Ki Tua Fund turned one in June, and it’s been an action-packed year with eight strategic investments made.
To recap, Ki Tua means to ‘go beyond’ in te reo Māori and the Fund itself is 100% Co-op owned. It was initially established as Nutrition Science Solutions with the aim of delivering value to farmer shareholders in the breakthrough innovation space.
The Fund’s strategic ambition is to provide a growth engine for Fonterra, diversify earnings through agile business models and build new capabilities across the rapidly changing food, science and technology landscape.
With an independent four-member Board and team across NZ, USA and Europe, Ki Tua invests and works with founders and start-ups to accelerate and scale solutions that make a positive impact on health.
Ki Tua Fund Managing Director Komal Mistry-Mehta says the fund is going from strength to strength.
“The Fund plays an important role in cementing Fonterra as a leader in dairy innovation and science, experimenting with new technologies, business models and ways of strategically leveraging partners,” says Komal. “To maintain our leadership position in innovation and science, we need to pull multiple levers. If you look around at the rate of change that’s happening in the world, we need to embrace new technologies and take an outside in approach.”
“A key benefit of Ki Tua Fund is the tight link back to the Co-op, allowing the Fund to combine Fonterra’s food, science and innovation expertise into emerging technologies. Which creates a win-win for the Fund and their partners.”
In the 12 months since launching, Ki Tua Fund has appointed an independent Board of Directors, which features two Independent Directors – USA-based Rodolphe Barrangou and UK-based Chairman Bill Liao. Fonterra’s Komal Mistry-Mehta and Mike Cronin also serve as Directors.
It has built a team of experts that cut across the investment and science landscape. This team has invested in eight new ventures that span biology, probiotics, therapeutics and microbiome.
The most recent partnership the Ki Tua Fund has been working on is with Prolific Machines, a photomolecular biomanufacturing innovator. Prolific Machines’ innovative technology could enable the production of complex and high value proteins that are too miniscule to viably extract from milk, such as Lactoferrin.
Other investments to-date
Pendulum Therapeutics
Developer of microbiome interventions designed to improve healthcare by managing chronic illnesses and tackling ailments such as type 2 diabetes.
Nimble Science
Developed an efficient way to sample the upper gastrointestinal tract to step-change microbiome and food-digestion analytics.
Cyclarity Therapeutics
Developer of compound-based drugs designed to treat the underlying causes of cardiovascular diseases.
Sun Genomics
Provider of custom probiotics intended for improving gut health.
Kanvas Biosciences
Developed a spatial biology platform that provides the unique ability to map host-microbiome interactions and leverage the resulting data to design live biotherapeutic products.
Tune Therapeutics
Developer of an epigenetic programming platform designed to create new pathways for the treatment of disease.
SOSV Fund V
A venture capital fund targeting human and planetary health sectors.
Further information is available at Ki Tua Fund’s website and LinkedIn page.