OYSTER BAY Venture Capital

OYSTER BAY Venture Capital Research

Investment Thesis

OYSTER BAY is a food-systems-focused venture capital fund founded on the conviction that the way we nourish ourselves defines our future. The fund invests in rare founders disrupting the food system for better economic and ecological outcomes. The thesis centers on the food value chain—from agriculture and agricultural technology to food production, innovative ingredients, food service technology, biotech breakthroughs, and consumer food brands.

The firm's stated purpose is "Food is life." Their mission articulates that food is more than business—it is culture, connection, and joy. The food value chain is essential for human life and can only thrive in a healthy biosphere. This philosophy drives their conviction to invest in a future worth fighting for, both economically and ecologically.

Felix Leonhardt, the Managing Partner, was one of the first founders the fund invested in. He founded one of the first social businesses in Europe in the food sector (which exited in 2020) and has been deeply embedded in the food sector since 2012. His experience as a serial entrepreneur and active business angel before joining as partner full-time shapes the fund's practical, founder-centric approach.

Sector Focus

OYSTER BAY invests across the entire food value chain, concentrating on companies that address food system disruption:

Agricultural Technology & Inputs:

• Stenon: Real-time soil data and agricultural monitoring
• Seedalive: Rapid seed testing technology (biotech)
• Agrando: Digital platforms for agricultural trade

Innovative Food Ingredients & Proteins:

• Arda Biomaterials: Sustainable biopolymers for leather alternatives (food-tech adjacent)
• Hooked: Plant-based fish and meat alternatives
• La Vie: Plant-based bacon and lardons
• Peas of Heaven: Pea-based burger and sausage alternatives
• Nukoko: Cocoa-free chocolate from fava beans
• Löwenzahn Organics: Premium organic infant nutrition
• Mühlenkraft: High-protein baking flour products

Consumer Food & Beverage Brands:

• Oatly: World's leading oat milk brand (IPO, 2021)
• Air Up: Water flavoring via scent technology (partial exit)
• Dropz: Instant soluble flavor drops
• True Gum: Natural ingredient chewing gum (exit)
• purefood: German impact-driven food company (exit)
• goodBytz: Fully autonomous kitchen robots for food service

The portfolio demonstrates mastery across biotech ingredients, sustainable proteins, functional beverages, consumer brands, and food service automation. The fund shows conviction in scaling companies from seed through Series B, with multiple exits and IPO track records.

Stage Focus

OYSTER BAY explicitly targets Seed and Series A stages, though the team indicates willingness to invest opportunistically at earlier or later stages. The stated approach: "We like to invest in Seed & Series A rounds - yet are also comfortable investing earlier and later opportunistically." This positions them as strong early-stage investors with flexibility for promising Series B opportunities as well.

The fund structures investments to maintain deep involvement across multiple rounds. They typically lead initial rounds and commit to follow-on reserves for the next 2 rounds after their initial investment, suggesting strong conviction and hands-on board involvement.

Check Size

OYSTER BAY's typical initial check size ranges from €1M to €5M. The fund maintains significant follow-on reserves for subsequent rounds, indicating a pattern of doubling down on winners. This check size bracket positions them squarely in the seed-to-Series A range, though the lower end (€1M) suggests willingness to invest in earlier-stage companies with exceptional founders, and the upper end (€5M) allows for larger seed rounds or lighter Series A participation.

Lead Tendency

OYSTER BAY explicitly states: "We like to be the lead investor." This positioning is reinforced across their website and FAQs. The fund's approach prioritizes lead positions, and their follow-on reserve capacity (reserved for 2 subsequent rounds) suggests confidence in their ability to lead follow-on rounds. However, the portfolio includes some larger companies (like Oatly pre-IPO, Air Up, goodBytz) where they may have participated as significant co-investors rather than exclusive leads.

Lead tendency assessment: LEADS, with strong conviction and follow-on capacity

Recent Activity

The fund demonstrates active deployment patterns across the portfolio with a clear focus on impact-driven food tech:

Recent Investments (2024-2025):

• goodBytz (autonomous kitchen robots) - Active, Series stage investment
• Stenon (real-time soil data) - Active, strong growth trajectory
• Hooked (plant-based proteins) - Active, market expansion
• La Vie (plant-based meat) - Active, expanding distribution
• Various ongoing portfolio support across 16 portfolio companies

Fund Status: The fund is actively deploying capital. The portfolio companies span from seed-stage companies (Analysts Elise Schumacher and Flynn Seeger actively sourcing early-stage deals) through growth-stage companies (goodBytz, Stenon showing scale-up trajectory).

