Pioneering a better way of investing for healthy soil & regenerative food ecosystems
We back companies addressing critical challenges in our food system, contributing to a thriving future for humanity and the planet.
Rooted was founded to drive transformative change in both food and capital systems. We invest in companies that are catalysts for thriving food ecosystems, and set a new benchmark for investing.
Current food systems destroy more value than they create, with $15 trillion hidden costs annually. As we head towards a biodiversity collapse that could mean the end of our living systems, the need for regenerative businesses and capital has never been more urgent. At Rooted, we are committed to aligning capital with the principles of regenerative ecosystems, so business, financial returns, humanity and planet can thrive together.
“The global food system holds the future of humanity on Earth in its hand.”
— Johan Rockström, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
To protect life, we need a food systems transformation
More regenerative agriculture and food practices help protect food security, food quality, human health, communities, resilience, biodiversity, climate and planetary health.
To fund regeneration, we need a new approach to investing
Founders and forward-thinking investors demand a new benchmark for investment that applies regenerative principles to the fund and its practices, balancing thriving life with financial returns.
Pioneering a better way of investing
Our investment strategy and structure ensures how we invest benefits all stakeholders long term.
01 Patient capital
Our fund structure invests for the long term ensuring periodic liquidity events for investors.
02 Honourable harvest
Surplus returns are shared back into the ecosystem that created them.
03 Mission guardianship
Our guardianship keeps the mission of the companies we invest in safe long term.
04 Bridging phases
Blending early stage through to growth stage capital support.
Rooted is built upon our combined 50+ years in VC, PE and business with 10+ investments in agri-food so far.
Rooted has been created as a collaboration between Barefoot Ventures and Brightlands Venture Partners, blending our expertise, passions, teams and ecosystems.
Meet the team
Our team uniquely spans regenerative agriculture experts, entrepreneurs, brand builders and financial professionals obsessed with regeneration and encompassing early stage and growth backgrounds.
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Sourcing, strategy, execution, portfolio management
Brightlands Venture Partners senior Partner with extensive agri-food experience having led multiple impact funds, investments and teams. Earlier stage focus.
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Sourcing, strategy, execution, portfolio management
Barefoot Ventures Founder, seasoned investment professional in the private equity space with a passion for permaculture and finance for regeneration. Later stage focus.
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Sourcing, strategy, investor relations, brand strategy, comms, culture
Impact business thought-leader and global strategic advisor for founders and CEOs, Barefoot Ventures Founding Partner, angel investor, host of Going Conscious podcast.
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Sourcing, execution, portfolio management
Serial entrepreneur in agriculture and food, marketer, impact investment professional at Brightlands Venture Partners, also running a greenfield fungi operation.
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Structuring, investor relations, admin & reporting
Brightlands Venture Partners CFO with portfolio and fund management, risk, compliance and structuring experience. Previously in pan-European real estate fund management.
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Marjolein is the CEO of Foodvalley, having previously worked in traditional oil and gas before transitioning to renewable energy, sustainable materials and food. Her work experience spans various countries, including most EU countries, South Africa, Brazil, the USA, Sri Lanka and Saudi Arabia. For her, systemic work is all about people - because systems don't change themselves; people do.
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Guardian of ancient wisdom and traditional knowledge, spiritual conduit, advisor and healer blending her European, Polynesian and Asian heritage into a powerful force for transformative leadership, with 40 years of accumulated knowledge. She is the founder of the OUR Foundation in the Netherlands.
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Jack is a Director of Forza Asset Management, a Dutch-based independent asset management firm. His career focuses on sustainability, and he is also the founder of Econsenso, a platform promoting financial sustainability. In 2019, he published Butterfly Economy: From Growth to Development, which explores the transition of economies toward more sustainable and nature-aligned growth.
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Anne is a pioneer of the regenerative movement in the Netherlands. In March 2024 she moved to the 45 hectare Lenteland regenerative community farm in Lochem, having started Bodemzicht farm and foundation with her partner in Malden in 2019. She’s a founding farmer of the European Alliance for Regenerative Agriculture (EARA) and previously worked on the relationship between humans and the rest of life.
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Jeroen is a pioneer of regenerative farming on his 300 hectare family farm in the Netherlands, serial entrepreneur and impact investor, and co-founder of Tomasu Soya Sauce. His expertise is in short supply chains, farmland investments, soil life building, natural capital and nutrient density.
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Emmo was R&D director of DSM, Unilever and FrieslandCampina. He combines a wealth of knowledge in the domains of organic chemistry, food and nutrition and biobased materials. Emmo was the chair of the Top Sector Chemistry and Topinstitute Food and Nutrition (TiFN), board member of Leuven University and HAS.
“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
— Apparently inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s line ‘we but mirror the world’
Distinctive investment themes
Including innovations, technologies, chain redesigns, consumer brands and more across:
Plant growth
What? Growing
Why? Repair soil & plants
Including soil regeneration tools, growing systems, precision farming, agricultural robotics and biodiversity and crop varieties.
Crop valorisation
What? Processing
Why? Optimal biomass use
Including physical-chemical separation, upcycling side streams, microbial fermentation, further processing into new plant-based food ingredients.
Food integrity
What? Consuming
Why? Nutritious, tasty & fair food
Including healthy and affordable diets, low footprint food, closed loop & shorter chains, true pricing, novel collaborations, and reconnecting to food and life.
Guiding principles
Healthy ecosystems
Create ecosystems of companies that cross-pollinate and grow together.
Regeneration + profitability
We believe in helping to leave the world better than we found it, sustained by profitability.
Nature’s students
Understand the connection to nature and her system in everything we do.
Real economy
Allocate capital to contribute to real needs and improvements that benefits the entire ecosystem.
Long term horizons
Invest to help steward value creation for generations, overriding short-term extraction models.
Respect & love
No harm or cruelty, respecting all life. Humble and non-judgemental, seeking to embody joy and love!
Farmer admiration
Value all the hands involved - consider and connect with farmers and entrepreneurs building long term value.
Feminine & Masculine Unity
Break current system limitations to equally respect feminine and masculine.