Britain's Tesco invests in venture fund to spur food innovation

By Reuters News

LONDON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Tesco TSCO.L, Britain's biggest food retailer, has committed £20 million ($26.5 million) to a venture capital fund launched by Leon Restaurants co-founder Henry Dimbleby to help drive innovation across the UK food sector, it said on Thursday.

  • The Bramble Fund I, established by Dimbleby, who also authored the UK government-commissioned National Food Strategy, is targeting £100 million of capital.

  • The fund's first close has also attracted backing from business leaders including former Schroders CEO Peter Harrison and Adam Wells, co-founder of ingredients business Belazu.

  • It will invest in companies developing products and technologies aimed at making food healthier, more sustainable and more affordable.

  • Under a Tesco-Bramble partnership, promising businesses will be able to test their products and services across Tesco's supply chain, with support to scale the most successful ventures.

  • Bramble's first investment is KluraLabs, a British technology company whose packaging helps keep food fresh for longer.

($1 = 0.7549 pounds)

Capital.com is an execution-only brokerage platform and the content provided on the Capital.com website is intended for informational purposes only and should not be regarded as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy the products or securities to which it applies. No representation or warranty is given as to the accuracy or completeness of the information provided.

The information provided does not constitute investment advice nor take into account the individual financial circumstances or objectives of any investor. Any information that may be provided relating to past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results or performance.

To the extent permitted by law, in no event shall Capital.com (or any affiliate or employee) have any liability for any loss arising from the use of the information provided. Any person acting on the information does so entirely at their own risk.

Any information which could be construed as “investment research” has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such is considered to be a marketing communication.