What does Mondelēz look for in food tech start-ups - summary
- Mondelēz prioritises practical applications that benefit industry
- Scalability must be achievable with clear paths and partnerships
- Cost efficiency is essential for product success and long-term viability
- Strong founders and culturally aligned teams are key investment criteria
- Snackfutures Ventures focuses on nutrition, supply resilience and ingredient innovation
While known primarily as the owner of brands such as Cadbury, Milka, Oreo and Toblerone, Mondelēz International also has a venture capital arm.
Through Snackfutures Ventures, the snacking giant provides financial assistance to fledgling companies, including in food tech, bringing in new blood to boost its own capacity for innovation.
What Mondelēz looks for in food tech start-ups
Mondelēz has clear criteria when deciding whether a start-up is worth investing in.
First of all, the technology needs to have a practical application, explains Richie Gray, vice president and global head of Snackfutures. Applicability is “always number one.”
This should apply not just to Mondelēz itself, but the wider industry as well. “If we’re going to invest in a business, we need them to have something that is appealing not just to Mondelēz but to a wide range of customers.”
Scalability is also crucial. While many food tech start-ups are, of course, not yet at scale, Mondelēz wants assurance that such scalability is feasible.
“We want to be confident that they can see a path to how they would scale, that they understand what it would take, both in terms of resources, capital and potential partnerships.”
Mondelēz also wants to be confident that a start-up’s invention is cost-effective.
“If it can’t be done with cost efficiency, they’ll never be successful.”
Finally, Mondelēz has a focus on the founder themselves, and the team underneath them.
“We like founders that have demonstrated the ability to do this. But equally we want founders that have surrounded themselves with good expertise and a team that we feel we can work well with from a cultural point of view.”
Food tech helps Mondelēz innovate, explains Gray, and to keep its portfolio relevant to evolving consumer tastes.
The current focuses of Snackfutures are improving the nutritional quality of its portfolio, as well as building supply chain resilience. Alternative ingredients for commodities such as cocoa, sugar, fats and oils can contribute to this latter goal, as can AI with the ability to make supply chains more efficient.
How the current investment landscape is shaping food tech
While Gray describes food tech as a “vibrant” sector, he also admits that “it’s a volatile landscape”.
The shifting and at times unpredictable nature of regulation, for example, makes investment in food tech itself more challenging.
Secondly, it’s simply harder for founders to raise money at the moment. Investors are more discerning about where they put their capital.
“There isn’t this glut of money that maybe there was a few years ago,” says Gray.
Nevertheless, Mondelēz continues to explore innovation opportunities and companies whose technology can boost its own capacities.