Notable Pattern: The team size has grown (10 team members listed on website) and the fund structure indicates they are managing multiple tranches—earlier exits and follow-on rounds. The firm maintains active GP involvement at board and operational levels with all team members co-investing personal capital.

Team

The team combines deep food sector operational experience with venture capital acumen:

Leadership:

• Felix Leonhardt, Managing Partner: Serial entrepreneur and founder since 2012 in food/beverage space, active business angel, 25+ years combined food sector experience brought to team
• Christoph Miller, Founding Partner: 25+ years food and beverage sector experience, entrepreneur, global network in food/beverage industry

Investment Team:

• Philip Stark, Principal: Previously at Atlantic Food Labs and Be8 Ventures (Berlin-based food funds), leading founder sourcing for most ambitious founders
• Divya Murthy, Principal: 10+ years impact investing, M&A consulting, corporate credit, global startup and corporate experience; previously led investments at ProVeg Incubator (food-tech accelerator); holds MBA

Analysts & Operators:

• Elise Schumacher, Analyst: Finding promising deals within food value chain
• Flynn Seeger, Analyst: ESCP graduate, passionate about sustainable development, focused on AgTech & Food innovation
• Marie van Hove, Analyst: Master's in Mechanical Engineering (Biomedical, UCL), tech consulting and engineering expertise for food/agtech

Operations & Finance:

• Anja Sallen, Head of Finance: Fund finance and VC experience at BV Capital, Headline, June Fund, July Fund
• Ragne Maasel, Head of Impact: Leading Oyster Bay's impact/ESG strategy, sustainable finance background (Head of ESG at LHV)
• Heike Sommer, Operations Manager: Administrative and organizational oversight
• Lisa Thomsen, Executive Assistant: Supporting leadership team and coordination

Key Differentiator: All team members invest personal capital into the fund, creating full alignment. The founding partners are former operators in the food space themselves (Felix founded a social business, exited 2020; Christoph brings 25+ years industry experience), enabling deep mentorship beyond capital.

Decision Process & Timeline

OYSTER BAY describes its investment process as "as fast and transparent as possible." The decision process appears to be partnership-based (Founding Partner + Managing Partner + deal team), with strong founder focus.

Timeline: Depends on founder's familiarity to fund. The team states: "Depending on how well we understand your part of the food value chain, we can be quick. At the same time, if we do not have a thesis around your topic, we will take time to dig deep and really understand why what you are doing is meaningful."

This suggests:

• Fast track (2-4 weeks): Founders in familiar subsectors with clear market thesis
• Deep dive (6-8 weeks+): Novel food-tech categories requiring diligence and thesis development
• Overall approach: Speed + diligence balance, strong preference for in-person meetings early in process

Warm Intro Requirement

Not explicitly stated, but the team emphasizes relationship-building: "It is never too early to get in touch. The earlier we know about you, the faster our investment process can be when you decide to raise funds."

This suggests they prefer early relationship-building over warm intros, but warm intros from portfolio companies or trusted food-sector networks (ProVeg network, other food funds, portfolio founders) would likely accelerate engagement.

Founder Preferences

OYSTER BAY seeks founders with three core attributes:

1. Team Quality (Primary Focus): "The team is the center of our attention. We are looking for founders who are ambitious, resourceful and resilient."

   • Experience with building companies in food/beverage (not required, but valued)
   • Resourcefulness and resilience in face of complex supply chains and regulatory environments
   • Founder testimonials emphasize founders who embrace mentorship (testimonials mention "working with former entrepreneurs is simply a game-changer")

2. Product/Service with Impact: Must positively impact society according to the fund's impact framework

   • Climate/environmental impact (sustainable ingredients, reduced waste, alternative proteins)
   • Economic opportunity for farmers/producers in supply chain
   • Health impact (plant-based proteins, functional nutrition)

3. Business Model & Traction: "Finally, we want to see the potential for a healthy business model in large markets with strong initial customer traction."

