The Future of the Bioeconomy Episode 1: Nourishing Change

Learn how investing in diverse, innovative startups helps create more sustainable and healthy food systems

Alumni Ventures
2 min readJan 25, 2024

Drew Wandzilak is an Associate at Alumni Ventures. Drew has worked in high-growth industries as both an investor and operator, including roles at Holistic Industries, a multi-state operator for cannabis, and Mirage, an NFT marketplace. He has a BS from Northwestern in Education and Social Policy, serves as an ambassador of the Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and was named to Chicago Inno’s “25 Under 25” list.

In our “Future of the Bioeconomy” video series, we provides insight into the economy’s transition from traditional systems to more sustainable and environmentally friendly practices.

In this episode, Rafaella Fontes from Supply Change Capital shares her journey from the wine industry to VC. Supply Change Capital, which recently closed a $40 million fund, invests in diverse, innovative startups that aim to advance the future of food and current agriculture systems.

Rafaella highlights the potential of fermentation and the need for improvements in the cold chain and packaging. She also emphasizes the importance of partnerships with large corporations in the food industry to drive innovation and sustainability.

When you think of the food system, a multi-trillion dollar industry, more than a quarter of global emissions are linked to food, something that every single person on the planet touches every single day. It’s really the only thing that we need to survive. -Rafaella Fontes, Supply Change Capital

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