GreenSoil Investments is raising €50-70 million for investing in European and Israeli companies, to be split equally between the two. Since it was founded, the firm has managed assets of $35 million, and invested in six portfolio companies.
Gideon Soesman, a former Philips executive who founded the firm with Canadian real estate developer Alan Greenberg, told “Globes” on Monday that the fund first became an idea four years ago. “When we started, people laughed at us,” he said.
“People assumed we were dealing in cow dung; they didn’t know the field very well. The situation has changed since then, and now we see companies like Monsanto and Syngenta investing in the field. We are seeing specialized funds investing in AgroTech and FoodTech. Most of the money is in the US, about 90%, and American firms are coming all the way here looking to invest.”
The companies in GreenSoil’s portfolio have attracted attention from large institutional investors. Horizon Ventures, from Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, has invested in Tipa and Google chief Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors has invested in CropX.
GreenSoil has also invested in Rootility. “This is an amazing company,” Soesman said, “which developed a new method to cultivate roots. It’s very different from the accepted practice usually much of the investment is spent on what happens above-ground, in the taste and shape of the cucumber or the melon. But what Rootility does different is dedicate an effort to the root, which is essentially the engine of the plant, and the result is phenomenal. The company had a big project in California and managed to grow the same tomato with the same size and the same color but with 20% higher yields, and sometimes even 70% and 80% higher. You could also use this platform to grow cucumbers, melons, and other produce.”
Another investment Soesman noted was in Tipa, which manufactures perishable packing for food items. “When you go the market and buy an orange, you eat and throw away the peel without thinking about it and six months later the peel is gone. But that’s not what happens when you buy an energy bar, a bag of Muesli, or potato chips. There are whole mountains of that stuff around the world. What Tipa does is develop food packaging that’ll mimic the orange peel.”
Soesman also praised Israeli companies working in related field like Frutarom, Zeraim Gedera, and Netafim. “We are all looking at the big challenge feeding nine billion people in about 20 years.” He stressed his belief that the global food industry will need to increase its production by 70%.
“We’re forgetting one little fact half of the world is just starting to eat. Think of how many Chinese suddenly want to eat meat. But there is almost no change in the amount of land allocated to agriculture. The portion of land destined for agricultural use per person will only consistently decrease, and we must improve production. The world needs to eat.”
Soesman added: “According to the World Bank, the amount of land available for agricultural production has decreased by a third over fifty years. By 2025, 40% of the global population will suffer water shortages. All of this is reflected in the price of food, especially the price of meat and dairy products which have increased significantly in the past decade.”
GreenSoil representatives will take part in the first Israeli conference on agricultural innovation, FoodTech Nation 2015, to be held on December 15, 2015. The summit was organized by Nativ Consulting and sponsored by the food industries association in the Manufacturers Association of Israel.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 24, 2015
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