Venture Capital Firm Invests $40M in Food Technology

Supply Change Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in the future of food, closed its inaugural $40M Fund.

One of the largest Latina-led funds, the firm has invested more than $13 million across 15 early-stage food and agriculture technology companies since June 2021. Investments include deep tech food, agriculture and ingredient companies, supply chain technology, and enterprise software. Latinx, Black, and/or Female Founder/CEOs comprise 80% of the portfolio.

"Supply Change Capital represents the future of food and the venture industry," said Johnny Tran, managing director, 301 INC, the venture capital arm of General Mills. "As a leading investment firm in early stage food and agriculture technology companies, Supply Change Capital has a pulse on the cultural, demographic, and sustainability shifts needed to usher in the next wave of groundbreaking innovations for our industry."

Supply Change Capital is led by Noramay Cadena and Shayna Harris, two industry veterans who met in business school at MIT Sloan in 2009. The partners have made more than 100 investments to date.

Cadena is a mechanical engineer who spent over a decade bringing complex space programs to market at Boeing and then moved to venture capital in 2015. Harris is a food industry expert with C-Suite executive leadership and strategy experience in fast-growth food and software startups, and a tenure as a global lead for sourcing and impact at Mars.

Cadena and Harris evaluated the market and uncovered the overlooked and underinvested trends that were impacting the $10 trillion global food industry.

"Supply Change Capital invests in the technologies that underpin a more resilient food system. We invest through the lens of climate and culture, table stakes given the current existential crisis that our planet and society faces," said Harris. "The food industry is responsible for a third of climate emissions. Multicultural citizens account for nearly all of US population growth; by 2050 there will no longer be a 'minority' in the US. However, according to Pitchbook, 98% of venture capital dollars go to male founders while Diversity VC estimates that 70% of venture-backed founders are white⁵, leaving the remaining population nearly untapped for early stage funding and creating a significant opportunity loss for further innovation."

The Supply Change portfolio illustrates the pivotal opportunity to invest with a sustainability, health, and diversity lens in the food and agriculture industry.

"As an early investor, Supply Change Capital has been an instrumental partner since our pre-seed round," said Michelle Ruiz of Hyfé, a biotechnology company repurposing food processing wastewater to alternative feedstocks for biomanufacturing.