How Marie Asano Is Helping To Address The Growing Challenge Of Food Insecurity
An Interview With Martita Mestey
Not everybody you meet will like you. However, they can still respect you for your professionalism.
In many parts of the world, there is a crisis of people having limited reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food. As prices rise, this problem will likely become more acute. How can this problem be solved? Who are the leaders helping to address this crisis?
In this interview series, we are talking to leaders who are helping to address the increasing problem of food insecurity who can share the initiatives they are leading to address and solve this problem.
As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Marie Asano.
Marie Asano is currently a Partner at the European Circular Bioeconomy Fund, a specialized fund investing in growth-stage companies active in ag-tech, nutrition, industrial biotech and packaging. At ECBF Marie is the Partner leading the nutrition and food tech vertical. With her prominent role as Board Member at INAM — Innovation Network for Advanced Materials and her previous role as Senior Investment Manager at High-Tech Gründerfonds, she has established herself as an experienced venture capital professional. Her expertise spans various industries, including chemistry, climate tech, animal health and life sciences and digital health, making her a key figure in the promotion of cutting-edge technologies and pioneering companies.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
If I had one word for it would be, “serendipity”. Originally, I studied chemistry and was also convinced I wanted to follow an academic career path. Post PhD I decided to take a completely different path when I saw the insane (and in my view completely overrated) competition for the few coveted permanent positions in academia. I decided on doing an MBA instead and came to the VC world through the early-stage side where the ability to judge technology plays a central role in determining the success of deeptech investments.
Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?
I would say there was not one “eureka” moment. In my opinion, it’s not like you do this one thing and magically success “just happens”. It’s the boring stuff. Plain hard work, perseverance, the day-to-day grind to improve your craft and having the humility to reflect and learn from the various situations you are placed in.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
There is not just one person, but many. I owe it to the camaraderie and friendship shown by my ex-colleagues at High-Tech Gründer Fonds where I used to work and also the founders of ECBF (European Circular Bioeconomy Fond) for taking a chance on me and giving me a unique opportunity to join their fund from the beginning.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
First of all, grit/perseverance because nothing in life is linear or easy. You need to stick to your guns and keep on going, especially when the going gets rough. Secondly, the ability to reflect on past experiences and learn from them, because those are actually the most fruitful moments when you finally realize what went wrong, but also how you can fix it or even make something better out of it. Lastly it is more than helpful to be a people person — most of the job is interacting with people, so you need to be ready to deal with all that entails, the good, the bad and the ugly.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
My favorite life quote is “just really listen”. And what I mean by this is not passive listening, but listening where you are fully 100% present. Truly listening to people is a skill that allows you to not only understand the motives, concerns, and hopes of the other, but it has an immediate positive effect on personal interactions. This is something I am still working on and so far by improving this skill, it has helped me in my personal life to various work-related negotiations.
Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. Can you describe to our readers how your work is helping to address the challenge of food insecurity?
At the European Circular Bioeconomy Fund (ECBF), our efforts are geared towards addressing the challenge of food insecurity by strategically investing in innovative and sustainable companies that have the potential to reshape the future for the better. Within the ECBF, the nutrition and food tech vertical is just one of the four key areas, alongside Ag Tech, Industrial Biotech, and Packaging, where we seek out opportunities to make a meaningful impact.
Our approach involves taking equity stakes in high-growth but also high-risk companies. By providing them with capital, we empower these companies to scale their operations and establish a strong presence in the market. In the nutrition and food tech team specifically, we cast a wide net over various technologies aimed at revolutionizing the food industry. This includes exploring alternative protein sources such as plant-based options, mycelium, and algae, as well as technologies designed to reduce food waste and enhance supply chain transparency. Additionally, we focus on novel ingredients and innovative methods of food production.
The diverse portfolio of companies we invest in is envisioned to contribute significantly to addressing the multifaceted challenges associated with food insecurity. Through our commitment to supporting advancements in sustainable and efficient food technologies, we aim to play a vital role in creating a more secure and resilient global food system.
Can you share something about your work that makes you most proud? Is there a particular story or incident that you found most uplifting?
The core element which makes me proud is actually getting to combine 3 things that I love the most in life: being a complete nerd about technology, meeting the most inspiring people daily and I get to do my small part to save the world. My field of work allows me to be in the know of emerging technologies that have the potential to really change the world. The people that I interact with on a daily basis are some of the world’s brightest minds and together we get to make a difference. And to be frank, on top of this I get to make money with it. I couldn’t name one specific incident, but the knowledge that I am actually doing my best to positively impact the world keeps me going.
In your opinion, what should other business and civic leaders do to further address these problems? Can you please share a few things that can be done to further address the problem of food insecurity?
Addressing food insecurity is a multifactorial challenge and will only work if the incentivization of different stakeholders points to the same direction of solving this issue. On the one hand, more non-dilutive funding schemes can be established to support innovative companies to scale, especially for CAPEX heavy businesses that require facilities to be built (which is a common problem if you are in food production and fermentation). This would solve the issue of companies having to tackle the problem with just equity, which means that the either the founder raises an equity round at unrealistically high valuations compared to company traction, or the founder has to agree to a reasonable company valuation and therefore has barely any equity left in the company they founded after the entrance of VCs.
Are there other leaders or organizations who have done good work to address the challenge of food scarcity? Can you tell us what they have done? What specifically impresses you about their work? Perhaps we can reach out to them to include them in this series.
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation:
The Gates Foundation has been actively involved in addressing global health and poverty issues, including food scarcity. They support initiatives that focus on improving agricultural practices, increasing access to nutritious food, and promoting sustainable farming methods. Their efforts also include investments in research and development of new technologies to enhance food production. We have had the privilege to see them at work as they invested in our portfolio company Aphea.Bio in their last equity round.
If you had the power to influence legislation, are there laws that you would like to see introduced that might help you in your work?
Softening of the novel food regulation in Europe which is very cumbersome and takes 2 years +. The US has a track called “self-affirmed GRAS (generally recognized as safe) which means that novel food ingredients and products are able to enter the US market more quickly if they can be recognized as safe. That’s not to say that I don’t believe consumer safety is not priority #1. I just think that there could be a faster way to get products in to the EU market.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why?
- Others are not smarter, just more prepared.
- Only a few people really know what they are doing. Most are just good at masking.
- Not everybody you meet will like you. However, they can still respect you for your professionalism.
- You and your time are valuable so set priorities and boundaries early.
- Don’t take everything so seriously. Sure, you should always bring your “A game” but at the end of the day we are all human.
So basically, especically when you are starting out you will doubt yourself for various reasons, some may be justified, some won’t be, but the most helpful thing in my opinion is to be kind and patient with yourself, keep your goals in mind and remind yourself why you’re where you are.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
More people should know about the alternatives we have access to; I’d like to see renowned chefs such as Gordon Ramsay, Alain Ducasse or Pierre Gagnaire make more of an effort to include insects in their kitchens or forgoing animal products completely, showcasing the possibilities of sustainable food. I’m strongly convinced that if such people would stand in for a topic like this, it would gain more traction and widespread acceptance, ultimately leading to a positive change in the food industry.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)
Vinod Khosla (one of the most prominant and well known VCs), Melinda Gates (women’s right icon apart from all the other work she does through her foundation)
How can our readers further follow your work online?
ECBF Webseite: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marie-asano-a197b847/
ECBF Team: https://www.ecbf.vc/team
Marie Asano LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marie-asano-a197b847/
This was very meaningful, thank you so much, and we wish you only continued success.
