What Btomorrow Ventures does

Btomorrow Ventures (BTV) is the corporate venture capital arm of British American Tobacco (BAT), established in 2020 and headquartered in London. BTV manages £350m across two strategic investment funds (Fund I and Fund II at £200m) and invests in early-stage companies from Pre-Series A to Series B+ across four specialist categories: Functional Food & Drink, Technology & Capabilities, Smokeless Nicotine, and Impact & Sustainability. The fund's central operating model combines the agility and deal pace of an independent venture team with privileged access to BAT's global infrastructure, including distribution across 180+ markets, regulatory navigation capabilities, and pilot program opportunities within BAT's operating businesses. Portfolio companies have included Moment, Flink, Awake, Feel, one.five, Hesperos, Parallel Dots, Tru, Mais Mu, HOPWTR, and others spanning the UK, Continental Europe, North America, Brazil, India, Indonesia, and China.

BTV's "product" is not a single technology platform but a layered investment and value-add platform. Direct services include capital deployment (typically co-investor or lead at seed/Series A) and three structured growth programs: Consumer Delight Lab (a brand-growth engine for consumer and functional food & beverage), Futures Lab (emerging technologies aligned to BAT's transformation agenda), and ESG Lab (now in its sixth cohort having worked with 20+ companies). Adjacent infrastructure includes the Binspired founder network and The Spark content platform. BTV has no proprietary core technology stack of its own; technology adoption is realized indirectly through portfolio companies and through structured pilot programs with BAT operating units (e.g., BAT Brasil enabling Mais Mu's distribution to 140,000+ points of sale).

The revenue model follows standard CVC mechanics: management fees on committed AUM and carried interest on successful exits. Confirmed exits to date include Uello (acquired by Lojas Renner, Brazil, April 2022) and HOPWTR (acquired by Constellation Brands, announced March 2026). BTV does not publicly disclose fund-level revenue, management fee rates, or carried interest terms. The fund is wholly owned by BAT, operates with an approximately 22-person team (41% women representation), and has achieved consecutive Global Corporate Venturing Powerlist rankings (2022, 2024, 2026), placing it in the top 5% of CVC funds globally. Leadership has transitioned from founding MD Dr Lisa Smith to Juan M. Palacios (2023) and currently Annie Goman.

Name

Btomorrow Ventures

Legal name

Btomorrow Ventures Limited

Website

https://btomorrowv.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Btomorrow Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of British American Tobacco, managing £350m across two funds to back early-stage startups in functional food and drink, technology, sustainability, and smokeless nicotine, leveraging BAT's 180+ market distribution network.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Corporate Venture Capital

NAICS

Other Financial Investment Activities (5239), Other Financial Vehicles (52599)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Corporate Strategic Partnership & Ecosystem Investment Arms (FSANAHAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Corporate Innovation & Technology Scouting Units (with investment mandate) (FSANAHAI)

Keywords

• Corporate venture capital
• Early-stage investments
• Venture capital fund
• Growth capital
• Pre-series A funding

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Venture Capital Returns: BTV generates returns through traditional VC mechanisms including carried interest on successful investments and management fees from their £350m fund across two strategic investment vehicles. They have achieved at least three successful exits including Uello and HOPWTR with above-average returns mentioned.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Btomorrow Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of British American Tobacco, deploying £350 million across two strategic investment funds into early-stage companies (Pre-Series A to Series B+) across four specialist categories: Functional Food & Drink, Technology & Capabilities, Smokeless Nicotine, and Impact & Sustainability. Portfolio companies receive equity capital along with strategic support including access to BAT's global distribution network spanning 180+ markets, pilot program opportunities, and operational guidance from the BTV investment team. BTV also runs three structured growth programs—Consumer Delight Lab, Futures Lab, and ESG Lab—to accelerate portfolio company development.

Product overview

Btomorrow Ventures (BTV) is the corporate venture capital arm of BAT, managing £350m across two strategic investment funds (Fund I and Fund II at £200m). Rather than a single product, BTV operates as an investment platform offering capital and strategic support to early-stage companies (Pre-Series A to Series B+) across four specialist categories: Functional Food & Drink, Technology & Capabilities, Smokeless Nicotine, and Impact & Sustainability. BTV also runs three accelerator/growth programs—Consumer Delight Lab, Futures Lab, and ESG Lab—that provide portfolio companies with supportive partnership for growth, stakeholder investment, and global distribution access. The current active portfolio comprises over 25 companies globally.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Consumer Delight Lab: BTV's bespoke growth engine lab focused on consumer brands in food, beverage, and wellbeing
• Futures Lab
• ESG Lab
• Binspired
• The Spark

Products and services

• Consumer Delight Lab A bespoke growth engine program offered by BTV that provides supportive partnership for brand growth in the consumer and functional food & beverage space for portfolio companies.
• Futures Lab A growth platform program offered by BTV focused on emerging technologies and future-focused innovations supporting BAT's transformation agenda.
• ESG Lab A sustainability-focused growth program offered by BTV supporting companies addressing environmental, social, and governance challenges; now on its sixth cohort having worked with more than 20 companies.
• Fund II (£200m) BTV's second strategic investment fund totaling £200 million, following Fund I, managing a total of £350 million across two funds, deploying equity capital into early-stage companies.

Quantifiable outcome

• Portfolio companies have achieved over 120% revenue growth in cases like Tru
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• BAT BrasilcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 November 2022BTV's investment in Mais Mu coincided with a distribution partnership with BAT Brasil, enabling Mais Mu's products to reach 140,000+ points of sale. BAT will support distribution throughout Latin America.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Unilever Ventures: Corporate venture arm of Unilever investing in early-stage consumer brands across health, wellness, and sustainability — directly comparable to BTV in mandate, stage focus, and category overlap in functional F&B and personal care.
• PepsiCo Ventures: CVC arm of PepsiCo investing in food, beverage, and emerging consumer technologies — competes for the same functional beverage and snacking founders BTV targets, with similar strategic-distribution value-add model.
• Anheuser-Busch InBev (ZX Ventures / BEES): Beverage-major CVC with similar consumer brand and beverage innovation thesis. Closest analogue given both target functional drinks (HOPWTR-style) and operate brewery-distribution-scale go-to-market support.
• Diageo Ventures: Strategic investment arm of Diageo with focus on non-alcoholic alternatives, flavoured spirits, and consumer innovation — direct competitor for premium functional beverage assets like HOPWTR.
• Nestlé Ventures: CVC arm of Nestlé investing in nutrition, health, and sustainable food — directly comparable CVC thesis in functional food and supplements, with deep distribution synergy model like BTV-BAT.
• Mars Edge: Mars' ventures arm focused on health, nutrition, and food innovation — comparable CVC structure backing functional food founders with global distribution support from a CPG parent.
• General Mills 301 INC: CVC unit of General Mills targeting emerging food brands and ingredient technologies — directly comparable consumer-CPG CVC with similar early-stage, brand-led investment approach.
• Keurig Dr Pepper Ventures: Strategic investment arm of Keurig Dr Pepper focused on beverage innovation, including functional and adjacent drinks — comparable CVC targeting the same functional beverage category as BTV.

Broad incumbents

• Procter & Gamble Ventures: Strategic investment arm of P&G, much larger and broader portfolio spanning consumer goods, technology, and sustainability — incumbent reference point for CVC scale and category coverage relative to BTV.

Regional players

• LVMH Luxury Ventures: Investment arm of LVMH targeting emerging premium and luxury-adjacent consumer brands; different category focus but similar CVC structure leveraging parent distribution and brand-building expertise.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses2 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/btomorrow-ventures

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments43 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Btomorrow Ventures