What Nourish Ventures does

Nourish Ventures is the corporate venture capital fund of Griffith Foods, a privately held global product-development company with more than 100 years of food industry history. Established in 2020 and headquartered in Lombard, Illinois, the fund invests in and partners with early-stage and growth-stage startups shaping a healthy and sustainable food system. Nourish organizes its investment thesis around four pillars: Alternative Protein, Sustainable Value Chains, Next-Gen Food Systems, and Enablers of Improved Nutrition. Its publicly disclosed portfolio spans eight companies across clean-label nutrient solubilization (Infusd Nutrition), plant-based protein extraction (Plantible Foods), AI-driven ingredient discovery (Shiru), fungal fermentation (MycoTechnology), plant-based brand consolidation (LiveKindly Collective), cellular aquaculture (BlueNalu), sustainable superfoods (Kuli Kuli), and upcycled food ingredients (Upcycled Foods). Recent disclosed activity includes a $30 million Plantible Series B and a $16 million Shiru Series B in November 2024, and an Infusd Nutrition round of more than US$2 million in 2025.

Nourish Ventures does not develop its own technology. Its differentiated offering is operational and strategic: portfolio companies receive capital alongside formulation support, product development, scale-up assistance, and commercialization guidance. The fund operates the Nourish Innovation Center in Chicago, a physical facility with flexible equipment for prototyping and scaling alternative protein solutions, and draws on the resources of sister companies Griffith Foods, Custom Culinary, and Terova to accelerate portfolio commercialization. The team is intentionally structured with food scientists, culinary experts, and regional investment professionals spanning the Americas (Lombard/Chicago, Boston), EMEA (Madrid, Herentals), and APAC (Singapore), enabling globally distributed sourcing and portfolio support.

As a CVC fund of a private parent, Nourish Ventures does not publicly disclose revenue or AUM, and its economic model is internal capital allocation rather than third-party fee generation. The fund targets enterprise relationships with founders and serves as a strategic capital-plus-capability partner rather than a financial-only investor, with co-investment patterns (alongside S2G Ventures, Piva Capital, Siddhi Capital, and NextGen Nutrition) consistent with a non-lead strategic syndicate model.

Name

Nourish Ventures

Legal name

Nourish Ventures

Website

https://nourishventures.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Nourish Ventures is the corporate venture capital fund of Griffith Foods, investing globally in early-stage and growth-stage food technology startups across alternative protein, sustainable value chains, next-gen food systems, and improved nutrition, providing capital plus formulation, scale-up, and commercialization support.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Corporate Venture Capital

NAICS

Open-End Investment Funds (52591)

SIC

Finance Lessors (6172)

akta.pro primary industry

Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Funds (FSANAJAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Food Security, Agriculture & Nutrition Aid Programs (BPADABAD), Rural Livelihoods & Economic Empowerment (BPAGABAA)

Keywords

• Corporate venture capital
• Food technology investment
• Alternative protein funding
• Sustainable food systems
• Nutrition innovation investing

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Corporate Venture Capital Returns: As a corporate venture capital fund of Griffith Foods, Nourish Ventures generates returns through equity investments in early-stage and growth-stage food technology companies. Revenue is derived from investment returns, exits, and strategic value creation through partnerships with portfolio companies.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Nourish Ventures is the corporate venture capital fund of Griffith Foods. It invests in and partners with early-stage and growth-stage food technology startups shaping a healthy and sustainable food system across four focus areas: Alternative Protein, Sustainable Value Chains, Next-Gen Food Systems, and Enablers of Improved Nutrition. Beyond capital, it provides strategic support including formulation, product development, scale-up assistance, commercialization guidance, and access to the Nourish Innovation Center in Chicago.

