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Since the Oreo Maker Mondelēz International has started Snackfush in 2018, this investment has played an important role in the company to build and maintain its presence as a snack leader.
In the last few years, however, Snackfutures has prevented them from investing in young new companies and creating their own brands. Quietly hurt Soil kitchen and kappaoTwo product snack pluss have been developed.
Instead, Snackfutures now focuses on purchasing equity of businesses that can provide valuable products, technology, insights, or other new benefits to the company. Mondelēz has adjusted the company’s name to the snack pure venture, reflecting the change in the investment strategy.
Mobile in Mondelēz reflects greater tendency between CPGs. Many companies are changing their approach to innovation as they explore costs and other headwinds. For example, a general factory. We closed the in -house innovation unit this year. We have paused external investments through the venture arm.
Luba Safran, who supervises investments in the CPG industry veteran Mondelēz’s Snackfute Ventures, sat in food diving to discuss how the company is approaching innovation and how the current economic environment affects investment opportunities.
This interview was edited for simplicity and clarity.
Food diving: Snackfutures Ventures has been changed since it was founded by Mondelēz in 2018. How did you evolve and how are you settling today?
Luba Sapran: Snackfutures began when the 2018 Open Innovation was a hot concept on CPG. So there was another CPG that started a similar group. The name of them had a different name, but they had all of this idea that we could use other tools for growth.
The open innovation was actually a concept and originally a driver behind the creation of snacks. We can start our own innovation, which has long been a CPG company, but it can be faster, better, and less. We will be more agile about it.
And the snack thieves had the perfect team to do all that, and did it all. So they started making their own brands DIRT KITCHEN, Capao. They started this accelerator called Colab and invested in venture.
Like other CPGs, they realized that it was very difficult to do a lot of work at once in a group.
What is Mondelēz has learned from early in Snackfutures?
We have learned a lot from the brand that we started and launched. I think we have learned a lot in the accelerator, and we use all of these learning in Snackfutures Ventures. ‘Like, Snackfutures will focus on venture investment. Snackfutures is a relatively new feature of the company, so it will build it as a muscle. And we will find out how the company uses venture as a tool to help the company grow and maintain over time. ‘
Looking at the new brands released, we are looking at things that come from outside as a startup for financing. So a lot of ideas were found. They were so fast and probably we… It would not have been the person with the ability to go 1 to 1.
Our interest as a company is to keep our learning and reverse when time comes. And for me that is takeout. The advantage of becoming a large company is that even if it is too fast, it is not time, effort or waste of money. Seven years later, we used it and said, ‘Okay, now we know that it is a good idea seven years ago.
What kind of investment are Snackfutures Ventures?
We are looking at the CPG brand and one thing we see in the CPG is to grow quickly. Companies such as Series B-Plus, Mondelēz’s key product categories (companies like chocolate, biscuits, baked snacks and candy) are the same in certain markets such as the United States.
Also within the CPG we are seeing a series A company that grows rapidly, in the early stages, relatively speaking. They may not be exactly in the core categories, or may not be, but will be released in the market in a different way with a lot of logistics, such as Frozen, for example, the path to the market that we do not have.
Another part of what we see is aligned in that it is small, not completely aligned, but can be a snack and confusing. And we also try to activate technology. So it is everything under the hood of the supply chain of Mondelēz. It can be a marketing technology. You can literally apply anything. Technology columns are also quite powerful to us. I want to say that half of my interest is focusing on technology.
In food technology, you can see many alternative ingredients. Therefore, we can see alternative sweeteners, alternative fats and oils, packaging solutions for sustainable packaging, alternative protein, alternative dairy, and alternative cocoa. And we can also see the buckets of things that can be called AI for everything. In the case of supply chain, AI. AI for procurement. AI for search engine optimization.
Since its founding Stake purchased as a city legend,,, Organic and Torr Foodtech. huPremium snacks and chocolate manufacturers made of simple ingredients are the only startups that have been completely acquired. Why was Snackfutures Ventures so optional?
I will say two things. One has a series of public investments publicly and other unveiled investments. Another thing is that we are CVC, corporate venture capital group. Unlike the existing VC, which has a very standard model and the goal is very standardized.
Traditional ventures have a very clear goal over time for the fund, and this goal is to make as much as possible after making more money, returning more money for 10 years, and returning funds. CVC, some of which are financially -oriented and the same as the venture model. Some of them are strategically oriented without financial goals. Many of them are somewhere in the meantime.
We are definitely a harmony that we want to make a positive investment. But our driving goals are different from traditional venture funds that make as much money as possible. We are trying to invest in a strategic profit for Mondelēz, which is very selective of what we invest in what we make. This will benefit in any way we learn something and in a way that is not completely financial.
Considering the current economic environment, how is the investment market for venture after snacks?
One coin has both sides. There is no lack of investment opportunities. One of the reasons why there are many opportunities is that many companies are worried. This is because the venture environment becomes difficult overall. The wallet line is tightened. Many traditional VC funds are waiting for what are happening to regulatory officials without using checks right now and what’s happening in inflation. Waiting in terms of traditional venture is building cash for food and drink startups. It creates a lot of opportunities for companies to write checks.
But what you’re looking at is the company’s pool. Many people are in trouble, not everyone. It took 12 months. The round is still not closed. If they do not close the overall round, they cannot continue to work.
The ability to attract capital better or worse is a very difficult position we can see because it is considered a signal of robustness and charm. And when half of the rounds are open and a long -standing company, how do you interpret signals for signals and signals for the market?
I don’t think the market context will change our speed because I still have the basic driving force of our pace. Is it related to us? Can we help them? Can they help us?
We are actively evaluating transactions. It is my everyday work. That’s all I do. We do not back back.
