Why a Venture Capitalist of the Year is Building a Food Tech Ecosystem in Sweden

Two weeks ago I headed to Stockholm, Sweden to speak at and attend the Sweden Food Tech “Big Meet” conference and I was impressed by the small but growing level of activity in the country. Johan Jörgensen: It was after I received the title of venture capitalist of the year in 2010, because suddenly I was being inundated with all types of business ideas and pitches, and they had one thing in common; they were very small and insignificant and that frustrated me because if you take a look at the tech trade you have some of the smartest people on the planet, and they should do the most weighty things.

When I started looking into food I saw nothing, no innovations, no tech whatsoever, which is fascinating coming to think of it, that it is the largest sector on the planet and it’s really killing the planet and everyone on it, so it’s full of problems. I think in the U.S. more than 50% of the population has non-communicable diseases, most of which can be tracked back to what they eat. So, of course, food is the solution not only to the food trade but in addition to the health trade.

So, after having received this Venture Capitalist of the Year type of award and being overflowed by bad business ideas, I kicked off to look around and I kicked off traveling around and I as well had the joy of running the innovation program for the US at the World Expo in Milan back in 2015. I was running around trying to look for where the ideas came from, and of course, you see a lot of development happening in many places, but if you look at it systematically, what you need in order for the food system to change is a strong tech trade, which we have here in Stockholm.

Change is what we need to see since the food system is killing the planet and everyone on it, and it can’t go on. But, again, I think that tech people are doing the wrong things, they’re into mobile gaming or dating or whatever have you, but they’re starting to realize that food in Sweden alone is twice the size of the global music trade, for example.

And when you start to understand that and when you see the non-existence of tech. Innovation in this sector, then suddenly you start to realize that this is something where you, with relatively small means, can make leading change happen. So, when we kicked off building this ecosystem here in Sweden, which we have done now the past few years, we thought about two distinct directions for Sweden and Stockholm to go in terms of getting people on board with the sector. So, we hope to be able to make connections between the medical part of the world and the food side of the world and have everyone understand that in biology there is no such thing as a specific industry, everything is connected.

Louisa B-T: With urban farming, one of the things we’ve seen in the U.S. is that a lot of these indoor estates, that’s a big infrastructure type project and I think there are some question marks around the suitability of that for a venture capital investor. You mentioned a few of those things, did you have any takeaways from the conference on that discussion that you’re going to think about and maybe bring into your own model for building an ecosystem here? But when it comes to the food world, which is infinitely more complicated and complex, you need to bring other people into the equation as well: the retailers, food makers, the health professionals, and so on, so everyone needs to be on it.

We’ve been pushing hard to have the politicians and the public sector on board as well because in Sweden we have something like 50% of all meals that are served outside the home are served in the public trade, which means that if you can get the public sector on board that means you have a tool for change that is tremendous, so that’s super weighty. Johan Jörgensen: I’d say it’s mostly the fact that we’re pretty good at getting together around certain topics and then everyone from the sector, from the politicians and the entrepreneurs and the shareholders, as soon as we unite around something we tend to jump at it together.

Johan Jörgensen: I think, looking at the city of Stockholm for instance, that they define themselves as a hub for FinTech, for gaming tech and music tech, and now they will add food tech as well. People are really understanding that the food trade can change and that we do have the tools to change it. Because I think many of them have been silently wondering “How can we change the food sector?” And as well, “But we don’t have the tools to do that.” And suddenly they realize that the tools are out there and the people are out there that can help them with this, and I think that was the most stunning part of it.