Tesco has committed £20 million to Bramble Fund I, becoming the anchor investor in Henry Dimbleby’s new specialist vehicle as it seeks to raise £100 million for food businesses working on healthier, more sustainable and more affordable products.
The retailer’s backing gives the fund an early boost as it looks to support growth-stage companies with practical ideas capable of influencing the wider food system. Bramble Fund I, founded by Dimbleby, the co-founder of Leon and ...
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author of the government-commissioned National Food Strategy, alongside business partner Omar Habbal and investment committee chair Mark Hudson, plans to invest between £1 million and £5 million in individual businesses.
The partnership between Tesco and Bramble is intended to do more than provide capital. The two organisations plan to create a joint innovation board and give selected companies the chance to test their products and technologies inside Tesco’s supply chain, offering a route from development to commercial scale that many start-ups struggle to secure.
Tesco said the move builds on its long history of backing innovation, pointing to recent launches of own-label products, support for emerging brands through its Accelerator programme and trials of new technologies on its low-carbon concept farm. Ken Murphy, Tesco’s chief executive, said the retailer sees both the “opportunities” and the “challenges” in the UK food system and wants to help the most promising ideas move into everyday use for customers and suppliers.
Dimbleby, speaking in the announcement, said Britain’s food system needed to change and argued that consumers want meals that are healthy, sustainable and affordable. He said the partnership would help Bramble identify entrepreneurs tackling those problems and give them the backing required to grow, adding that Tesco can help a business move from concept to the weekly shop better than any other retailer in the country.
Bramble’s first investment is in KluraLabs, a British technology company developing packaging designed to keep food fresh for longer. According to the fund, the technology can extend shelf life and use-by dates, reduce the need for artificial additives and cut waste and costs. Bramble says its pipeline also includes technologies aimed at helping farmers reduce reliance on chemical fertilisers, as well as medical devices that allow people to monitor digestive health.
The fund’s first close has also drawn support from other notable backers, including Peter Harrison, the former chief executive of Schroders, and Adam Wells, co-founder of ingredients business Belazu. Dame Caroline Mason, chief executive of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, described Bramble as a pioneer in financing a fairer, healthier and more sustainable food system, while Sir Thomas Hughes-Hallett, chair of the John Innes Centre, said specialist investors are often needed to help promising British science reach commercial scale.
The Tesco-Bramble partnership also reflects a broader push by the retailer to turn innovation into operational change. Tesco has cited initiatives such as W23 Global, a collaboration with five international grocery groups that has already invested in companies using artificial intelligence and other technologies across retail operations, as well as the Tesco Agri-tech Challenge, which seeks solutions that can make food supply chains more resilient and productive.
Source: Noah Wire Services
