Soja: ROSARIO
$394.000 -1.50%
Maíz: ROSARIO
$230.500 -2.25%
Trigo: ROSARIO
$270.000 -0.81%
By Agroempresario.com
Agroempresario.com reports that Astanor Ventures, co-founded by Eric Archambeau, remains a key player in agrifoodtech investing despite recent market fluctuations. From the exuberance of early 2021 to the sobering realities of 2022, the sector has witnessed a dramatic recalibration. While some investors have drifted into adjacent fields or withdrawn completely, Astanor Ventures has maintained its focus, demonstrating confidence in the long-term potential of agrifood technology and sustainable food systems.
According to Eric Archambeau, until 2021, the agrifoodtech space experienced significant excitement as venture capital poured into a sector historically underfunded by technology. “It was venture capital looking at a white space that was one of the least tech-enabled sectors in the world,” says Archambeau, “thinking the same formulas that applied to software could apply here.”
However, the unique challenges of agrifood—including growth cycles, regulatory hurdles, and inherent industry inertia—quickly tempered expectations. Many early products failed to achieve market readiness or profitability, leading to a sharp correction in funding and investment enthusiasm. “By 2021, most companies were not profitable, required significant CapEx, and when the music stopped, there were far fewer chairs than players,” Archambeau explains.
Archambeau draws parallels between agrifoodtech and the early days of the internet. He recalls James Richardson from Cisco in 1999 predicting the internet’s potential, only to be laughed at after the dotcom crash. “Then a few years later, you have the rise of Amazon, Google, and Meta. He was right. You just had to go through the interim period of disillusionment,” Archambeau notes. This historical perspective informs Astanor Ventures’ long-term approach, emphasizing patience and strategic portfolio management.
Today, Astanor Ventures emphasizes robustness over mere resilience. “Robustness means placing bets in a way that tolerates failures or extended development timelines while still enabling other companies to succeed faster,” says Archambeau. The firm now focuses on super early-stage companies with the capacity to follow them for longer periods, allowing for diverse investment strategies across agrifoodtech, biotech, automation, and AI in agriculture.
Many other investors have shifted focus to adjacent sectors such as energy efficiency, but Astanor has maintained its dedication to the agrifoodtech sector. Archambeau stresses that there is no repositioning or retreat—the firm continues to seek opportunities where technology can sustainably transform food systems.
Despite skepticism in the market, Archambeau remains optimistic. “It annoys me when people say, ‘That will never work.’ Early hype may have overvalued some companies, but a new cohort is emerging stronger, either from surviving previous challenges or avoiding inflated valuations altogether,” he says.
The firm anticipates exits and liquidity events, although they may not reach the peak valuations seen in 2021. “A large number of companies we invested in are inching towards profitability and have found product-market fit,” Archambeau observes.
Leslie Kapin, partner at Astanor Ventures, emphasizes that regulation or sustainability alone cannot drive product demand. Companies must achieve cost parity with comparable solutions while maintaining high product quality and taste. Sustainability is viewed as an added benefit—a “cherry on top” rather than the primary driver of consumer adoption.
Eric Archambeau identifies several promising sectors within agrifoodtech, including metabolic health, aging, food as medicine, biotech, and precision agriculture. By focusing on early-stage biotech companies and integrating AI, robotics, and automation into farm and factory operations, Astanor Ventures positions itself at the intersection of technology and food production efficiency.
Notable investments include:
These strategic investments reflect the firm’s commitment to tech-enabled solutions that enhance productivity and sustainability across the agrifood value chain.
While Ÿnsect struggled as a first-of-its-kind venture, Archambeau sees potential in insect agriculture, citing a 70% reduction in production costs over the past year. He notes that scaling challenges vary significantly between species, making experience in one insect domain not necessarily transferable to another. The lessons learned from early pioneers will inform more efficient operations in the future.
Regarding CEA (controlled environment agriculture), Astanor Ventures has shifted focus to intelligent greenhouses—a hybrid between traditional and fully automated vertical farms. The firm avoids repeating previous mistakes in automation-heavy greenhouses, instead concentrating on scalable, efficient systems that balance technology and practicality.
Archambeau explains that cultivated meat is not currently a focus, citing high cost and market challenges. However, he recognizes the sector’s long-term potential with the right price points and applications. Similarly, precision fermentation offers opportunities where production costs, feed efficiency, and energy utilization provide competitive advantages. Companies like Standing Ovation, producing casein proteins via precision fermentation, exemplify how novel microbial feedstocks can reduce costs and enhance scalability.
Archambeau highlights the transformative potential of AI and robotics in agriculture. Predictive analytics, data integration, and robotics reduce labor costs while increasing precision in both farming and manufacturing operations. He considers the sector to be entering a golden age of agrifood robotics, enabled by sophisticated data-driven decision-making and advanced automation technologies.
The concept of food as medicine is central to Astanor’s approach. Investments like Zya, which transforms dietary sugar into fiber, and Holobiome, mapping the human microbiome, exemplify the intersection of nutrition, health, and sustainability. At the growth equity stage, nutraceuticals are particularly attractive, offering mature investment opportunities with measurable health outcomes.
Leslie Kapin points out that Europe has developed competitive mechanisms for non-dilutive funding, creating an edge over the US in certain areas of agrifoodtech financing. Programs from institutions like the European Investment Bank (EIB) facilitate more efficient private market investment and encourage innovation in sustainable food technologies.
For Astanor Ventures, the long-term vision is clear: invest in early-stage, tech-enabled agrifood companies, support them through development challenges, and identify scalable solutions that drive sustainability and profitability. By combining biotech, automation, AI, and nutritional science, the firm aims to shape the future of agrifood systems globally.
