Welcome back to the EUCVC Summit Talks, where we bring you candid conversations with Europe’s leading founders, corporate leaders, and investors shaping the future of venture collaboration.
In this session, Jeppe Høier speaks with Bodil Sidén, Founding Partner at Kost Capital, and Marika King, Head of PINC, the venture arm of Paulig. Together, they explore how Europe can reinvent food systems to feed 10 billion people by 2050—without destroying the planet.
From test kitchens and Michelin chefs in VC funds, to evergreen corporate models and the hunt for plastic-free packaging, Bodil and Marika share their unique approaches to food and agri-tech investing, the biggest opportunities ahead, and what they look for in founders building the future of food.
🎧 Here’s what’s covered
00:10 Feeding 10 billion people by 2050 — why food is “different” and needs a new venture model.
01:00 Inside Kost Capital’s test kitchen — from Michelin chefs to food historians in due diligence.
02:00 PINC’s evergreen model — why speed and long-term capital matter for food innovation.
03:00 Execution over ideas — why market obsession beats product obsession.
04:00 The secret sauce: validating food science claims in real time.
05:00 When corporates add value without killing agility — the good and bad of CVC in food tech.
06:00 The holy grail: plastic-free packaging that behaves like plastic.
07:00 Big bets today: green fertilizers, bio-controls, smart water, and sustainable agriculture.
08:00 AI as an enabler — cutting costs and accelerating product development.
09:00 Food, health & nutrition — the rise of sustainable fatty acids, vitamins, and bio-based aromas.
You can listen to the full session from the EUCVC Summit 2025 on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
✍️ Show Notes
Why Food Is Different
Food is culture, regulation, and taste—you can’t diligence it from a spreadsheet.
Kost Capital set up a test kitchen with chefs, gastro-scientists, and historians to evaluate investments hands-on.
Evergreen + Strategic Capital
PINC, Paulig’s venture arm, runs an evergreen model: more flexible than traditional VC, but still requires exits to prove results.
Corporates can accelerate adoption by becoming customers, not just investors.
What Founders Need
Execution > perfect ideas.
Go-to-market too often comes too late; the best founders obsess about customers, not just product.
Investment Priorities
Sustainable agriculture: green fertilizers, bio-controls, smart water solutions.
Packaging: the “holy grail” — alternatives that look and act like plastic but biodegrade.
Health & nutrition: new ways to produce fatty acids, antioxidants, vitamins, and aromas sustainably.
AI in Food Tech
Enabling faster, cheaper product development by simulating outcomes digitally before lab work.
Example: Danish startup Amass, applying AI to bio and food science.
💡 One-liner takeaway: Reinventing food for 10 billion people demands more than capital — it requires test kitchens, evergreen patience, and founders obsessed with execution and customers.
