Lonza sets up VC fund for North American health and wellness startups
The new VC fund will focus on products, technologies, and innovative business models related to functional food and beverages, dietary supplements, personal care, home care, and medical food created by early-stage, fast-growing consumer health and wellness startups in North America.
Prolog Ventures, with offices in St. Louis and San Francisco, will be the fund’s manager for investments. Companies in Prolog Ventures’ portfolio include pouched baby food Plum Organics, sparkling water Spindrift, and cell instrumentation manufacturer IntelliCyt.
According to the company, the newly created fund will offer value well beyond financial support by using Lonza’s “global resources and expertise to accelerate the growth of its portfolio companies.”
Though no financial details have been announced, a statement from the company said that it expects the fund will invest annually into two or three startups on average in the mid-single-digit million-dollar range.
"This investment demonstrates Lonza's commitment to innovating along the value chain and to creating additional value for our customers with new technologies and integrated solutions," said Sven Abend, COO of Lonza's Specialty Ingredients segment.
