International Group to Invest $100 Million in Israeli Foodtech

Gwen Ackerman, Bloomberg News

A dish of roasted seabass is served at the Abraxas North restaurant in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Monday, March 19, 2018. Israel has one of the most exciting dining scenes in the world. It has yet to be discovered by restaurant lovers more focused on cities such as London and New York. , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Crowdfunding investment platform OurCrowd is joining forces with agri-food technology investor Finistere Ventures and two food-and-beverage companies to invest as much as $100 million in Israeli startups, aiming to help local companies collaborate with global leaders in the industry.

“Foodtech is now one of the hottest dishes on the Israeli innovation menu,” OurCrowd CEO Jon Medved said. When four leading companies “get together to cook and create the newest companies, the results are going to be scrumptious.”

The other partners in the consortium are Tnuva Food Industries Ltd. -- owned by China’s Bright Food Group Co. -- and Tempo Beverages Ltd., partly owned by Heineken NV.

Israel has 250 foodtech companies and 500 in agritech, with investors pouring $759 million in venture capital investments into the agri-food tech sector over the past five years, according to Start-Up Nation Central, an Israeli technology industry promoter.

Innovation Hub

“Israel has become a top innovation hub in the foodtech and agtech arena,” said Arama Kukutai, co-founder of U.S.-based Finistere. Finistere aims to increase investments in “Israeli disruptors” in the food-and-agriculture space, helping them penetrate global markets, Kukutai said.

The partnership was created following the government’s establishment of a foodtech innovation incubator in Kiryat Shemona in northern Israel. The consortium will bid to operate the incubator.

Earlier this month, Jerusalem Venture Partners announced that global packaged-food giant Mars Inc. had signed a research and development agreement to support Israeli startups and academic institutions to promote foodtech innovations.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gwen Ackerman in Jerusalem at gackerman@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Riad Hamade at rhamade@bloomberg.net, Michael S. Arnold, Amy Teibel