   • Path to profitability in large food markets
   • Early customer validation / traction
   • Realistic unit economics for food/beverage businesses

Anti-thesis: They avoid non-impact-driven companies, companies without founder ambition or execution capability, or businesses operating outside their food value chain focus.

Geographic Focus

Primary Markets:

• Germany (Hamburg HQ, significant portfolio concentration in DACH region: Löwenzahn, Mühlenkraft, Seedalive, Stenon)
• Europe (Oatly-Sweden, La Vie-France, UK operations, broader EU reach)

Secondary Markets:

• Selective global reach for standout founders (Oatly became global brand and IPO, goodBytz scaling internationally)

The fund is EU/Germany-focused with strong DACH (Germany-Austria-Switzerland) concentration, but their most successful exits show willingness to support global scaling. Their approach suggests strong preference for early-stage companies in accessible markets (EU/DACH) with the capability to support 2+ rounds as companies scale.

Portfolio Highlights & Track Record

IPO:

• Oatly (2021) - World's leading oat milk brand, successful public company with strong brand value

Major Exits:

• Oatly (IPO, 2021)
• Air Up (Partial exit, indicates secondary liquidity events)
• True Gum (Exit - exact acquirer/terms not disclosed)
• purefood (Exit - first German impact-driven food company)
• Agrando (Write-off - learning from early stage failures)

Active Growth Portfolio:

• goodBytz: Autonomous food service robots, showing strong growth trajectory with multiple founder testimonials about board support
• Stenon: Real-time soil data, described as "global leader" in soil monitoring, founder testimonial mentions "incredible support for strategic scaling"
• Air Up: Water-to-beverage company with strong brand presence, achieved partial exit while remaining active
• Hooked: Plant-based alternatives scaling across Europe
• La Vie: Plant-based proteins with European distribution
• Seedalive: Biotech play (rapid germination testing), likely longer science timeline
• 10+ additional active companies in portfolio

Portfolio Quality Indicators:

• 1 IPO (Oatly)
• 2 exits + 1 partial exit visible
• 16 total portfolio companies
• Multiple founder testimonials about value-added support
• High concentration of B2B2C and scaling B2C food brands
• Mix of tech-enabled (Stenon, Seedalive, goodBytz) and product (plant-based proteins, beverages)

Notable Characteristics

Speed of Deployment: "We only invest in 1-2 companies per quarter" - suggests selective, high-conviction approach. This is relatively low frequency (4-8 investments/year), indicating deep due diligence and strong integration of new companies into portfolio.

Hands-On Support Model: "We seek to be involved as much as we can and is required of us by our portfolio companies. We are as comfortable getting involved on strategic matters at the board level as in operational items."

Multiple founder testimonials highlight operational support:

• La Vie: "Without the experience brought to the table by Oyster Bay, we would not have dared to set up our own DACH sales organisation. But we did it, with great advise from Oyster Bay during the process."
• Stenon: "With Oyster Bay, we have a partner who understands deep tech and long-term value creation. They move fast, think strategically, and challenge us to scale smarter."

This suggests the fund provides genuine operational mentorship, sales strategy support, and growth strategy guidance—not just capital and connections.

Impact Framework: The fund has formalized impact measurement (Head of Impact role, ESG processes) and evaluates all investments against impact criteria. This is genuine impact focus, not ESG-washing.

Risk Tolerance: The existence of write-offs (Agrando) and partial exits (Air Up) suggest willingness to take risks on deep tech (Stenon, Seedalive biotech timelines) and emerging categories, with commensurate learning from failures.

Investment Criteria Summary

The fund invests in Seed-Series A food tech and food companies where:

1. Founders are ambitious, resourceful, resilient, and coachable
2. Company addresses food value chain disruption with measurable impact
3. Product has strong market potential in large markets with achievable business model
4. Geographic preference for DACH/EU with global ambitions
5. Team demonstrates willingness to embrace founder mentorship from experienced food operators

Deal Structure: €1M-€5M initial check, lead positions, 2-year follow-on commitment (approx 2 additional rounds). All GPs co-invest personal capital.