Chicago-based food conglomerate Kraft Heinz launched Evolv Ventures in October, a new $100 million venture fund designed to provide capital to tech startups disrupting the food industry.
To help lead the firm, Evolv announced Thursday that it has named Steve Sanger, Grubhub's former vice president of business development, a partner at the firm. He joins Bill Pescatello, a former partner at Lightbank, who was hired as Evolv's managing partner when it launched.
Sanger, a University of Chicago Booth School of Business grad, started his new role last week and will be focusing on leading investment deals for Evolv. Sanger said Evolv will specifically invest in early-stage food, e-commerce, marketing and logistics tech companies.
“Chicago is a really exciting food hub,” Sanger said. “To build upon all the expertise and various companies here is really exciting.”
While at Grubhub, Sanger was responsible for the company's business development and initial corporate development efforts as well as helping to launch the company's initial delivery service.
“I’ve always been passionate about food and technology,” Sanger said. “My opportunity as being part of the Grubhub executive team, heading up business development efforts, really gave me a front-row seat to what it takes to grow a company from inception to something much larger.”
Kraft Heinz, which also has a startup incubator in Chicago called Springboard Brands, is looking to hire two more people for Evolv—a principal and an associate.
Springdale, Arkansas-based Tyson Foods also launched an investment fund worth $150 million in 2016 in Chicago to be at the forefront of food innovation. So far, Tyson Ventures has given capital to one Chicago startup, Tovala. Tyson has also established relationships with 1871 and Plug and Play this year to better connect and collaborate with startup and tech companies in the area.
