FDBusiness.com

Tate & Lyle is to invest up to £30 million over an eight-year period in a new venture capital fund, building on the group’s existing venture fund activities. The new Fund will invest in start-ups and expansion-stage companies in both developed and emerging markets in food sciences and enabling technologies in line with Tate & Lyle’s strategy to grow in speciality food ingredients.

The new Fund will be formally launched on 1 January 2013. As with Tate & Lyle’s first venture fund, which was launched in April 2006, the new Fund will be independently led and managed by Simon Barnes and David Atkinson.

“This is an important investment in our global innovation programme and represents another step in building Tate & Lyle’s platform for long-term growth,” says Karl Kramer, President, Innovation and Commercial Development, Tate & Lyle. “We have seen with our first Fund how beneficial a corporate venturing capability can be. The combination of the new Fund and our internal Open Innovation team will enable us to access the full spectrum of new ideas, technologies and opportunities in the global food science and investment community. This is an investment for long-term growth and, ultimately, will help us deliver more innovative solutions for our customers.”

David Atkinson, Tate & Lyle Ventures, says: “We are continuing to see a real change in consumer attitudes towards health and nutrition and in particular the growing interest in functional foods. Busy lives, an ageing population and rapid urbanization in emerging markets mean that consumers across the world are looking to food to offer lifestyle solutions and bring added benefits such as fortification and enrichment. New technologies will be instrumental in this convergence as the world’s major food companies increasingly reposition themselves with a focus on innovation and health.”