BayWa Venture GmbH, the processing and packaging machine experts MULTIVAC, and Bindewald + Gutting Mühlengruppe are jointly investing around 20 million euros in AgriFoodTech startups. The alliance builds on BayWa Venture GmbH’s efforts, a BayWa AG subsidiary, known for investing in twelve promising AgriFoodTech startups in the last three years aimed at enhancing sustainability in the food sector’s value chain.
“With Germany’s largest family-run milling group and a market leader in food processing and packaging solutions, we are taking our existing innovation activities with start-ups to a new level,” says Kristal Golan, Managing Director of AgriFoodTech Venture GmbH. “Our merger is unique in Europe and makes us a specialised and focused early-stage investor in Europe in the AgriFoodTech sector. We are leveraging the potential of our parent companies and generating real added value for start-ups. Market and customer access is exactly what young companies that are actively shaping the transformation need.”
“For me, Allianz is more than an investment instrument, it is a catalyst for change. Together, we are not only investing in start-ups, but also in a better future for our agriculture, our food supply and our planet,” says Michael Gutting, Managing Director of the Bindewald and Gutting Mühlengruppe.
The AgriFoodTech Venture Alliance will act both as a financial investor and as a supporting cooperation partner. In addition to traditional financing, the startups will also benefit from the global network and the entrepreneurial and technical expertise of the alliance partners involved.
“On the basis of this alliance, as a leading supplier of integrated solutions we have the opportunity to actively support the future developments of our customers in the food sector and to shape them together with them,” adds Alexander Hauschke, Executive Vice President Corporate Strategy and representative of MULTIVAC.
The merger is still subject to the approval of the relevant antitrust authorities. Further information on the previous activities and the start-up portfolio of BayWa Venture GmbH can be found here: AgriFoodTech Report 2023