Product overview

Nourish Ventures is the corporate venture capital fund of Griffith Foods, investing in early-stage and growth-stage companies shaping a healthy and sustainable food system. As an investor, the firm does not offer a unified product platform but maintains a diversified investment portfolio across four focus areas: Alternative Protein (novel ingredients and processing technologies), Sustainable Value Chains (circular economy, upcycling, supply chain solutions), Next-Gen Food Systems (new food production and distribution technologies), and Health & Wellness (functional and personalized nutrition). The portfolio includes eight companies spanning clean-label technology (Infusd Nutrition), plant proteins (Plantible Foods), AI-driven ingredient discovery (Shiru), fungal fermentation (MycoTechnology), plant-based brands (LiveKindly Collective), cellular aquaculture (BlueNalu), sustainable superfoods (Kuli Kuli), and upcycled food ingredients (Upcycled Foods). The fund provides both financial investment and strategic support including formulation, product development, scale-up assistance, and commercialization guidance.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Corporate Venture Capital Investment Equity capital investment in early-stage and growth-stage food technology startups globally, structured across Seed, Early-stage, Mid-stage, and Late-stage rounds. Available to startup founders and executives in the food technology sector.
• Strategic Partnership and Operational Support Hands-on strategic support for portfolio companies spanning formulation, product development, scale-up assistance, commercialization guidance, fundraising advice, and access to an investor network. Available to portfolio companies of Nourish Ventures.
• Nourish Innovation Center A dedicated innovation center in Chicago providing portfolio companies with rapid prototyping capabilities and scalable solutions for alternative protein and food system production. Includes flexible equipment for developing a wide range of products.

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Custom CulinarycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCustom Culinary specializes in providing foodservice and food processing professionals with real, authentic branded and proprietary culinary flavor systems. It is a sister company of Nourish Ventures and provides industry access and capabilities for portfolio companies.
• TerovacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTEROVA serves modern society with premium, sustainable ingredients and products grown with a farmer first approach and full traceability. It is a sister company of Nourish Ventures that provides additional ecosystem support for portfolio companies.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• S2G Ventures: Specialist food and agriculture venture capital firm. Direct peer to Nourish Ventures as a venture investor focused on food-tech, alternative protein, and sustainable food systems. Led Shiru's $16M Series B (one of Nourish's portfolio companies), demonstrating direct co-investment activity.
• Astanor Ventures: European impact-focused food and agriculture VC fund. Direct peer as an early/growth-stage investor in alternative protein, sustainable supply chains, and food-tech — co-invested alongside Nourish in Plantible's $30M Series B.
• Anterra Capital: Food and agriculture-focused venture capital firm with a global mandate. Direct peer as an early-stage food-tech investor; Nourish's APAC head Ming Zhu previously worked at Anterra, evidencing strong peer overlap in sourcing and portfolio orientation.
• eighteen94 Capital: Corporate venture capital arm of Kellogg Company, focused on emerging food-tech and consumer brands. The most directly comparable peer — Nourish's Managing Director Simon Burton previously led eighteen94 — making it a near-identical model of a CPG CVC investing in food innovation.
• Cultivate Next: Corporate venture arm of Tate & Lyle focused on food-tech and ingredient innovation. Direct peer — co-invested alongside Nourish in Plantible's $30M Series B and shares the CVC-of-major-food-company archetype.

Broad incumbents

• ADM Ventures: Corporate venture arm of ADM, a global agricultural commodity giant. Larger, broader incumbent investor in food-tech and alternative proteins with deeper capital base and more diversified portfolio than Nourish.
• Cargill Ventures / Cargill Protein Solutions: Corporate venture and innovation arm of Cargill, one of the world's largest food and agriculture companies. Broad incumbent investor in alt-protein, sustainable supply chains, and food-tech — competes for deals but with much larger resources and strategic agenda.
• DSM Venturing (now dsm-firmenich): Corporate venture arm of dsm-firmenich, a global nutrition and health ingredient major. Broad incumbent investing in nutrition, alternative protein, and health-tech adjacencies — directly relevant given Nourish's "Enablers of Improved Nutrition" thesis.

Regional players

• Betagro Ventures: Corporate venture arm of Betagro, a major Thai food and protein producer. Regional peer focused on APAC food-tech opportunities; co-invested alongside Nourish in Plantible's $30M Series B and shares the CVC-of-food-major archetype.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/nourishventuresbygriffithfoods

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments4 records

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

Frequently asked questions about Nourish Ventures