Unovis Snags Speranza From 301 Inc.

After spending almost a quarter of a century at General Mills, Pete Speranza wants to “change the food system.” The former business development principal at 301 Inc, General Mills’ venture arm, left the company on August 14 and will join venture firm Unovis as an operating partner.

Speranza said he looks back fondly on his career at General Mills, which included time spent working in company headquarters on brands including Yoplait and Nature’s Valley, and finally helping steer 301 Inc.

Initially formed as a startup within General Mills, the unit, under the direction of Speranza and its manager, John Haugen, pivoted to investing.

“We were tasked with the question of ‘how does a big CPG innovate differently,’” Speranza said. “We were trying to mimic entrepreneurs inside of a large food company and we were trying to solve a riddle of ‘why can’t we compete with the very small and noble entrepreneurs?’”

Unovis, which focuses on investing in alternative proteins, and 301 Inc. are co-investors in a number of companies, including plant-based seafood brand Good Catch and plant-based dairy brand Kite Hill. They were also both former investors in Beyond Meat.

Speranza’s experience with 301 Inc., as well as his time spent working on brands directly, are what Unovis needs right now, according to Chris Kerr, the fund’s founding partner and chief investment officer.

“In our particular world, scaling is failing us. We’ve got great ideas and good products that you can make in small scale but scaling them and then finding the channel partners to put them outside into the world is hard,” Kerr said. “Pete is incredibly well connected. Between his team and my team, there’s every corner of the globe that we can get to and that reach is really critical when it comes to de-risking the broader portfolio.”

As an operating partner Speranza will focus on one to two brands at any one time, Kerr said, providing them with targeted assistance.

“One reason that I’m leaving is to really make a change in the food system,” Speranza said. “To see a fund like Unovis that has the same philosophy and thoughts, it just got me so excited for challenging myself and to be able to make a larger impact. I think I can really help be a cog in that wheel to get plant-based to be a strong center of the plate for consumers and really change their eating habits for the better.”

The addition of Speranza comes as Unovis is growing beyond just staffing. For the past several years, the group managed one fund, New Crop Capital, with proceeds from the sales of any investments committed to charity.

Now Unovis is on the verge of closing Unovis N Cap Fund II, a second, larger fund. With an initial close of $50 million, and more to come, the fund plans to go deeper with its investments, making fewer deals, but likely taking part in follow-on rounds.

The capital comes at a time when there is rising consumer interest in plant-based protein, but there are also still significant challenges. Armed with more capital, and now more operational assistance, Kerr believes that the fund can have a significant impact on food production.

“There’s parts of the globe that still need to be sped up and distribution is going to be really critical [in reaching them]. But if you don’t have the production capacity, distribution doesn’t matter. And if you don’t have awareness, none of it matters,” Kerr said. “I feel like one of those plate spinners that’s just trying to keep everything going at once.”