Q&A with Claire Smith of Beyond Impact Fund II
CEO
Principal Series:
WHO: Beyond Impact has been investing in the future of food & materials since 2017 seeding several companies in the plant-based and materials tech space. Our investment portfolio is close to 30 companies in pre-seed, seed, Series A and Series B rounds.
EXPERIENCE: Experience in advising Luxembourg-based impact funds and working with local service providers having set up and operated two separate vehicles already. SFDR Article 9 compliant.
FUND II SEED CLOSE: The first close of ~ USD 25 M occurred in Q1 2022. The fund has made 10 investments since then.
TEAM: Beyond Impact has one of the strongest investment teams in the alternative protein & materials sector and is one of the few global firms dedicated to this space. Beyond Impact actively support & engages with portfolio companies by taking board seats, advisor roles
and providing access to networks, fundraising, etc.
• INVESTMENT STRATEGY: Our investment strategy is investing in solutions that are superior, scalable and sustainable within our four pillars: (a) Plant-based proteins, Fermentation, and Cellular agriculture (b) Ingredients, enablers and capacity builders (c) Cruelty-free products and animal testing alternatives (d) Alternative Materials and Plant-based Apparel.
• IMPACT: The solution we invest in transition away from the use of animals. This shift reduces GHGs emissions, land usage, water usage, waste generation, and pollution as well as improving societal factors like health and working conditions. Furthermore. we have invested in companies that are using tree-grown raw materials like cashew and jackfruit, algae-derived ingredients, and food waste upcycling, with additional sustainability benefits over and above replacing animal products.
• CLIMATE FINANCING: Our climate finance thesis is bringing an important market segment that has been largely ignored but has a huge potential for climate mitigation, ocean-climate action, biodiversity preservation and climate adaptation.
Join us for a private Family Office Insights Webinar featuring Claire Smith, Chief Investment Officer of Beyond Impact, a pioneering investor in the future of food and materials on a mission to replace animal-derived products with superior, scalable and sustainable alternatives. Claire has spent the past seven years with her team investing in this space from the first rounds of plant-based brands, cultivated meat and precision fermentation companies. With a highly successful result from her first fund, Beyond Impact accomplished a first close for its second fund in 2022 and continues tor raise with final close end of this year.
February 06, 2024 at 11:15aam-12:15pm EST
RSVP & Confirmation Required
Investors Only Please
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What are the opportunities in the Animal Alternatives space that Beyond Impact sees and seeks to capture?
Animal-free products derived from foodtech and materials innovation present lucrative opportunities for investment performance and positive impact. Global consumers are increasingly demanding sustainable, highly nutritious alternatives with lower carbon footprint and damage to the environment in terms of land use, water usage and waste.
Major corporations & investors are supporting the development of plant-based and alternative proteins in response to this exploding consumer demand, applying research to develop and scale these solutions.
Predictions for the size of the market for animal-free alternatives are projected to represent at least 11% of all meat, seafood, eggs, and dairy consumed globally by 2035 (Boston Consulting Group).
With already some 30 investments in this space across two funds and a co-investment vehicle Beyond Impact is ideally positioned to continue to take advantage of this trend.
What differentiates Beyond Impact from other (similar) investment groups?
The investment and advisor team at Beyond Impact has extensive and diverse investment experience within traditional and impact-driven, listed and private equity and venture investment as well as team members with direct operational and executive management experience within major international food and biotech companies.
Beyond Impact is well-known for its :
- Active and engaged partnerships with visionary founders with proven execution capabilities
- Serious and thoughtful approach to investment, seeking superior, scalable and solutions to pressing consumption problems
- Broad proprietary dealflow built upon a technology platform for connecting with entrepreneurs
Successful first fund, co-investment program and second fund launch with 30 separate company investments made since 2017
What is the opportunity for Investors?
Beyond Impact provides the opportunity for investors to participate in a high quality, diversified portfolio across multiple verticals across plant-based, cell-based and fermentation-based alternative proteins, ingredients, enabling technologies and capacity builders, cruelty-free consumer products and animal testing replacements, and next gen bio-based and plastic-free materials.
- Investors can invest their capital to bring about a kinder, cleaner, healthier world. Besides replacing the use of animals, solutions provide other sustainability benefits such as upcycling food waste, use raw materials with higher sustainability such as algae and tree-grown and more diversified sources of protein.
- Beyond Impact targets exceptional returns from a growing sector with rapid technological advancement: potential for a 4-5x MOIC
- Investors have the opportunity to co-invest alongside Beyond Impact through its fully-fledged operational funding platform and flexible tax-transparent structure.
Claire Smith of Beyond Impact Fund II
Founder of Beyond Investing and Beyond Animal platform. 37 years of financial management experience. Head of Equity Quantitative Strategies at Albourne Partners Limited, Head of Investor Derivative Marketing at UBS
and Head of Convertible Sales, Swiss Bank Corporation.
Among the earliest investors like Geltor, Clara Foods, Mosa Meat, Supermeat and BlueNalu and 20 other companies since 2017.
Contact Claire: claire@beyondimpact.vc