The Future of Health And Food: Focusing on Human Health

Department of Agriculture figures show the US supplies $1.7 trillion worth of food while the global market is estimated to reach $12 trillion. Seeing opportunity for growth in this sector and being able to focus her for human health, Ellie and her partners decided to  start Manna Tree.

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“Manna Tree is an investment firm committed to a global mission of improving human health by innovating, investing in, and advancing portfolio companies that make a positive impact on the food system and functional health.” ER

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Food-Based Investments

After raising over $140 mil., Manna has made four investments in their portfolio, with a goal of reaching ten soon. Manna’s investment strategy is to find vertically integrated companies with the ability to better control the supply chain. Within the food products sector, Manna has narrowed the focus to four categories: primary resources, processing,  distribution, and consumer brands. So far, two of its investments have been in upstart plant-based companies and an emerging growth egg and a beef company. Protein continues to be a hot category and their investment in Vital Farms is a perfect example, it just went public with a blockbuster IPO.

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Manna Tree is an investment firm committed to a global mission of improving human health by innovating, investing in, and advancing portfolio companies that make a positive impact on the food system and functional health.” ER

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COVID Supply Chain Impacts

During the 2020 Pandemic, control of the supply chain has been paramount. The key is to avoid supply chain shocks not only in production, but in the distribution and delivery of the end product. Manna is fortunate as their portfolio companies have avoided negative supply chain impacts. Instead, they have benefited from health-conscious consumers and the increase in online grocery shopping. Beyond these shifts, another trend that has seen increased popularity is carbon-friendly nutrition-centric packaging and labeling. Consumers caring more about health and wellness are becoming increasingly aware of whether goods are ethically sourced from reading labels and packaging.

Food as Medicine  Approximately 70% of US deaths are related to a lifestyle diseases, driving an emerging food-as-medicine trend. With so many consumers shifting to diet and lifestyle considerations in their shopping, the impact on the food, beverage and health sectors will touch everything from sourcing and ingredients to processing and labeling. It seems clear that Manna is well positioned for growth, helping their portfolio companies capitalize on the increasing popularity of food health and environmentally produced products—as-well-as continuing to make informed and thoughtful investments.

You can listen in to this enlightening episode with Ellie or watch it here https://youtu.be/fbPEBzLerAw or tune in wherever you listen to podcasts.

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About The Reboot Chronicles Podcast: Hosted by Dean DeBiase, The Reboot Chronicles is a popular no-holds-barred podcast on iHeart Radio, iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts and YouTube that has been bringing together CEOs, entrepreneurs, authors, and global leaders, for over a decade, to discuss how organizations are rebooting their leadership-competitiveness of everything from growth, innovation, and technology to talent, culture, and governance. Tune in wherever you listen to podcasts or at https://www.revieve.com/rebootchronicles

Named a “Growth Guru” by Inc. Magazine, Dean DeBiase is a Faculty Member at Kellogg School of Management and Silicon Valley serial CEO, where he has served in chief executive and chairman roles of more than a dozen emerging growth companies, CEO of Fortune 500 subsidiaries, and a director on public, private, family-enterprise, CVC, PE and VC boards. He is a Technology Fellow at Northwestern University, a Board Leadership Fellow at The National Association of Corporate Directors, and an Advisor to the National Science Foundation. A Forbes Contributor and co-author of the best-selling book The Big Moo, Dean is working on his next book, Dancing with Startups. Connect with Dean here: www.linkedin.com/in/FollowDean

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