Gaetan Kerloc'h
Author Bio
Gaëtan is the Head of Impact at Five Seasons Ventures, a pan- European VC fund investing for a healthier and more sustainable food system. After 5+ years of strategic and sustainability consulting, he joined Five Seasons in 2022 to manage its impact and ESG strategy and help portfolio companies on their sustainability journey.
The trajectory of our food system is remarkable: from feeding 2 billion people one century ago to meeting the needs of 8 billion individuals today (some calories are inequitably distributed, but we do produce enough of them). Nonetheless, despite demonstrating human ingenuity, our food system now stands at a critical crossroads.
Wildlife populations dropped by 69 percent since 1970. 2023 witnessed the highest global temperatures recorded in over 100,000 years.
Cardiovascular disease is now the leading cause of death worldwide.
What does it have to do with our food system?
Our food system is the biggest contributor to biodiversity loss and the second-biggest contributor to climate change, and unhealthy diets are responsible for 55 percent of cardiovascular diseases, resulting in 10 million deaths annually. Our food system is not just flawed; it's broken.
The bar is high, and addressing these challenges requires bold and holistic approaches. To tackle health and the environment simultaneously, the EAT-Lancet Commission (37 world-leading scientists from 16 countries) recommends reducing global consumption of red meat and sugar by 50 percent, and increasing the consumption of nuts, fruits, vegetables and legumes by more than 100 percent.
The issue is that people still love red meat and sugar. Yet, startups, armed with innovation and a strong commitment to sustainability, have the potential to offer healthy alternatives and change consumer preferences. Young founders are reimagining the way we grow, process and consume food, and when they manage to also combine taste, convenience and affordability, new category leaders naturally emerge.
"Our food system is the biggest contributor to biodiversity loss, the second-biggest contributor to climate change, and unhealthy diets are responsible for 55 percent of cardiovascular diseases, resulting in 10mn deaths annually"
A glance at our portfolio reveals promising examples: Dash Water, for instance, crafts delicious drinks with wonky fruits and no sugar and no sweeteners, saving an estimated 49 tonnes of sugar from consumption in 2023. Similarly, a UK plant-based meat company introduced this year a mouth-watering ‘Skin-On’ vegan chicken wings, contributing to the 10k tonnes of CO2 avoided at the company level. Koro, a German company, offers healthy snacks in bulk, thereby sparing 119 tonnes of plastic. The 20 investments we made since 2018 give us a view of what the future of food looks like.
As an investor, we take pride in investing in a portfolio of impactful companies, but also actively supporting their journey towards sustainability. We assist them in projects such as quantifying their carbon footprint, building sustainability strategies or establishing ESG teams. We have quarterly meetings on sustainability with most of our portfolio companies, along with a training plan at portfolio level. The results are very tangible: our average ESG scoring increased from 40 percent in 2022 to 53 percent in 2023.
In conclusion, the food system may be broken, but it's not beyond repair. We invest in pioneers in the food industry's evolution, which gives us some hope. With innovation and sustainability as core values, they redefine the industry's norms and catalyse a broader shift in our food system. We are confident that helping these companies go mainstream will not only improve our health but also safeguard our planet for generations to come.
