June 10, 2021

The science behind our guiding principle

Over the next decade, Re:food will help fund a professorship in sustainable science at the Stockholm Resilience Centre. Why?

Transformative investing

The inspiration to develop an investment approach for investing in food system transformation can be traced back to Stockholm Resilience Centre (SRC). Over the past decade,  we have participated in several programs teaching how resilience thinking, social-ecological systems, and exponential technologies can improve human well-being and sustainability.

During the SRC LEAD program in 2014, we realized the urgent need for transformational change in the global food system. Reaching this conclusion at that specific time was a pivotal moment and led to several investments including Oatly in 2015 and Nick’s in 2017.

Since then, Stockholm Resilience Centre has continued to significantly contribute to our understanding of sustainable food systems. Its research has identified previously overlooked connections, levers, and actors across the food system with the ability to unlock transformational change.

We formally launched Gullspång Re:food in 2020 to apply this research and a systems thinking point of view to support entrepreneurs devoted to sustainable food innovation. We are looking for startups with superior innovations, led by great founders at the exact time when the market is ready, targeting underinvested paradigm shifts to reverse the current unsustainable trajectory of the food system.

Recognizing the important role that research plays to further accelerate this transformation, Gullspång Re:food is donating a 10-year grant to fund part of a new professorship at the Stockholm Resilience Centre. This professorship is focused on sustainable food systems and, specifically, how capital markets can serve as levers to drive systematic change.

As of October 2021, Beatrice Crona is the appointee to this professorship in sustainable science. Beatrice has extensive experience within oceans and fisheries governance and serves as the co-chair of the Blue Food Assessment, as well as the Head of the Global Economic Dynamics and Biosphere Program at the Royal Swedish Academy. Her research has recently focused on connecting finance and biodiversity by considering and incorporating meaningful biodiversity measures for corporate financial decision-making.

We hope this support will help strengthen the much-needed synergies across the academic and private sectors while accelerating the shift toward a sustainable future.

‍

If you want to learn more about how we implement academic research in daily investment activities, check out Food is Solvable!

Keep exploring

April 26, 2024

Greening Ammonia Production: There are No Silver Bullets in Systems Transformation

The production of synthetic ammonia, a precursor to nitrogen fertilizer, produces two tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per ton of usable ammonia and is responsible for 1-2% of global greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, greening this production process could benefit industries beyond agriculture. However, there are negative impacts associated with nitrogen fertilizers that green ammonia does not address, and we must be cautious that ammonia production doesn’t become a red herring in the sustainable fertilizer transition. We dug into the green ammonia space and summarized our key findings and takeaways.

Read full post
March 6, 2024

Save the Bees: Harvesting Insights from our Deep Dive into Pollination Tech 

Pollinators are essential to the food system, but modern agricultural practices threaten wild pollinators and domesticated honeybees alike. Innovative startups are addressing this with smart technologies in an attempt to guarantee our future food supply. But do any of these innovations hold promise? We did a deep dive to find out. Read on for some more background information, three insights from our research, and our thoughts on the future of pollination. 

Read full post
September 7, 2023

Our Theory of Transformation

When pioneering startups secure backing from seasoned, long-term investors with experience in crafting robust businesses, they have the potential to reshape entire value chains radically and become category leaders in a more sustainable industry. When those same investors build an investment approach that incorporates deep research and systems thinking, and invest in companies at multiple systemic leverage points, they have the potential to transform entire industries and even the global economy.

Read full post
September 7, 2023

Karl-Henrik Robèrt on the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development

The Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) underpins Re:food’s approach to investing. It is the structure we used to plan out where to focus our sourcing and investing efforts. We caught up with Karl-Henrik Robèrt, a world-renowned sustainability pioneer, the founder of The Natural Step, and one of the creators of the FSSD. He gave us his thoughts on the framework (which he describes as the Operating System for sustainable development) and his guidance for organizations applying it to develop or improve their sustainable development programs.

Read full post
September 4, 2023

Segment Scoring Methodology

We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about innovations in the food system and their potential to both drive transformative shifts within our four investment themes and generate returns. Following the guidelines laid out in the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development, we developed a methodology to rank these innovations, which we call segments, so we can focus on those with the greatest potential.

Read full post
September 4, 2023

Balancing impact and sustainability to transform food systems

Impact and sustainability are frequently used interchangeably. In theory these concepts jointly create the foundation for a responsible business. In practice they are implemented through policies and procedures often managed by the same people and communicated via the same documents. Re:food invests in companies with high impact potential. As we refreshed our sustainability framework, we realized how important it is to distinguish between sustainability and impact and to act with intention where they overlap (and where they don’t), especially when supporting, partnering, and investing in companies with impact at their core.

Read full post
August 28, 2023

Sustainable Supply Chains

Modern food supply chains are long, linear, and wasteful. They depend on numerous stakeholders and middlemen, with little transparency or ability to track the flow of goods, emissions, and financial returns through the system. These supply chains have enabled urbanization and introduced new foods and flavors to our palates. But they have also decreased visibility into where our food comes from, increased food, nutrient, and plastic waste, and yet fail to ensure that nutritious foods are available to all people around the world. And the growth of these depletive supply chains is unsustainable. The alternative is short, circular supply chains that help us stay within our planetary boundaries while still moving food and resources to where they need to be, even as our population and economy continue to grow. Investing in this alternative is a key focus for us. 

Read full post
August 28, 2023

Healthy Diets

The world currently produces enough food for everyone to consume more than enough daily calories, yet one in three people lack regular access to adequate food. We believe that addressing rising malnutrition is both an ethical imperative and a tool to address the negative environmental impacts of our food system. Because of the many complex forces affecting our diets, a systems-based approach is the only way to really achieve a transformative shift from empty calories to nutrient-dense foods for all. 

Read full post
August 28, 2023

Sustainable Proteins & Fats

Animal-based protein consumption has risen drastically in the modern era, enabled by new industrialized farming practices. In addition to creating serious animal welfare violations, these practices have contributed to systemic challenges like antibiotic resistance and deforestation. The fact is, we need to invest in and scale more resource-efficient, animal-free production methods that can meet the growing demand for protein while reducing pressure on our planetary boundaries.

Read full post
August 28, 2023

Healthy Soils

At the root of the food system is soil health, but modern agricultural practices are disrupting the soil food web and destroying precious topsoil. We believe that the Fourth Agricultural Revolution is happening now — a revolution that prioritizes soil health, that relies on biological processes, and that celebrates biodiversity above and below ground. We are investing in innovations that will help us preserve and build topsoil, the cornerstone of our food system, and will ensure that we can produce food in the future without sacrificing yields today.

Read full post
June 22, 2022

Gustaf Brandberg discussing patient capital

Building a sustainable food company takes time and requires patient capital. That's why we've structured Re:food to operate with an evergreen structure, allowing us to invest for the long term without posing time constraints

Read full post
April 24, 2021

The Re:food circle

We developed The Re:food circle as a framework defining the boundaries and ethical foundations of a sustainable food system to help guide transformative investments.

Read full post
Back to Stories