An Investment in 4P Foods
An Investment in 4P Foods
The 1st Investment Announcement (17th) Edition of the Negative Foods Newsletter
Last Saturday’s IPCC report may be causing your LinkedIn doomscrolling feed to dampen your spirits. That’s not how we roll at the Negative Foods Newsletter! Instead of wringing our hands, we get to work. Action is the anecdote.
I mentioned in May that this newsletter is a trojan horse. One of its underlying purposes is to generate a pipeline of investment opportunities in startup food brands that reverse climate change.
I’m excited to announce that I’ve invested in 4P Foods. 4P’s vision is that every person will have equitable access to “Good Food,” defined as food produced in a system that is reparative, restorative, and regenerative. 4P’s strategy is to leverage infrastructure, technology, and partnerships to create a scalable Good Food supply network.
The IPCC report alarms us with news we’ve known for years. What’s new is the degree to which people and organizations are, finally, paying attention. Which is good. With this attention comes ideas, initiatives, actions and investments, from people, from companies, from academia, from governments and from investors.
The shift toward a food system based on a regenerative supply chain is inexorable. Consumer demand is rising, and will continue to rise, for Negative Foods. The supply of such foods is likely to lag the demand, and that’s the market opportunity for companies like 4P, which is building the infrastructure to distribute regenerative food to the thoughtful masses. Big Food will get there, but good startups will first eat their lunch.
In addition to an awesome market opportunity, I love 4P for several other reasons:
The Team. Successful startups can pivot products and strategies, but they rarely succeed without a great leadership team. In this case, I benefit from having gotten to know 4P founder and CEO Tom McDougall slowly. I first met Tom when a BrightFarms greenhouse shared a campus with 4P many years ago, and we later shared a stage at a food tech event in Brooklyn. Tom is a passionate and hustling founder. He’s in this for the right reasons, and he’s building a terrific team around him to fulfill 4P’s destiny.
The Hockey Stick. Although the 4P team has been at it for years, in the past several quarters they’ve hit the hockey stick on a material revenue baseline. The red hot COVID demand bump may cool, but it enabled 4P to open new permanent B2B channels, such as schools, hospitals, corporates cafeterias, and food access sites.
The Expansion Opportunity. 4P is not a local food hub. Instead, it is a platform to create a decentralized regional food economy that will lift it participants, including farmers, local distributors and customers. 4P is based in Virginia, and has growth potential across the mid-Atlantic region by adding adjacent cities incrementally. A supply network up and down the climates of the east coast could replicate all of the California growing zones, so the sky is the limit for this platform.
If you are in the mid Atlantic, give 4P a shot! And send your ideas for other investment opportunities.
For your Consideration:
IPCC Summary for Policymakers: Climate Change 2021, The Physical Science Basis
Humans have pushed the climate into ‘unprecedented’ territory, landmark U.N. report finds
A Hotter Future Is Certain, Climate Panel Warns. But How Hot Is Up to Us
Regenerative farming shift could reduce UK climate emissions, say experts
World’s largest meat company JBS joins Race to Zero initiative
As Carbon Markets Reward New Efforts, Will Regenerative Farming Pioneers Be Left in the Dirt?
How Vegan Meat Brand Quorn Is Working Towards A Regenerative Food System
Is there value in temporary carbon removal?
Iowa is witnessing a climate crisis
Why we shouldn’t give in to climate despair
How Much Carbon Comes From a Liter of Coke? Companies Grapple With Climate Change Math