eckhouse, and former
  Rabobank North America CEO Rajiv Singh will lead the
  fund.
  
• FoodShot Global partners include the new
  entrepreneurial division of M&M manufacturer Mars along
  with the Rockefeller Foundation and the nonprofit environmental
  group The Nature Conservancy.

Chicago venture capitalist Victor Friedberg’s “aha” moment came
as he was biting into a peach.

This particular piece of fruit had been purchased from a local
market in Valencia, Spain. It was remarkably delicious — so
delicious that it made Friedberg question the identity of all the
other fuzzy, brightly-colored orbs he’d eaten before.

“I realized the peaches I’d been eating up until that point were
shadows of the real thing,” Friedberg told Business Insider.

An investor in startups like Beyond Meat (which makes a
plant-based burger that “bleeds” like the real thing) and

Apeel Science (which makes an edible coating that keeps
fruits and veggies fresh for longer), Friedberg started to think
about why America’s food system spawned such inferior produce. It
wasn’t one problem, he realized, but many — warmer weather,
chemical-heavy farming techniques, deforestation.

All of those issues contribute to another, more central problem:
the planet’s soil — upon which 95% of our food relies — is
disappearing. The problem is so dire that, if it continues at its
current rate, farming as we know it will
cease within 60 years, according to a recent Reuters report.

“The deterioration of soil is one of the most pressing global
crises facing humanity,” Friedman said.

This week, he’s launching a new fund dedicated to protecting the
dirt. Called FoodShot Global, the fund, which launched officially
on Thursday, features major partners in the food and agriculture
spaces like multinational bank Rabobank, the new entrepreneurial
division of M&M manufacturer Mars, the Rockefeller
Foundation, and nonprofit environmental group The Nature
Conservancy.

Sara Eckhouse, a former Obama-administration official with the US
Department of Agriculture, and Rajiv Singh, the former CEO of
Rabobank North America, are leading the new fund alongside
Friedberg.

A hub for non-profit entrepreneurs as well as for-profit startups

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Unlike a traditional VC, which generally funds for-profit
startups using equity, the new fund will give support using a
blend of debt, equity, and cash. That means there’s a place for
both for-profit startups and non-profit advocates and
entrepreneurs in the new initiative, Friedberg said — as long as
they’re working on how to solve problems centered around Earth’s
disappearing soil.

“I think it’ll be different from any VC working in the food and
agriculture space,” Friedberg said.

The members of FoodShot Global plan to analyze the companies and
projects in their portfolio over a longer timeline than
traditional venture capital, which works on a fast-paced quarter
system.

“We can take a step back and think about moonshots — projects
with higher risk and higher reward,” Friedberg said.

The fund will also feature an annual challenge for researchers,
advocates, and non-profit entrepreneurs to win $500,000 for a
prize called the Groundbreaker Prize.

Although Friedberg wouldn’t share details on what startups might
be considered for inclusion in FoodShot’s initiative, he did give
some ideas of the kinds of questions he’s hoping they’ll be able
to answer:

“Who are the companies who are going to give us a deeper
understanding of what’s going on in the soil? What are the roots
doing in relationship to all of the other system down there? How
can the genetics of that plant be bred in a way to deal with what
the number one issue facing the planet is at this point?” said
Friedberg.

Some of the startups currently doing work in that space include
Ginkgo Bioworks, which recently received $100 million as part of
a
joint venture with chemical giant Bayer to study how
naturally-existing microbes could cut down on polluting
fertilizer; and Indigo, a Boston-based company using microbial
seed coatings to slash the amount of water needed by cotton
crops.

Friedberg hopes the companies and researchers that join FoodShot
Global will not only be able to identify soil problems, but also
help solve them. And perhaps even make America’s peaches
delicious again.