Tesco has become the anchor investor in a new food innovation fund, committing £20 million to help accelerate changes across the UK food system.
Bramble Fund I has been established by Henry Dimbleby, co-founder of Leon and author of the government-commissioned National Food Strategy, alongside business partner Omar Habbal and Mark Hudson, chair of the fund’s Investment Committee.
The fund will invest £1 million to £5 million in growth capital in businesses developing innovations designed to make food healthier, more sustainable and affordable.
As part of the Tesco-Bramble Innovation Partnership, Tesco and Bramble will establish a joint innovation board. The partnership will also give promising businesses the opportunity to test their innovations within Tesco’s supply chain, with the retailer helping successful ventures scale.
Tesco said the partnership combines Bramble’s expertise in food innovation and investment with its own experience of supporting emerging UK food businesses, as well as its retail reach and operational capabilities.
Bramble Fund I’s first close has attracted support from a number of institutions and business leaders, including former Schroders chief executive Peter Harrison and Belazu co-founder Adam Wells.
Its first investment is in British technology company KluraLabs, whose packaging technology is designed to extend the shelf life of food and use-by dates. The technology aims to reduce food waste and costs while removing the need for artificial additives.
Bramble’s wider investment pipeline includes technologies designed to reduce farms’ reliance on chemical fertilisers and medical devices that allow people to monitor digestive health.
Tesco CEO Ken Murphy said the retailer had a “long track record as a home for great ideas and new innovation”, pointing to its Tesco Accelerator programme, Tesco Labs and its work testing technologies on its low-carbon concept farm.
“As the UK’s leading retailer, we see first-hand the opportunities for our food system, and the challenges that we need to solve to ensure everyone has access to affordable, healthy and sustainable food,” Murphy said.
“By partnering with Henry and the Bramble team, we can help the most promising food innovations move from idea to impact, delivering real benefits for customers, suppliers and the wider food system.”
Dimbleby said the UK food system needed to change to meet demand for food that is healthy, sustainable and affordable.
“Bramble and Tesco will find Britain’s best entrepreneurs solving these problems, back them and give them what they need to grow,” he said.
“Tesco can help scale a business from a good idea to the weekly shop better than anyone else in Britain.”